A few years ago I bought an Ursack to keep the black bears from New York's Adirondacks out of my sodium-laden dehydrated camping food. No bear problems, but the squirrels and maybe porcupines chewed the hell out of the opening.
I had planned to keep on using it but the DEC decided that bear canisters would be mandatory because so many people were losing their food to the ever more clever bears.
Because I try to pack light, I got a solo-sized BearVault which looks like an oversized lexan nalgene container. It held my food just fine and nothing was lost to the ursine critters.
This year when I arrived at Adirondack Loj, the folks asked what kind of bear canister I had. I told them and they said that they were requiring the use of the Garcia model (the one that needs a coin to open) because bears had been able to get into the BearVault kind and they even had one at the trailhead chewed up quite a bit. Seems they can get their teeth or claws under the lip and pop it open. Pretty impressive creatures out there.
They let me swap mine for one of their rentals but said that it may be different next year. I might have to pay.
Anyone have any bear experiences with the Garcia model or another? I hate to have to drop $75 on a replacement. Maybe I'm just venting but damn I like to eat when miles away from civilization.
I had planned to keep on using it but the DEC decided that bear canisters would be mandatory because so many people were losing their food to the ever more clever bears.
Because I try to pack light, I got a solo-sized BearVault which looks like an oversized lexan nalgene container. It held my food just fine and nothing was lost to the ursine critters.
This year when I arrived at Adirondack Loj, the folks asked what kind of bear canister I had. I told them and they said that they were requiring the use of the Garcia model (the one that needs a coin to open) because bears had been able to get into the BearVault kind and they even had one at the trailhead chewed up quite a bit. Seems they can get their teeth or claws under the lip and pop it open. Pretty impressive creatures out there.
They let me swap mine for one of their rentals but said that it may be different next year. I might have to pay.
Anyone have any bear experiences with the Garcia model or another? I hate to have to drop $75 on a replacement. Maybe I'm just venting but damn I like to eat when miles away from civilization.
. Black Bears can rip the door off an SUV in Yosemite [as demonstrated] so these canisters need to be freaking strong. The problem with the Garcia is that it's very heavy. Other than that it's a nice little canister, extremely robust and makes a good stool. The Garcias always seem to be the loaner/rental canister of choice, which must say something about how tough they are. The opening is very easy to access and impervious to sand and other things that may clog threads. The downside to the Garcia's top is that it's not waterproof - something to keep in mind. Probably OK if placed on its side. I used to put it in the sleeping bag/tent compartment at the bottom of my pack. Not sure where I'd put it these days as I have a much smaller pack. I hitched a ride with a ranger in Yosemite in 2010 and he was saying that the park [Yosemite] now issues all their rangers the carbon fiber Bearikade. It's very light and strong [I held his], but alas, the smallest version is about $200!! 