Bear Can Backpack

[Ronald Rod]

Thought that I would post this up as it inspire someone else.

I went out to do the JMT last year, and will be doing more hikes in bear country (Glacier, Lost Coast, Yosemite) again this year, so I built a pack specifically for the job of carrying a bear can. I was tired of digging around, and having to pack around the can, so instead I built the pack around the can.

Weight comes in at 1 pound, 7.5 ounces. It has a corrugated plastic framesheet, and the pack carries like a champ. The can sits right in the arch of my lower back. It is nice to be able to stop at lunch, get food out without having to unpack anything.

Thought I would share.

Cheers

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[Dave Heiss]

Brilliant!

[Daryl and Daryl]

Nicely done plus it looks cool.

I like the match up between back and can curvature.

[a b]

I really like your unique approach to the problem of carrying a bear canister. It looks like your design could also carry a Bear Vault 500 as easily as the Bearikade Expedition shown.
We were all just having a brainstorming session about this very subject recently at GGGIV. Some ultralight packs wont fit a large enough bear canister inside to cover a 10 day hike such as the JMT.
Your solution is very interesting.
Nice Work!

[Corey Miller]

This looks great, what canister is that though? Even if I wasn't in bear country I wouldn't mind carrying this just for the easy access to food. Looks big enough that I could fit my Ikea stove and pot inside.

Edit-Disregard, noticed the logo on the can.

[Konrad .]

whoa, looking great! Any way we can see the backpanel? I'm curious to see how the waistbelt attaches etc. Thanks!

[Ken Thompson]

Very cool concept. Any chance we could see it being worn? Just don't drop that on anything sharp when loaded.

[Konrad .]

"Just don't drop that on anything sharp when loaded."

HAHHA, i just got this awesome visual of a carbon fiber pinata, with freeze dried food exploding everywhere on the trail as the payout.

[Andrew F]

That is awesome. I've never liked packs that carry the can on top, since it's in the way and seems kind of awkward. That is an elegant solution to that problem…

[Ronald Rod]

Glad you guys like it. A couple more details:

1. The corrugated plastic actually runs underneath the can and forms a bit of a shelf to help keep it in place, and to help protect the can. Though I think the can is pretty dang strong, and can withstand some pretty serious abuse.

2. The hipbelt has a sleeve that it passes through. There is Velcro on the hipbelt and on the inside of the sleeve to help keep it in place.

3. The can feels super secure in when it is on the pack. I did cut a 6" by 8" piece of rug gripper that I place between the can and the bottom 'shelf' to help prevent side to side movement.

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Let me know if there are any other questions.

Cheers!

[Casey Bowden]

How much?

What size Bearikade?

[Harald Hope]

Very cool idea, good to see someone 'thinking out of the bag', so to speak. Can't help but remind me of my old REI external frame pack with the sleeping bag and tent stuck under the main storage sack of the pack.

How does this carry with the can almost empty of food? Seems like it might be a touch top heavy at that point, have you found the way the weight distributes over a week noteworthy? that's the only real downside I can see with this method.

If I were a cottage gear guy I'd take a close look at this, it really does seem to solve a big issue with UL/SUL packs, at very little cost beyond the possible top heavy part of the weight distribution, but then again, ul loads aren't that high in the first place. I use a Lowe zepton true 50 liter pack (ie, internal bag volume is really 50 liters), and bv500 fits fine across the top, inside the pack that is, horizontally, but that's not a sul pack, just a quite light one at 2.5 pounds or so.

[MFR]

Is that an adjustable torso and a removable hipbelt that I see? Incredible workmanship, and really well thought out.

On the plus side, you won't need a bear can in Glacier. Most if not all of the developed campgrounds have bear hangs, and it can be pretty difficult to get a permit for an undeveloped site (doable, but difficult).

Awesome work! Congratulations.

[j lan]

"Just don't drop that on anything sharp when loaded."

HAHHA, i just got this awesome visual of a carbon fiber pinata, with freeze dried food exploding everywhere on the trail as the payout."

You guys are kidding, right? You know those canisters can survive a 100ft drop off a cliff, right?

One night in the ONP we left our rental bear canisters(same model shown here) out and some wiley raccoons rolled them off a nearby cliff onto some rocks. Barely a scratch. The fabric will burst into a million pieces before the canister will even dent/crack.

[Ken Thompson]

Not all canisters are created equal. Does give a good visual though. Like the cushioned flap too.

[Sam Farrington]

Ron,
Congratulations on your truly unique idea and bringing it to life.
I don't hike where bear cans are required, but for years have felt the angst expressed on BPL threads from those who do.
This really addresses the problems they express, in the most creative way imaginable, and with the added pluses you noted.
I could actually go to bear can country now.

[Gregory Petliski]

"One night in the ONP we left our rental bear canisters(same model shown here) out and some wiley raccoons rolled them off a nearby cliff onto some rocks. Barely a scratch. The fabric will burst into a million pieces before the canister will even dent/crack."

You were RENTING bearikades??

