Quote Originally Posted by LoneStranger View Post
Well you are welcome to that thought. TYOT as they say. Hope you don't mind if I do likewise.
How boring would these forums be if we all thought the same?

As for TYOT, I was using a bear canister in Denali National Part in 1988 and 1989. A whole lot more than 10 years ago.

I've slept with my food most of my life as that's what people did historically, and that's how I learned.

In 1990, in a remote'ish area of Olympic National Park, at the end of a long day hiking along a dry ridgeline in the rain without enough water, we saw 11 black bear and a cougar. That afternoon, when we decided to make camp, there was a bear browsing up on the ridge above us. But, since there were bear everywhere we turned (all the rest of which were close enough they ran away when we walk by), we gave up trying to find a place without a bear, pitched our tent, put our pots out to collect rain water, stuffed our food inside our tent with us, went to sleep, woke up the next day with overflowing pots (It apparently rained 7 inches that night). BUT, the area was not heavily traveled by people. At that point in time, outside of a few areas in the country with problem bears, nobody ever thought about using bear canisters, and, in this case, we didn't use one.

To suggest that the world is evolving toward everyone using bear canisters (if that is what you are doing) is absurd! There are times and places where they are the best option. There are times and places where using them would serve no purpose whatsoever. There are places, like the High Peaks area in the Adirondacks, where bear canisters (many commonly used and otherwise respected and yes, certified ones ones) have proven to be quite inadequate as the pile of destroyed bear canisters at the ranger station would imply.

And finally, there are times (probably most) where there is no clear and unambiguous right or best answer and we all have to use our personal best judgement, and then trash our friends on-line for not sharing our own personal risk aversion or sets of expectations.