[pct-l] Proof of a Bear-Can

[mellowmarky at cox.net (Mark Wright)]

On Oct 11, 2004, at 9:23 PM, Michael Deitchman wrote:

> Part of my beef with Kings Canyon is
> that they say that hanging your food is not a legal
> method of storing your food. If done properly, hanging
> is just as effective as a canister. How can the
> government discern who does or does not know how to
> hang their food properly?

They can't. Considering the numbers of people who camp in the Inyo,  
Sequoia, Yosemite wildernesses (and other places where bear canisters  
are required) there's no way for the rangers to determine in advance  
who does and doesn't know how to properly hang food. So it's not  
practical to expect them to exempt people who know how to hang their  
food from the bear canister requirement.  That's precisely why they  
require everyone to use bear canisters. They don't know wether or not  
you know how to properly hang your food, but they do know that your  
food will be protected in a canister. It's all about the lowest common  
denominator. And what's the point of requiring bear canisters if they  
can't enforce it by checking out your pack? Think about it, these  
canisters - at least the Garcia caisters - are so big that there's no  
need to unpack and show it to them. You don't even have to remove your  
pack. Just say "It's at the bottom right corner, sir." They can give it  
a knock and a quick feel and in 2 seconds they can tell that you have a  
large, hard cylindrical plastic thing in your pack. What else would it  
be?

As for people who go the extra mile to reduce pack weight (like those  
of you who cut the handle off your toothbrush to save half a gram) I  
have to think that your pack is light enough that the extra weight of a  
bear canister isn't going to kill you. And if it's an issue of fitting  
it into your pack, I would think that this would be a business  
opportunity for pack manufacturers to make packs that can better  
accommodate a bear canister. There must be a creative way to solve this  
problem like some sort of add on that can be removed when you leave  
bear country.


That's my 2 cents...


Mark

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