Somebody gave me one of these. 

(You need to Login or Register to view media files and links)


Does anyone use something like this?  I was thinking because it is air tight it would control food odors and I could just shove it in my regular pack on a solo.  This way I could just have one pack.  I suppose, I could hide it or hang it, too.  Anybody?

IF you can get all of your food into one of these, then they would be a good way to go.  That's a big IF, though - the larger sizes run about 700 cu in.  I use a 2700 cu in pack for my food for solo trips, and the main pack is stuffed full when I'm packing for 11 or 12 days - no way I could use just one Bear Vault or whatever - I'd need 2 or 3, and that gets really heavy and expensive.  A typical day's worth of food for me is about a half to 2/3 rds of a breadbag (I put each day's food into a breadbag - organized that way so I don't have to hunt for anything) - so visualize a volume that is 10 or 12 times that.  I've always wondered how much food you could stuff into one of those bear cannisters - to maximize the use of minimum space, you'd have to have everything "loose", as opposed to organizing by day, or by meal type.

If you do use one of these bear vault types, you don't need to hang it, or really hide it - just put it somewhere where a critter can't roll it away or knock it into the lake.

Maybe if bears were more of a problem for me, I might consider a bear vault, but I've never had any critter of any kind get into my hung pack - so "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" - I'll stick with what has always worked for me.  I do the same if I'm backpacking, i.e. just hang a food bag.  

They ARE pretty small so here's a suggestion from a point of view. I have smelly food and not so smelly food. In my case, two pounds of coffee is what I smell every time I open the food/cook pack. (I could open it right now and still smell coffee.) At breakfast it's mingled with the smell of garlic summer sausage because I stick my day food in the main food/cook pack to hang at night.

I haven't thought this through for you but when I come to a portage I put on the food/cook pack and simply toss the dayfood pack on top of it and go. If it starts to shift I give it a poke to stabilize it.

Since I do three loads when solo   this isn't advice as much as a kernel of an idea you may be able to adapt or expand to fit your own style. If all you took for food was FD and oatmeal -  and it fit - it could probably work. Although, the one site I had the longest bruin type conversation at also had what I originally was old FD packages from sloppy campers in one area. Now I know a little better....  

FWIW - last I heard the bear population is down. Fewer moose is my guess.

 Since your an add water and fish guy, these might do the trick. Different brands, same principal.
Put your freeze dried items and food items in these and then just hang or cache at night in stuff sack, or one of these waterproof clear roll down bags? If there certified too carry human waste, they must be pretty good  

(You need to Login or Register to view media files and links)

(You need to Login or Register to view media files and links)

I use a similar item along with something called an ursack which is lighter and adapts to packing better (although less bear resistant than the hard shell containers.  On a thread discussing time to portage, the external frame pack issue came up.  I use an external frame pack because it is better able to help me carry a load.  I also like that it had two large main compartments that would come in handy in your situation.  I see no problem with packing your gear you want to keep odor free in one compartment (presumably protected in something waterproof) and you smelly stuiff in another.  The pack may have some smells but I would not worry about a bear messing with it if it was left out empty (I would not bring it into the tent).