The necessity of a bear canister

[AlmostThere]

There are pack stealing bears in Tuolumne Meadows, near Eleanor Lake, over on the High Sierra Trail, Hetch Hetchy...

Also the cars are not safe. Ranger told me about a female bear that would find unlocked car doors, climb on in, tear apart the interior looking for crumbs and trash and food, slide out the door again in such a way that her weight tipped the car, then it would bounce back and shut the door. Not a mark on the outside but the inside looked like Edward Scissorhands had a seizure.


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[markskor]

Feel a rant coming on here!

Been backpacking our Sierra well over 40 years - easily over 2500 bag nights out and still going strong - (alas, only 87 days last year and unfortunately, didn't see one bear backcountry...Ever wonder why?).

For years, had many of the same thoughts as the OP posted here above: "I never lose food/always hang successfully/carefully/no need for any can /silly /heavy /too large /bulky."...Sound familiar?). I've slept with my food, double hung my food, single hung my food (PCT method), used fixed overhead steel cables, cables that lowered, bear boxes where available, submerged food underwater, and even used the gallows/long stick method once seen in Tuolumne. Back then, we saw bears nightly. Then came the bear canister.

Bears quickly learned that the mere sight of a can in camp meant futility - ain't getting anything there. Soon enough bears learned to stay away - a waste of energy. Soon enough, no longer did bears make nightly visits anymore in the dead of night, obviously looking elsewhere for their main sustenance. We slept better too. We learned and the bears learned...(took 20 years or so)... to co-exist Sierra without having to interact in a dangerous manner backcountry.

Today, my Bearikade comes along every-time now, not only for my own food's safety, but more so for he bear's safety as well as the safety of all the other backpackers who came before and after me. Before the can, we always actively protected our food/ slept within earshot of our food stashes/worried a lot. You collected "ready" rocks to throw, set complex noise traps to alert us, stayed up for hours after being visited...generally we expected bears anytime in campsites. Bears learned, how to foil our efforts, and soon lost their fear of man/acclimated - some/many then were put down for getting too familiar. "A fed bear is a dead bear."

Today, some misguided backpacking individuals do not feel the need to carry/ have abandoned using/ won't carry a can since: Haven't seen a bear, never lost anything to a bear, not going anywhere near where a bear lives, going too high, know how to hang, think bears are no longer the active threat of 20 years prior, hiking ultralight and weight is a major issue, just passing through a designated bear-can-zone and willing to risk it, the rules are nebulous and unenforced anyway, will use an Ursack instead, willing to hang even though illegal, will sleep with food and hope, bears are not dangerous... stupidity, selfish entitlement, or ignorance.

(You could also add something here about small critters being the bigger pest.) Bottom line though - use of the bear can saves lives - bears and ours. The writing is on the wall. Areas Sierra (and elsewhere) where cans are a "must have" are expanding. The numbers of backpackers are increasing...bears are thriving too.

Carry a Can!