I am used to using canisters on backpacking trips, but have always hung food in the BWCA.  This year, for a solo, since my food will easily fit in a bear canister, I am planning on that.

Are there any BWCA regs regarding canisters vs. hanging?  Is there an approved canister list?

Just curious...

I'm not aware of any, unlike some of the Rocky Mtn. Parks with fairly specific rules and regs on these matters.  

Read any of Cliff Jacobson's books and you'll see that he suggests stashing the food of in the woods, on the ground away from camp in a Canoe Pack.  (Evidently mice don't inhabit Cliff's world).   ???

Most of us here are probably 'hangers', with elaborate and cunning systems utilizing pulleys and mechanical leverage -(though some of us believe that Hope is indeed a strategy and simply leave food in camp with a pot balanced on top of the food pack).  :-/

I think if you use a vittle vault and place it away from camp on your solo trips your granola bars will be safe.  That's more or less what I plan to do on future solo trips, especially since I forgot my food hanging system up on Insula last September. :'(

If anyone found it, please feel free to call - big reward offered!

Yeah-  I always thought a few of Cliffy's ideas were a little whacked.  I do agree with the theory that the bears know where the good hanging trees are on popular routes, though.  I still would never want to leave food out in just a pack.  However, I figure a Nat'l Park approved bear canister ought to be sufficient.

Thanks for the reply.

As long as, when storing the canister for the night, you cinch up the straps real tight, so the bear can't easily slip it over its shoulders...you should be fine.

The Beaver ;)

Good point.  Actually, one of the cardinal rules for backpackers canisters is to make sure there is no fabric or handle of any kind on it that would allow a bear to drag it away.  They are also made in a size that the bear can't pick up.  They will sometimes play a little "bear soccer" with them before they give up, though.

I try to avoid putting them near vertical drops or rivers for this reason.

I've done 5 solo's in the past 3 years, and I always pack a bear can.  I can easily get 5 days worth of food into it. I stash it away from my camp, usually under a log or something out of the way. Never had a problem, and it's easy to get to my food. Hanging always seemed like such a pain, and finding a good hanging tree can be problematic at some campsites. The cans are too big for a bear to get it's jaws around, and there is nothing that would allow it to be dragged away. Making sure it wont get rolled off a cliff or into a lake is your only concern. I always vacum seal my food which cuts down on odors and I've found that a Reynolds Oven roasting bag makes the perfect can liner.  I turn it upside down to prevent moisture from creaping in around the lid seams. I keep a washer the size of a quarter with a hole in the center on a leather rope around my neck for opening the can. For longer solos, or with my wife along I carry two and have numbers spray painted on the outside so I'm not constantly opening the wrong can.

"Make everything as simple as possible, but not simpler" - Albert Einstein.

I stumbled into the bear barrel strategy last year.  I was at the REI scratch&dent sale and scored a smallish bear vault on the cheap.  I'd always been a 'hang em high' kinda guy, but for the money I thought I'd give it a shot.

1st, let me say it's great on a solo because it holds a weeks supplies nicely.  Also, it is nice to have one less chore on a solo.  I enjoy a lot of the camp work, but the pack hanging can be a hassle.

As for as location, I agree with others that have said to be careful about where it might roll off to.  I would stash it in such a way that it was fairly visable from the direction of camp, just so when I was trying to find it I'd have an easier time.

Here's my question, how far is far enough away?  I've always struggled with this when hanging or stashing.  My rule of thumb has been, go until you think it's far enough, then double that distance.  So far, never had a bear in camp...

wrote on Jan 12^th, 2006 at 6:51pm:

...<SNIP> Here's my question, how far is far enough away?  I've always struggled with this when hanging or stashing.  My rule of thumb has been, go until you think it's far enough, then double that distance.  So far, never had a bear in camp...

Cliff's idea would be great IF people did that instead of the reverse or worse. I KNOW how that goes.

I hang because it works better and is easier than hiding for me IF the campsite warrants either. Some approved sort of barrel sounds great. Really great. No worries beyond it being pawed into the lake which only affects you, not the people who follow you.

