[pct-l] Bear can requirements

[Ben Crowell]

>at which of the above three possible delivery places
>*must*one receive his bear canister in order to be able to be able to
>comply with
>the law (the latest possible delivery site)?

It's not that clearcut. If you just go by the map, then it is theoretically
possible to avoid carrying a bear canister at all, but it would require
an exquisitely planned and executed itinerary, with some extremely high-mileage
days, organizing your entire trip around your desire not to carry the
canister. This delicately planned itinerary would fall apart at the slightest
disruption.

You would have to camp at places that have bear boxes, but if you think
about it a little, the logic of that is really bogus. The places that have
bear boxes have them there because they're areas with unusually severe
bear problems: high concentrations of problem animals that are in danger
of being killed by a ranger tomorrow if their behavior strays beyond a
boundary defined by humans. To respond to that problem by intentionally
camping in that area is, IMO, backwards. You're adding to the problem.

And as Jeffrey Olson has pointed out, just because it looks legal to you
on a map, that doesn't mean rangers who encounter you on the trail will
agree with your interpretation. I've heard stories about rangers marching
people out to the nearest trailhead. You cannot just avoid rangers or
assume they won't be present in remote areas. Coming over Mather Pass
this summer, I encountered a ranger who was hanging out at the top of
the pass checking everyone's wilderness permits and bear canisters.
It's a bottleneck, so she was guaranteed to get a chance to talk to
every single hiker on the trail.

If you just carry a hard-sided bear canister through the whole region,
you get the freedom to camp where you want and have a flexible itinerary.
You don't have to worry about rodents getting your food, or about
whether a ranger will buy your interpretation of the law. You put
your canister 100' away from where you sleep, and if a bear messes
with it during the night, you don't even wake up -- very different
from the experience of bear-bagging your food and then having to
spend the whole night throwing rocks at a bear to get it to stop
trying to get the food.