Bear canister selection

The 450 will do for one person for about five or six days, depending on how tightly you pack it.  Longer than that, and you will need the 500.  We have both,

And thru-hikers avoid bear cans wherever that it legal because of the weight, nothing more.  There are still bears in other areas…

Yeah, I have both, plus a Ursack when appropriate.

The general rule is 100 cubic inches per day.  I can get about 4-5 days of food in a BV450.  If you stay in the Sierras where they are legal, a Bearikade is a nice investment over a Bear Vault.  An UrSack is legal in some areas too (not in Yosemite or SEKI) but even the most staunch UrSack fan will agree it’s probably not as secure as a hard sided canister if a bear really gets a hold of it.

Yeah I got it If they do not have canister how do they protect the food.

It has nothing to do with protecting food, it is all about saving bears.

That’s why the Ursack works.  If a bear gets a hold of it, your food is useless – it would be one big blob of bear saliva soaked mush, but if the bear can’t get the food out, it has no reward.

+ 1 to “It has nothing to do with protecting food, it is all about saving bears.”

All the research has shown with both black bears (e.g California bears) and brown bears (e.g grizzlies), when they get habituated to human food, they start getting closer to humans which leads to more bear-human encounters, and eventually dead bears.

At the risk of thread drift, it should be pointed out that the manufacturer of Ursack specifies that the sack needs to be tied with a proper knot to a not moveable object in such a way that the bear cannot carry it off. Given enough time, the bear could penetrate the woven barrier.

@ mandarin,
There are still places in the Sierras where a proper hanging of a bear bag (that is not an Ursack) in a tree will work …but these are not the most popular spots for backpacking. The Carson Iceberg Wilderness, for example once you are away from the PCT, has lots of bears but few backpackers so IMO you can get by with a proper hanging.

It is also a good habit to cook and eat and clean up 200 or 400 yards from your campsite if not have dinner a mile before you pitch your shelter and have breakfast a mile or two after starting your morning hike. This way there are no food smells to attact the bear in the first place

You can use google to research the web sites of the various wilderness areas to get their up to date recommendations. For some trail heads, the US Forest Service recommends against hanging your food but does not require hard sided canisters. There are multiple reasons for the changing recommendations including the bears learn how to bring down hanging food and some backpackers are sloppy in thier habits.

If you are doing just one trip a year that needs a hard sided canister, you can rent them here: https://www.wild-ideas.net Also I believe REI has started renting canisters. And some of the Land Management Agencies that require canisters, have in the past had some available to rent. Check thier web sites.

Ok  i know the details thks for all of you to unravel my confusion.I think a bear vault 450 is my best condition