Bear canisters

[Heliotrope]

I’ve never carried a bear canister. Doubtful I’ll enjoy putting a large canister in my 40L pack. Anyone strap the empty canister on top of the pack and transfer the food into it at camp?


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[HooKooDooKu]

Either way, you are carrying the weight of the canister... and by not leaving the food in the canister, you have the added weight of what ever you put the food in during the day.
The one trip where I had to pack a canister, I placed my sleeping bag and cloths at the bottom of my pack, the food canister on top of them (compresses them to make more room without compression sacks) and stored everything else around and on top of the canister.

[blackmagic]

The BV450 is not as challenging as the BV500 to deal with, and a well-packed 450 holds a surprising amount of food.

[JC13]

I carry the canister full, strapped to the top of my pack. I did this with my BV500 and I still do it with my Bearikade Blazer.

[Slo-go'en]

It's unlikely you could strap the canister to the top of a 40L pack effectively enough to keep it from bouncing around and banging against the back of your head.

Someone should make an external frame pack which would hold a bear vault securely along with say 50L of gear and side pockets for 2L water bottles.

[4eyedbuzzard]

It's unlikely you could strap the canister to the top of a 40L pack effectively enough to keep it from bouncing around and banging against the back of your head.

Someone should make an external frame pack which would hold a bear vault securely along with say 50L of gear and side pockets for 2L water bottles.

I think I owned something close to what you described 40 years ago or so.

[LazyLightning]

Dan McHale has a system that works really well

http://www.mchalepacks.com/ultraligh...ter%20Page.htm

[HankIV]

Yeah, me too. Camptrails with two U zips to main compartments. Lotta lawnmower work went into it.

[Cheyou]

It's unlikely you could strap the canister to the top of a 40L pack effectively enough to keep it from bouncing around and banging against the back of your head.

Someone should make an external frame pack which would hold a bear vault securely along with say 50L of gear and side pockets for 2L water bottles.

Seek outside revolution frame with a mesh talon and a 50L dry bag . Or any size dry bag for the trip.

https://seekoutside.com/revolution-s...on-pack-frame/


stay healthy Thom

[JC13]

It's unlikely you could strap the canister to the top of a 40L pack effectively enough to keep it from bouncing around and banging against the back of your head.

Someone should make an external frame pack which would hold a bear vault securely along with say 50L of gear and side pockets for 2L water bottles.

https://vargooutdoors.com/exoti-ar2-backpack.html Its been tempting me, especially since I saw someone on here selling a dcf pack body version...

[colorado_rob]

These newer external frame packs are intrigueing.. BUT do you really want to go this way because you have to carry a bear canister for 10% (what, 250 miles?) of the PCT? Separate these two concepts, check out external frame packs if you want. But really, thousands of PCT hikers, probably tens of thousands, have had zero problems strapping a bear canister somehow to their plain-jane-common modern internal frame backpacks. You will have no problems, even with a 40L pack. You won't love carrying the extra 2.5 lbs (or 2 lbs, if you spend the $$$ on a Wild Ideas), but you'll get over it.

[BlackCloud]

It just slides right into most internal packs. I wouldn't want to carry the weight of a full canister near the top of my pack, exterior or interior.

[Heliotrope]

It just slides right into most internal packs. I wouldn't want to carry the weight of a full canister near the top of my pack, exterior or interior.

Exactly why I asked if anyone carries the empty canister on the top of the pack by day and then transfers food into it by night. Admittedly I haven’t used one and perhaps I will find that the canister inside my pack is doable.


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[Heliotrope]

These newer external frame packs are intrigueing.. BUT do you really want to go this way because you have to carry a bear canister for 10% (what, 250 miles?) of the PCT? Separate these two concepts, check out external frame packs if you want. But really, thousands of PCT hikers, probably tens of thousands, have had zero problems strapping a bear canister somehow to their plain-jane-common modern internal frame backpacks. You will have no problems, even with a 40L pack. You won't love carrying the extra 2.5 lbs (or 2 lbs, if you spend the $$$ on a Wild Ideas), but you'll get over it.

I don’t want to change my pack for that 10% of trail just to accommodate the canister.


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[nsherry61]

Forget trying to fit one of those darn beer canisters into your backpack, get one of these deals. . .
lawn roller.jpg

[Heliotrope]

Forget trying to fit one of those darn beer canisters into your backpack, get one of these deals. . .
lawn roller.jpg

That’s what I need!


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[Average Hiker]

Like others on here, I put my clothes and bag in a compactor pack in the bottom of my pack, and stood up the cannister in the pack on top of them. I put it in the middle of the pack and stuffed everything else around it.

[Traveler]

Bear canister weight should not be much of an issue once you get the bear out of the canister. After that process there are other things to worry about....