[pct-l] Ultralite with a bearcan

[SnoLepard at TrekkingKats.com (SnoLepard)]

On my 2002 thruhike I set out from Kennedy meadows with a GoLite Breeze pack. A few days later a very good friend hiked up Bubbs Creek from Cedar Grove and brought me a Bearikade (6-day model) with food enough to get me to Vermillion Valley. I carried the Bearikade all the way to Ebbetts Pass, about 272 miles worth of the PCT.

The point is that the Breeze is a fairly small pack and I was able to carry the bear can, even though I was carrying a heavier sleeping bag through that area, and a few more articles of clothing.

I had peace of mind. I had backpacked in the Sierras many times before my thruhike and had had bears come into my camp on at least four occasions that I was aware of. 

Once a bear got the remains of food on the last night of a 10 night trip for five of us. There wasn't much but we had a mess to clean up before hiking out to civilization. The guys had hung it under a bridge, despite my advice against the idea.

Another time the bear came through camp and knocked over our packs. Then I heard him heading towards the tree in which we had hung our food. I wasn't feeling secure about the way we hung it so I got out of the tent and chased him away and we were really lucky.

The third time was a trip for three and the very first night I hung the food between two trees that were a good 16 or 18 feet apart with the food at least 15 feet off the ground. I had brought two small cords and a tiny pulley. It worked great, until the bear came and simply bit through the cord where I had tied it around the trunk of a tree. Down came the remaining 11 days worth of food for three. We had been in our bags all of ten minutes when the bear showed up. Fortunately all the bear got was half a salami.

The last time two of us were camped in a snowstorm and in a place I believed to be away from the beaten path. Big mistake! We had ten days of food hanging in two stuffsacks, high enough to keep out mice and small critters. I was awakened from a dead sleep when I heard the cord on the stuff sack break, plucked like a juicy ripe apple.

The bear got the bag that had most of our real food, dinners and staples, and left us the one with drinks and junk food. The bear hung around for quite a while as we spent a lot of energy at three in the morning in a snowstorm securing our food properly. Furthermore the next morning about 30 yards up from camp we found where the bear had enjoyed its picnic and it was one disgusting mess to clean up and pack out, which we did.

That ended that trip early.

>From now on I will carry a Bearikade in the Sierras no matter how light I want to travel. Probably in the Olympics as well.

SnoLepard
Thru in '02