As for the back, way cool! I too am always bummed at having to pack around the can. I even bought my last pack mostly because it would fit the bearikade weekender horizontally instead of vertically. I just have one question, does having the can and the associated food weight on the bottom of the pack make it carry awkwardly? I always learned that you want your heaviest items as close to the body as possible and between the shoulder blades.

[d k]

I love your idea – beautiful job on the pack!

[j lan]

"You were RENTING bearikades??"

Olympic national park was picked by the company that manufactures bearikades as a testing ground for their products. So if you go to a ranger station they will ask you if you have a canister and rent one to you for like $3 and if your trip is long enough or if you are lucky enough, you get a bearikade, otherwise you get a garcia.

Good times!

[Konrad .]

Thanks for the additional pics Ronald! Quick question, what forms the curving support/shelf that goes underneath the bear canister? I can see the corrugated plastic, and it appears to stop at or slightly after the beginning of the curve, but what material forms the rest of it? Is it just fabric? is there CCF sandwiched in there? or am I wrong and its still corrugated plastic? Thanks!

[Doug Coe]

That's brilliant! I love seeing someone rethink the whole approach to carrying a bear can in a light pack.

Have you used it yet? How does it carry?

[Hobbes W]

Very clever. I have also built a couple of packs expressly for carrying bear canisters. Like you, I realized the name of the game is to have the can @ the bottom of the pack down in the small of your back.

(As for storing food/weight distribution, I store light items [G/C, tarp, beanie, gloves, etc] in the can & place my food on top of the can as if I didn't have it at all. That is, I pack in the traditional style of having the heaviest/densest weight right in the middle. Of course, I have all the food sealed, etc – exactly as if I didn't have a can and was hanging. The can is purely for legal purposes; well, I do use it at night since it's already there.)

Anyway, I like the idea of placing the can horizontally. In my previous efforts, I've put the can in vertically (right-side up), but since it's a BV 450, it fits down in the small of my back and has worked very well.

The one comment I would have about your design is that if it were all one-piece, then you could use your sleeping pad as a back pad/pseudo-internal frame from top to bottom (ie all the way to the hip belt attach point). Right now, it looks like the dangling cloth that backs up the "can caddy" is sewn on the bottom. If this was continuous within the pack, then your pad/frame could extend from top to bottom.

Of course, if you did that, then you wouldn't have to create the stand-alone caddy – you could just measure the appropriate dimensions for the can section of the pack and then stuff the can down the bottom of your pack.

In fact, I think I might try that. Like I said above, I've placed mine vertically, but if I modify my dimensions a little bit for the bottom of the pack, I can get the can down there horizontally without making the rest of the pack oversized, etc.

[Bob Gross]

"In my previous efforts, I've put the can in vertically (right-side up), but since it's a BV 450, it fits down in the small of my back and has worked very well."

Also, you might try putting the BV 450 in the pack with the flat lid against your back. That works best for me.

–B.G.–

[Hobbes W]

"In my previous efforts, I've put the can in vertically (right-side up), but since it's a BV 450, it fits down in the small of my back and has worked very well."

Also, you might try putting the BV 450 in the pack with the flat lid against your back. That works best for me.

–B.G.–

Bob, you're not gonna believe this, but that's how I used to pack my can in my old Osprey pack. When I started building my own UL packs, I naturally just stuck it right side up within my rolled sleeping pad.

After I posted my original reply above, I began to think about the respective dimensions of the big 3: BV, Bearicade & Garcia. With the exception of the BV 450 (the solo model I have), all are taller than wide. However, with the BV 450, it's actually 8.3" tall vs 8.7" wide.

So, in this case, you're absolutely correct – I should continue placing it flat against my back. And, since it's flat, I can once again place it in the middle of my pack. That is, abutted against my *folded* pad, my pack should be nice & flat through the mid-section.

However, and this is a huge however, in all other cases where the can is taller than wide, it needs to be placed either upright or sideways. Now, this is where it gets interesting: since you want to minimize the length of can running along your spine, it should be placed sideways as shown in the photos @ the top of the thread. And because you want to limit the narrow contact point of the cylinder against your back (even sideways), it should be placed at the bottom as also shown.

OK, the next question is whether to have the can attached externally – really, no different from the external frames that originated in the 60/70s where bags/pads attached from the bottom via cinch straps. The advantage of these models is that the frame is continuous from top to bottom where the hip belts attach.

I think the missing piece of this pack is not having the sleeping pad extend all the way to bottom (to the hip belt attach point) in order to create a complete virtual frame. Other than that, it's a nice re-visit to an older design, updated to deal with bulky bear cans instead of bulky sleeping bags. In fact, I think it would work especially well as the can got taller/bigger ie the BV 500, etc.

[Scott Nelson]

I am intrigued by this idea and applaud your work. One suggestion I might add is that if you are carrying a Garcia Can, the dreaded "raised Rim" will hit you in the spine. If you add some strips of blue foam on the pack on either side of where the "rim" hits your back, you will pad around it. This will pad your back, and help hold the can in place from shifting laterally. Cheers, Scott

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