[pct-l] Packing a Bear Canister

[reynolds@ilan.com]

By popular request:

This is a summary.  The subject warrants a book.

There are plastic cans [Bear Cache] and aluminum cans {Bear Can]. Bear
canisters are heavy and bulky though not as heavy as the previous versions
I've used. The aluminum can is VERY hard to pack because of the internal
reinforcing ridges but lighter, opens at both ends and costs more.

Volume must be considered as well as weight. For example 1 ounce of regular
rice makes 3 cooked cups while 1 ounce of miniute rice makes 2 cups. In
terms of weight they are equal because of the additional fuel required to
cook regular rice. However, in terms of volume the regular rice is better.

Food Choices-
A-Choose foods with a high weight/volume ratio
1-Prefer regular rice and couse-couse as carbohydrates over noodles,
spaghetti and other pasta. They have a much higher weight/volume.
2-Prefer tortillas over bread.  They have a much higher weight/volume.
3-Pack foods that waste a minimum amount of space in the canister. One size
tortilla fits perfectly. The other sizes waste space.
4-Pack foods that are compressible, like powders as opposed to elbow
macaroni

B-Choose foods with a minimum of water [Obviously, this doesn't apply in
the San Felipe Hills]. 1-For your chocolate fix prefer baking a chocolate
cake to a Hersey's bar
2- Used powdered refried beans, chili  and/or black beans
3-Use dried mix powders for sauce and/or seasoning
4-Carry dried fruit and/or Jerkey

C-Choose foods with a high calorie content
1-Prefer fat like peanut butter to sugar, protien or carbohydrate. It is
double the calorie/grm
2-Prefer nuts as snacks to candy (sugar)

Food Systems
1-Pack simple foods that can be combined into many different meals. My
favorite is tortillas/rice and several bean powders. I could write a
chapter on the number of meals that could be made with these staples.
2-Pack in bulk, not by meal. Depending on a lot of things your appetite
will vary. Cook each day to your appetite
3-Learn to bake in a BakePacker [4 oz.] or possibly an Outback Oven [I have
not used one]. This is the #1 volume saving tool I have found. You can turn
low volume, lightweight powder into high volume, high weight foods simply
and easily.
4-Get a stove that simmers. For BakePacking or cooking rice --simmer for 20
miniutes--you need control. I personally tossed my MSR Flamethrower years
ago [I know this is heresy] in favor of a simple iso-butane stove. For a
hike on the JMT (200 miles) the total weight of stove and fuel will be
lighter. [On a thruhike, where fuel resupply is a problem, this advice does
not apply]
5-Carefully measure all food. Figure out exactly how many breakfasts,
lunches and dinners you will need.
6-Do not open the bear canister until you need to. Your first day's food
doesn't need to be in the canister. You are going to eat it before the bear
comes [night]. If their is a bear box your first day you can carry 2 days
food outside the cannister. Once you open a properly packed canister you
will NEVER get all that stuff back in. You need a BEFORE bear canister[is
opened] salt supply and an AFTER canister [is opened] salt supply and on
and on--get it?.

RePacking Food-
1-Repack food so that all air can be eliminated.
2-Repack food so that the package is flexible and will squeeze into any
available space.
3-Pack powders in sandwich size baggies --not ziplock. Pack about 1/2 full
then carefully swueeze all air out. Twist the top several times to make a
tight tail and a body with NO air. Put the tie-tie at the top of the twist,
then untwist the tail and flatten out the bag. A relatively flat bag will
waste almost no space while a tight round bundle will waste lots of space.
4-Waste NO space. Peanut butter in a plastic jar [you know, good old
Skippy, not that gormet kind that rots] is a staple. However, there is lots
of space on top, even in a new jar. Fill it full.
5-Puncture air holes in tortillas wrappers and the like. This way you can
force air out of the package when you compress.
6-Store some stuff loosly. In small nooks and crannies toss some loose rice
or peanuts. Once you open the canister and take some food out, they will
pool and you can easily bag them for later use

Packing the canister:
You now have two piles. You have a pile of before canister food that you
have in a stuff sack and a basket of carefully repackaged food that goes
into the canister. How much can you get in?

1-Flat stuff, like tortillas go in first. Then a layer of powder. You smush
and knead around these bags and push down with your fingers. Use a glass
Jar to further press down and compress the powder. You will be amazed how
much more they compress.

2-Next irregular, uncompressible items like a peanut butter jar. Press more
powder bags down around the irregular items, smushing and kneading till all
space is used. If necessary fill nooks and crannies with loose rice or
nuts. Compress further with the glass jar. Continue this process. layer by
layer till the top.

3-A the top, no more room. Bull Shit! Get a ram [A full glass jar] and lean
on it. I mean ALL your weight [I weigh 250 pounds]. When you think you are
done you still have another inch. Then force the top on.

OK, If the canister weighs 20 pounds you have 17-18 pounds of food in
there. If it weighs less than 18 pounds, start over. No kidding, I have
repacked many canister. Typically, the second time I get 1-2 more pounds
in.

DO NOT DO with a canister
1-Do not put a plastic liner inside! It just wastes space, makes packing
hard and costs money. The bear can smell right thru the plastic -- trust
me. Besides you want the bear to spend his time on the canister and not the
packet of M and M's you inadvertantly left in yur shirt pocket.
2-Do not hang your canister. The only known way a canister fails is to be
dropped from a great height.
3-Do not put a strap around the canister to tie it so something so it won't
roll off -- you just are giving the bear a handle to carry it off!

Do with a canister
1- Toss it 25 yards away from camp in a shallow depression so it can't roll
away, down a hill or into the stream. If this is not possible block all
routes of rolling with logs branches. Bushes are great. Nothing rolls in
them. Toss it in the briar patch.
2-Paint part of it pink or dayglow orange. So you can find it after the
bear moves it.
3-Keep it closed and locked ALL the time

PS: If anyone cares, exerpts of my first book [not on backpacking] is a
www.cyberlanecommuter.com


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