Well well. After picking up a backcountry permit for a trip into the Park later this month, I was idly perusing the summer newsletter handout and happened to read the following under the Wilderness Camping blurb: all food items and garbage must be stored in an approved, commercially made bear-resistant container “that is either hard-sided or has a non-crushable insert”!!! I called the backcountry office, and this does indeed mean the Ursack with the aluminum insert. Glory be! Of course, this being the Government, they have to actually see your Ursack to verify that you have put the insert in. Dear lord.
This is good progress in the lighter-weight world, though I got the impression that this recent change is deliberately not being widely advertised. There seems to be nothing in the Park’s wilderness food storage requirements reflecting this change on the website. I would bet that most visitors don’t pay much attention to the Wilderness Camping paragraphs in this free newsletter, either. Hopefully, this change will stay in place.
If I choose to carry the Ursack, it will mean another separate 80-mile round trip for the verification, but it might be worth the weight savings. Guess I should feel lucky to live so close!
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