About bear canisters.

“Has anyone come up with bear canisters in different sizes?

My MSR stowaway pot will hold about three days of food and a canister that size would be ideal for me - about the size of a 2 litre pot.

Does anyone else think that would be a good idea?”

“I know Bearikade comes in two sizes, hope your wallets bursting.”

“I think Bearikade actually comes in three sizes. The smallest being a special order.
Still larger than a 2 liter pot but I think anything that small the bear could get its mouth around and carry it off.”

“I heard bearvault is looking at doing a weekender one. And a grizzly-proof one!”

“Yeah, it has to be big enough that a Bear can't get it's jaws around, so that mandates a certain minimum size for bear canisters.”

“yeah...someone told me that the other day. Pennsy or crazypace I think. Bearicade comes in an unoffical smaller size.

I think you have to contact them if you want this smaller size.”

“pepsi is right on all counts. You can get the special order size for the same price as the Weekender. Its only an inch or two shorter, but that inch or two might be the difference of fitting in your pack, or not. Can't be smaller or you'll never see your $195 bear canister again.”

“http://wild-ideas.net/index2.html
Bearikade”

“I just put other stuff in the Weekender Bearikade, like pots, utensils, first aid, etc to fill it.”

“Other stuff is an understatement :)

Didn't I see a birthday cake in one of the pictures ?”

“Hang it and then leave a food scented stuffed toy treated with Anti-Freeze where the bear can get to it......Even if he gets the bag second, you have the satisfaction of knowing it's his last meal.....

(Not!)”

“Okay I apologize....I'm in a self destructive humor mood......”

“Gremlin, Bearikade currently makes the smallest and lightest bear canister on the market. At $195 US, it is also the most expensive. Given time, I don't think it will mater which canister you have, because the ADK bears are going to start growing Swiss Army knives out of there claws.”

“It's just that here in the Adirondacks bear canisters are mandatory in the High Peaks. Most treks last about a long week-end and the large canister is just too big for the average pack here, particularly if you're solo.

There is a huge number of people in the area at any one given time and I think it would be economically viable to make and sell a smaller size.

Grizzlies are not an issue here and NYSDEC could conceivably approve a size appropriate to eastern areas.”

“Doug, maybe we should develop one.
last edited: 3/30/05 3:19:24 PM”

“I'm a teacher - mouth and (sometimes) ideas - but incapable of anything remotely useful or practical.”

“LZ, it's easy to develop and produce a bear cannister, given acces to the right industries. Government approval, however, is the real b!tch.”

“I have an idea for one in my head, but no way of building one.”

“Where I live, I have access to companies that work in polymers and kevlar/ carbon fiber composites. The government will only take in new models for testing for like 1 week a year. That stinks.”

“Somehow I don't see NYSDEC getting involved in testing either. They are just going to adopt the same regulations and approved canisters as out west.”

“Nope, we're talking required federal approval here.”

“Hey Zac - is it officially mandatory in the Dacks now, and have they adopted any regulations?

Grems - as someone previously mentioned, the Bearikade comes in 3 sizes. The smallest is not listed on their site (unless the recently added it), but it's available. The diameter is 9.5" and it's 8" high, and weighs only 1 1/2 lbs. It fits into my smallest backpack (Osprey Aether 60) and is perfect for a weekend in the Dacks. It hardly takes up any extra room in my pack because I out other stuff in it; food, stove, cooking pot, toilettries etc. In fact, my pack is more organized when I bring the canister.

I still like my even lighter Ursack though. I use it everywhere in the East except for the Dacks.

I forgot to add a thought. I'm no expert on jaw sizes of bears, but I'm thinking anything smaller than a 9.5" diameter might walk away in the mouth of a hungry bruin.
last edited: 3/30/05 4:52:56 PM”

“I sleep with my food. Out in the middle of the lake. Floating on my Therm-a-Rest®. With a very powerful squirt gun across my chest. Come 'n get me, Mr. Bear, I dare ya. I'm not kidding, it's true.”

“A ranger in the Olympic NP told me that crows have gotten good at untying ursacks and opening them and helping themselves to a snack. Them critters is smart.”