The blue (no problems/mice yet) barrels scare me. My $3 RubberMaid food pack is blue (mouse proof) and I hear   (You need to Login or Register. (see: Facts>Vision) Plus, I know how lazy and lucky people THINK they are...

I use a little different strategy with a lue barrel.  I have two a 10 gallon and a 12 gallon.  Both were able to be placed inside an army duffle bag with backpacking straps to make it easier to carry.  I hide them away from camp, not close to a trailm under brush.  The olive green bag makes hiding easier.  I just make sure no one has touched it after handling food, to keep odors off of the fabric.  I am doing first solo this summer and the barrels are two big for just one person, but I will figure some thing out.  I would like to be able to keep everything for me in one pack, food, clothes, tent, sleeping pad, cook gear, tarp... you know everything  ;D

Bruce

On my last trip (4 people, 11 days) I used a combination approach, 4 Ursacks and one bear canister.  The Ursacks keep bears (and other critters) out, but are subject to being crushed.  So the Ursacks contained all the stuff that crushing would not hurt which was most things (rice, dried hamburger, etc, etc).  The canister stored anything for which we wanted crush protection (oil, syrup, etc).

Ursacks are nice because they are light and they decrease in size as food is consumed.  Bear attacks are rare (I have been fortunate to never experience one), so as long as the Ursacks protect my food from loss, risking a little crushing is a gamble I consider worth taking (risking total loss by hiding is not a gamble I am willing to take).

Now Ursack sells a liner that provides crush protection as well.  But I question if the liner is worth it.

The aluminum liner that Ursack now sells is meant to address the problem of brown bears that have become extremely habituated to snagging food from campers in the Sierra Nevada. They were not able to get conditional approval without the liner.

It probably isn't necessary in the BW, but it would solve the problem of a black bear squishing peanut oil all over my dehydrated vegetables.

Pete

I sleep with my food pack.  All I've ever used is a cardboard box set inside a plastic liner and then set inside a #3 Duluth pack.  The food pack never leaves the tent, unless I am away from camp the entire day and then I take it with me.  Keep the mice out of the tent and keep a clean camp and you'll have no problems at all, at least I never have.  If a bear wants to tangle a couple shots with the .22 pistol will either scare him away or make him attack me.  Hopefully, I will never find out.    

And unless you are carrying a steel safe with you, nothing is bear proof.  My dad was working up the Echo Trail one day and he swung into the parking lot at the Moose River entry point.  Here someone had left a pizza box on the back seat of their car, and a bear put his claws into the top of the car door and folded the door in half, climbed inside and finished off the rest of the pizza.  Whoever's vehicle that was had a big surprise waiting for them.  A clawed up car, a door folded in half, and some nice black fur that the jagged metal tore off.  

When I solo or when I trip with a group, bear cans are used. These are hefty surplus naval gunpowder cannisters that are painted woodland colors, hidden near the base of a tree, and cabled to the tree. I have a picture of one in use in the Inukshuk Photo Gallery   (You need to Login or Register. I usually look for a bigger tree  ;). Sorry if you are not an Inukshuk  :'(.

So far, so good. None have been found yet so the effectiveness of the cans and their tethers has not been tested. On one occasion a timid bear was seen near camp, but didn't bother the cans nor anything else.

-aj

wrote on Jan 13^th, 2006 at 6:26pm:

I sleep with my food pack.  All I've ever used is a cardboard box set inside a plastic liner and then set inside a #3 Duluth pack.  The food pack never leaves the tent, unless I am away from camp the entire day and then I take it with me.  Keep the mice out of the tent and keep a clean camp and you'll have no problems at all, at least I never have

Basswood you are a lucky man. Let's go to the casino together sometime ;D

Kingfisher,

Lets go!  :D


Sooner or later, I'm bound to see a bear, but until then I have no worries.  One time we did leave the food pack open and outside one night, and the mice ate all of our bread.>:(  It was the first night, but we had already limited out on walleyes and lake trout so we just ate fish and potatoes with no bread for six days.