Backpack for BearVault 200 – JMT

[daniel B]

Tom – You can easily fit 7 days of food into a bearikade weekender and this I've attached to the top of my ULA Circuit. It was my first trip into the sierras and since then Ive reorganized the amount of gear I take and therefore I could put it into my pack vertically. I do like carrying it on top and outside for easy access. I've then have purchased the HMG 3400 and this has a lot more room. If you're anywhere near Pittsburgh (monroeville to be exact) you're more than welcome to check out what i have to test your gear.

[Yair Mazor]

Thanks for all the info guys.

I'll like to get some of your input about the feasibility of using a canister with a ULA OHM backpack.

Since I really love the pack, and don't travel much in bear country, I might even rent/burrow one – which one can fit reasonably well to the OHM?

I understand that the OHM might be marginal for the task, but I know it is common among many PCT thru-hikers – how do they get by in the Sierra?

Thanks.

[Bob Gross]

Every bear canister is slightly different in size, but fairly typical ones are the BearVault 500 or 450. They are approximately 27.5 inches in circumference. Assuming that you want to put such a canister vertically into a backpack, you have to figure out if that circumference will fit it. A little more space is good, since sometimes you want to pad the circumference with some clothing to avoid the hard lump felt through the pack.

The problem is that few backpacks are described in dimensions for a circumference. More likely, they are described as a rectangular solid. They are when they are assembled, but they tend to look more like a cylindrical solid in use, perhaps because of the bear canister inside. You can take the sum of the two smaller rectangular dimensions times two as a perimeter, and then see how that relates to the 27.5-inch circumference I mentioned.

It is unusual to find a bear canister significantly smaller than this, since most have a diameter of eight inches or so. The exception is the little Bear Boxer, since its diameter is more like seven inches. So, that is the little one to consider if the bigger ones don't fit your small backpack. Unfortunately, its volume is good for only two or three days of food.

–B.G.–

[Tony Wong]

Tom,

Long time no yack….good to hear from you.

Regarding the Bear Vault 500 with 700 CU IN on the JMT out of MTR.

I was not able to get 7 days of food in mine….maybe 6.5.

Basically, I had to carry half the day's food in my pack.

Jeremy had the Bearikade Weekender at 650 CU IN and was not able to fit all of his food in it for those last 100 miles/7 days worth of food.

In his case, he sent his UrSack, not approved for use, to hold whatever he could not fit in his canister.

Because of our experience on the JMT, I am considering having a custom made Bearikade cut for 750 CU IN get a full 7 days in or to simply allow for easier packing with the extra space. Interestingly, that comes in at 12 inches tall, which is the height of the Bear Vault 500/700 CU IN.

Anyway, coming out of MTR freshly resupplied, with 31-32 lbs of weight in a Jam2 and Jeremy with an MLD Exodus, sucked. (This was the heaviest part of our trip).

Jeremy was not happy at all with his pack cutting into his shoulders. (To be fair, it is not the pack's fault. Jeremy has a small MLD when he should have gotten a medium sized pack).

Yeah, a frameless pack really is best with 25 lbs or less.

After about 2.5 – 3.0 days, our packs became tolerable.

27 lbs was noticeably better than 30-32 lbs and we complained to each other a lot less.

22 lbs was a dream to carry.

(Jeremy bought a MLD Exodus FS as a result of our JMT trip and I am going to follow suit in 2014 and get one…assuming Ron is bring it back)

I would suggest that you make sure that you have something under your canister to pad it from damaging the bottom of your pack. What I mean is that having a hard canister inside your pack means that when you put your pack down on the ground or on granite, you can scrape up the bottom of your pack or even put a small hole into it. Putting padding under it will cushion the impact of setting down your pack and avoid a scraped up pack.

In my case, I used my Gossamer Gear thinlight pad, folded up and put under my canister for cushioning.

Side note: 1/8" pad did not cut it for keeping the chill off our backs when used with a Gossamer Gear Torso pad and packs under our legs….have since moved to a 1/4" pad.

The key things about making your Gorilla work for you is to get everything to fit.

With the light metal frame in the pack, I would hope that it could carry the load.

The challenge is that with the canister sucking up so much space in your pack, everything else needs to be compact to fit on top of the canister or next to the canister.

Hope this helps.

Tony

edited to add pictures

[Daryl and Daryl]

Tom,

This isn't going to be much help unless you are into myog or custom made gear. The nice thing about either is one can address things like bear canisters in the pack design. Only a small amount of additional fabric is needed to make space for bear canisters.

My myog backpack, for example, can hold two BearVault 500s in the back bag (horizontally) and another at the top strapped to the frame….and the pack weighs less than 1 pound.

[Arn Aarreberg]

I carried a 60L frameless zpacks blast last year on the JMT with a BV200. I was able to fit everything no problem. I started the trip with 26 lbs and left MTR with 30 on the dot carrying food for 7.5 days. I was able to fit all my food in the BV at MTR except snacks and dinner for that night. I finished the trip with just a bar and some energy chews.

The key things for this pack is the wide hip belt and I used a 6 panel zrest as part of my sleep system and pack frame. It worked flawlessly. I really had no issues carrying 30 lbs out of MTR.

As far as the BV200, I do wish I had a little extra room and agree with Tony that a 750 ci bearikade would be perfect. However, it is possible to carry enough food in the BV, you just have to be very specific when picking food for that part of the trip. Plus, that last day, assuming you are going from Guitar Lake to Whitney Portal, you only need a minimal amount of food since you can stuff your face with cheese burgers and beer at the end of the day.

[Tony Wong]

+1 on what Arn said.

My recollection is that I probably had 3/4 to 1/2 a day's worth of food left over at the end of my trip…just a question of if you get to Whitney Portal on the same day that you reach the top of Mt. Whitney.

If I had overnighted on the way down to the Whitney Portal, then my 7 days of food would have been just about right.

Arn….thanks for your thoughts on 750 CU IN being just right. I have not ordered a bearikade yet, but was pretty sure 750 CU IN would be just perfect for 7 days of food.

Tony

[Rick Sutton]

Tom,

I don't know if you have any interest in leaving the trail, however, here is an idea that I used on my first southbound JMT hike. I couldn't solve taking enough food from MTR to Whitney (I had much heavier gear and volume at the time and some poor food choices) so I planned to walk out over Kearsarge Pass and out to Onion Valley trailhead. It was very easy to get a ride to the close town of Independence where I had mailed a food drop to the local post office. I decided to spend a night in a local hotel and they drove me back to the same trailhead for $10 the following morning. If you didn't want to stay out you could probably time your exit so that you could get in, get your food, and get out the same day.

Years later with lighter and smaller gear and better food choices, I have gone northbound and was able to make it from Whitney to MTR with a Bearikade Weekender and a ULA Catylast and another year did a yo-yo from Whitney to MTR and back to Whitney with food in a Weekender and using a GG Mariposa plus.

I also feel there is a science of sorts as to how much food one can get in an canister. I have greatly increased the amount of "calories" (days of food) I can get in my weekender canister over the years – both in the type of food I selected and how I packed it. Looking back at my notes on my 2009 JMT trip, I was able to get almost 26K calories in my Weekender which for me was for 9 days. Total food weight was 12.3 pounds. Daily food weight was 21.9 oz and my food averaged 132.0 calories per ounce. I can also increase this to 10 days of food if I start out with all my food for the first day in a separate sack and out of the bear canister.

Hope any of this helps.

Rick

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