“Pennsy, I haven't heard anything official requiring them yet. Last fall they were saying they would be required April 1st. Recently I heard it wasn't going to take effect until next year. Both cases were not from DEC officials. Everything I've read on the subject says that the approved canisters will be the same as those approved by the national parks.”

“Gremlin, thanks for posting this thread. I too am on the market for a bear canister, though a bigger one than you need. If I spot any good deals I'll pass the info onto to here.”

“What happened to hangin stuff in a tree?”

““What happened to hangin stuff in a tree?”

squirrelbait
9:52:04 PM
3/30/05

The bears got too smart for that.”

“Pennsy I have the same ursack. do you use those addional baggies that come with it? I know they are not suppose to be like ziplocks, but they sure do look like ziplocks.”

“Doesn't matter what you put the food in, the bears will smell it - there will always be some residue of food on the outside of the bag even if the food inside is truly sealed up 100% (and I doubt it is). The "odor free" bags that Ursack has are a scam.”

“Oh, I'm glad we still have dumb bears here. I suppose the more contact they have with humans and anti bear devices the smarter they get. I think I'll take a page from Anne Bancroft's book and set up trip flares. The bears really run when they hit those suckers...”

“Bear Resistant Canisters: NYSDEC is working towards proposing a regulation to require the use of bear resistant canisters in the Eastern High Peaks Wilderness. NYSDEC encourages campers to use bear resistant canisters throughout the Adirondack back country. Select the "Adirondack Back Country Bears" link at the top of this page for information on bear resistant canisters and camping in bear country.

http://www.dec.state.ny.us/website/reg5/hptrails.html


Not mandatory yet.”

“Thanks for the beta. I'll take a look at what Pennsy has. Might as well be prepared.”

“Thanks manuka.”

“new bear vaults.
http://www.bearvault.com/”

“Thanks for the link. I need to buy one some time before July this year.”

“Please keep in mind those two vaults are "Conditionally" approved for Yosemite.(taken from: http://www.nps.gov/yose/wilderness/bfoodstorage.htm )
SIBBG did grant approval to the BV110b and BV200... BV offers a Retrofit one piece replacement lid for the BV100 at: http://www.bearvault.com/bearvault_productnotices.php

And for those going to the Half dome Trip in July... Little Yosemite Valley "Does" have Bear Boxes... And Bear Vault rentals in the Yosemite Valley prior to the Trip. :)

Ken
BpManiacs
http://bpmaniacs.com/phpbb2/”

“Wow, much cheaper than Bearikade. About the same specs. I'm going to look into this, thanks for the info.”

“seems like $67 for the solo and $80 for the new grizzly approved one.”

“That would make one hell of a piss jar!!”

“oh, didn't mean ti imply that solo isn't grizzly approved. It appears it is!”

“The grizzlies love 'em, huh?”

“looks like the BV250 is for me.”

“The current rumor is that DEC is working on making canisters mandatory in the Eastern High Peaks by July 1 of this year.”

“I thought they went out of business years ago.


PS...only computer geeks like me will get this joke.”

“gonna get me one soon I think”

“I don't get it, bitgeek.”

“The acronym "DEC" to computer geeks like me (at least those of a certain age or older) means "Digital Equipment Corporation", a computer company that was probably the first really big producer of mini-computers, as opposed to mainframes, like those produced by IBM. They were cheaper and smaller and allowed smaller businesses to have computers when IBM wasn't interested in making one that cheap or small. The first computer I worked on as a professional (ha!) was a DEC PDP-11/70, 16-bit minicomputer. A hell of a machine for the time. I remember when we put 4 whole megabytes of RAM into one! Whew, that was a lot of memory!

The handheld I have in my pocket has more memory in it than that. My how times change.”

“bitpusher - I was programming a PDP8 in college in 1970!! Used to put the program on paper tape instead of ibm cards and thought that rocked!

Regarding bear canisters, they are already mandatory in the Whitney Zone.”

“By the time I was using a PDP-11/70, we had VT52's and a few VT100 terminals, along with Dyson harddrives, so we could just open a file and type the program in. Very handy.

I never had to punch a card, lucky me.”