Re: [pct-l] bear cans

["Tom Reynolds" <Tom.Reynolds@ilan.com>]

There are two bear canisters available for sale. Both  hold 50 cups of
food. The Garcia Bear Cache weighs 2.7 # (2#12oz.). The aluminum Bear Can
weighs 2.1# (2#1.5oz) the bear can requires a screwdriver 1.5 oz or swiss
army knife. The Garcia requires a coin.

How much food can be stored in 50 cups depends on lots of things. I get 18+
pounds of food in mine. [18 pounds of peanut butter is 45,000 calories] The
consensus seems to be that a 1-2 week hiker needs about 1.5 pounds/day but
a through hiker needs about 3 pounds a day of high caloric content food so
that makes 10-13 days for the two week hiker and 5-7 for the through hiker
[The first day's food and the last day's dinner are not stored in the
canister giving the thru hiker a range of 6-8 days, possibly stretching to
9]

On the other hand, if you eat freeze dried cardboard and decline to repack
the Mountain House Taste Supreme you could easily get only 3 days and
potato chips in the canister.

How safe are they? The plastic garcia is well tested. bears can't get into
them because they can't grip on them. The aluminum cans use the same
principal but this is the first year of use.


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