AT Thru Hike

Bearikade (www.wildideas.net) is the lightest (carbon fiber) but considerably more expensive. Comes in 3 different sizes I believe.

I can’t imagine many people will carry a canister 2,000+ miles when it’s not needed.

FWIW I live 20 miles from the southern end of Shenandoah National Park and camp in and around there a fair amount. It’s the area with the biggest bear population until you get way north. I se bears while hiking and running pretty often. I hang a bear bag.

Comes in 3 different sizes I believe.

Now 4 off-the-shelf sizes, plus they will make custom in-between sizes.

From the ATC website,

“ATC strongly recommends a bear canister for storing food on your A.T. hike (and so does the Nantahala National Forest)
(1/12/2017-present) The ATC and Nantahala Ranger District strongly recommend carrying a bear canister—constructed with solid, non-pliable material and designed to resist bears—to store your food and smellables on the A.T. Bear canisters provide an effective alternative to hanging food bags.

An excellent resource for black bear related information can be found at http://www.sierrawild.gov/. Examples of recommended bear canisters can be found here

Recent bear activity in:

Nantahala Ranger District (8/24/17), See NC section, below, for details.
New York (5/23/17), (8/16/17) See NY section, below, for details.
Shenandoah National Park (10/7/17)
Massachusetts (6/29/17) See MA section, below, for details.
Vermont (6/29/17) See VT section, below, for details.
Southwest Virginia (7/12/17) See Southwest Virginia section, below, for details.
Great Smoky Mountains National Park (GSMNP) (10/4/17) See GSMNP section, below, for details.
Georgia (8/16/17) See GA section, below, for details.”

I wouldn’t carry one unless mandatory.

The canister is only required for a five mile section. Just sleep outside that five mile section from Dicks Creek to Neels Gap. I’ve hiked about 1700 miles of the AT and not seen anyone using a canister. All the shelters in GA have bear cables and the SNP had poles. A lot of shelters have bear boxes or poles. Just hang your food away from wear you sleep and you’ll be fine.

I think I saw two people start with a canister. Didn’t see anyone finish with one. I use an Ursack and there were lots more of them this past hiking season.

I think mice are a bigger danger to your food on the AT than bears.  I carried the rodent version of the Ursack in 2012.  The bear version of it should be fine.  Just remember it isn’t a hardshell can so don’t let the bear play with it all night.  If you want a small hardshell bear canister, the Bare Boxer Contender can is pretty small.  I had no problem fitting 3 days of food in it while carrying a 4th when I hiked the JMT last fall which would work for most AT sections except for the northern most part.  That said, 15 days wasn’t long enough to get a strong hiker hunger.