[pct-l] bear canister

[verber at gmail.com (Mark Verber)]

Let's not start the bear canister debate again. Lets try to stick with facts.

What are bear canisters?

They are containers design to keep bears away from your food. 
Typically cylinders make from hard plastic or carbon fiber and metal. 
They weight between 2-3 pounds and can hold between 7-16 days worth of
food depending on how you pack them.  For a list of approved canisters
check out: http://www.sierrawildbear.net/foodstorage/approvedcontainers.htm

Why use a bear canister?

1) it's the law... though if you are willing to put in some really
long days and lose flexibility in where you stop it's possible to make
it through without a canister.  If you look at the archives there was
a discussion last year about how to get through the PCT legally
without using a canister.

2) it's effective at protecting food... if you use a time proven
canister properly you aren't going to lose your food to a bear.  This
is good, cause it sucks to lose your food 3 days into a 8 day section.

What about other methods?

1) Bear Bagging.. In most parts of the country correctly hanging food
in a bear bags can be effective with the proper technique.
Unfortunately bags won't reliably protect your food in the Sierras
were the bears see backpackers and think "Great, I get another treat
filled pi?ata tonight".  This is because the bears have been
conditioned not be afraid of humans and to expect yummy food with the
humans.  So they won't scare off easily and given time they will get
your bag.  Photon sent a nice note about this of years ago that I
archived:
http://www.verber.com/mark/outdoors/bearbag.txt

2) Stealth camping and sleeping with food... "stealth camping" is stay
away from camp sites that bears habitually visit and sleeping with
your food on the theory that a bear will be less likely to bother a
human and you will be in a position to defend your food. I haven't
heard of any thru-hikers getting hurt doing this, but each year there
are at least a few hikers who get hurt by bears trying to get food
they are sleeping with.  Most often it is a something with a candy bar
in their sleeping bag.

3) Odor barrier... the theory is that if the bear can't smell the
food, they won't bother you.  Not an "approved" technique.  Some
people have reported this to be effective.

--mark