[pct-l] Re: Bear Canister versus Ursack Ultra.

[pelliott@isd.net (Patrick Elliott)]

Stealth camping, as I know it, is a concept that Ray Jardine talks about in
his book.  (I don't know the title)  It involves camping away from
established sites where bears know that food will be available eating dinner
far down wind from your camp site.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Kerry Knudsen" <kerryknudsen@yahoo.com>
To: "Reynolds, WT" <reynolds@iLAN.com>; "'Camping List'"
<campinglist@gentleye.com>
Cc: <pct-l@mailman.backcountry.net>
Sent: Friday, June 15, 2001 8:36 PM
Subject: [pct-l] Re: Bear Canister versus Ursack Ultra.


>
>  OK, I'll bite. What's stealth camping?
> kk
>
>   "Reynolds, WT" <reynolds@iLAN.com> wrote:
> 1-Capacity-
> In a bear canister one can get 18-20 pounds of food in with careful
> repackaging. A thruhiker, purchasing only what is normally available at a
> supermarket and using only a [IMHO stupid] alcohol stove could reasonably
> expect to get 15 pounds into a canister by the simple expedient of
> repackaging everying into standard baggies, expelling the excess air and
> being careful to compress the food and use all available space in a
> canister.
>
> Whereas the bears have learned to leave canisters alone the same ain't
true
> of a Ursack. In established campgrounds you can count on bears molesting
> your URSACK. Therefore, unless your food is double bagged with heavy bags
> and taped shut, you can count on the contents being a delightful
concoction
> of noodles, oatmeal and chocolate cookie powder. You must either hike
before
> bear season, stealth camp or double bag your foods. This cuts the
effective
> volume by at least 1/3.
>
> 2-Ease of use.
> Once you close a URSACK you must tie it PROPERLY to a tree. This takes
time
> to do and time to undo. Therefore the URSACK is of limited value defending
> your food against bears when you are camped. Either you must PROPERLY
> tie/untie the sack every time you want something or you will risk a bear
> sneaking in when you ain't looking. Don't laugh! It happens all the time.
> The canister you simply keep closed.
>
> 3-Weight
> The URSACK Ultra weighs 9 ounces. The wild-ideas cainster weighs about 1
> pound more.
>
> 4-Cost
> The URSACK Ultra costs $69. The wild-ideas $199.
>
> Summary
> Both Don Horst and I, who have both, will prefer to use a canister in high
> bear afrequency reas and the ursack in low bear frequency areas. But then,
> Don and I are into comfort as opposed to speed. If I was thruhiking using
> the normal [IMHO stupid] thruhiking schedule I would use the larger single
> URSACK [The ultra doesn't come in this size] and not worry.
>
> Tom
>
>
>
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