Bearikade

I think bear vaults are back. After the Yellow incident BV added a second tab/lock and it has been allowed since. There is good info on the seemingly out of date BV website.

"After the Yellow incident BV added a second tab/lock and it has been allowed since."

Plus, I think that was a long time ago. The old models with single tab are probably long since off the market.

–B.G.–

"The old models with single tab are probably long since off the market."

But what do I do with my single tab BV?

"But what do I do with my single tab BV?"

You could use it to store food in, as long as you were not in an area of super intelligent black bears.

The Bear Vault company sold the first generation of products, and then when problems arose, they offered replacement deals to the first generation owners. One friend of mine was offered a free second generation product, so he took it. However, they never asked for the first generation product to be returned. I don't know. It may have ended up in the plastic recycling bin.

What happened when you contacted the Bear Vault company about this? Maybe you don't have your original receipt.

–B.G.–

I go where the dumb bears are : )

Only place is beach of Olympic Peninsula, and it's really just for raccoons

Some day I may do something on JMT, are there super intelligent bears there?

Oh, and I use it in my car to keep mice out of food

I use mine in RMNP, and nobody asks or checks. When I pick up the permit, the ranger asks if I have a bear canister. "Yup." And that's it. They have maybe 25 black bears, half of which probably aren't even in the Park on any given day/night. Nobody I know has ever seen one there.

"Only place is beach of Olympic Peninsula, and it's really just for raccoons"

I guess a raccoon is just a mini-bear, but with opposable thumbs. Raccoons don't have tremendous strength like a black bear, and they don't have much strength in their bite. OTOH, raccoons are much better climbers than bears, so they could get into a hung bag easily.

"Some day I may do something on JMT, are there super intelligent bears there?"

Yes, especially in a few places. Yosemite Valley has a bear problem, but those are mostly bears that break into cars by a variety of methods. Rae Lakes has a bear problem. The Mount Whitney Trail has a bear problem. Maybe a couple of other places. You can tell by where bear canisters are required by the authorities. There are maps.

"Oh, and I use it in my car to keep mice out of food"

One would want to know how the rodents are getting into your car in the first place. Do they use the wireless entry system?

I will comment that the double-latch BearVaults are pretty good. If I foul up and get olive oil on my hands, it takes me about a half hour to get the damned thing open.

–B.G.–

"One would want to know how the rodents are getting into your car in the first place. Do they use the wireless entry system?"

That's what I would like to know

"I will comment that the double-latch BearVaults are pretty good. If I foul up and get olive oil on my hands, it takes me about a half hour to get the damned thing open."

That sounds like a self inconsistent sentance : )

I usually just close it to just before the latch to make it easier to open. I leave the canister relatively close to me. The raccoons seem to stay away. I do see them walking around on the beach and especially leave their prints everywhere, but not around my camp.

"I use mine in RMNP, and nobody asks or checks. When I pick up the permit, the ranger asks if I have a bear canister. "Yup." And that's it. "

In Yosemite, when you go to pick up your wilderness permit, the ranger asks you if you have a bear canister. When you answer that you do, they show you a page with six or eight different bear canisters shown, and you have to pick yours out of the lineup. They write that in on the permit.

Now, what they ought to do is to have that page with the six or eight canisters shown, and then an additional six or eight decoy photos. If you pick the wrong one, they would make you physically show yours to them as proof.

As an example, last year there was a guy backpacking in Yosemite with a DIY plastic bear canister by Rubbermaid. A bear would have made short work of it.

–B.G.–

Jerry, the bears who graduated from Cal are super intelligent. The Stanford bears, not so much.

It is only the lids that changed when BearVault added a second black tab a few inches around the lid from the first. The body of the BV are the same and don't need to be discarded. I think one could contact BV and see if they will exchange or replace the old-style lid with a new-style lid (or if they are for sale).