High Sierra Topix

I'm trying to fit everything in my Garcia now, I look to be about a day short, 7 in need 8.
A Garcia can just almost maybe works in my G-4 pack, It sure would be nice to have an extra .5-1in in the pack body width.

correct me if i'm wrong but first day snacks/meals don't have to fit..

Yep thats the plan and cuz only the last 2 days will be in a can area I'm not going to worry to much. That said I bet Yogi can read and knows where I will have his picinic bag! O well I have pepper and a sling.

I think this is the solution ... no more bear cans, just do this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CVS1UfCf ... r_embedded" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

rlown- from your photo, I somehow cannot picture you using a woman's x-small pack. lol. And yes, I DO want magic! Actually, maybe one of you big guys out there could magically appear and become my sherpa.

Tioga 5500-- does that mean 5500 cubic inches capacity? My largest pack is a 3,500. What in the world to you carry in that?? You could even bring your pillow!

I have not used my Garcia since I got the Bearikade. The old Garcia fits inside (vertical) my ArcTeryx climbing pack (2,400 cubic inch capacity). I could do 4 day trip with that if I used a bivy sack. The Bearikade does not fit in that pack at all. With the Ursack I could do 7 days with that little pack. To me the issue with bear cans is the bulk as much as the weight. I am reluctant to put any other gear inside the can as it empties (except cook gear and garbage) because everything else goes inside my tent and I do not want anything to pick up food smells. So, the pack bulk never goes down as the trip progresses. I still have faith that some day someone will invent a flexible and bearproof container that is approved by the authorities. So rather than fight the requirement to use bear cans I rather put my energy into building a better mouse trap.

For now, I am ready to go tomorrow AM- have 9 days (8 nights) food all inside my Berikade (including first day's food- so that means I can put my other "smellies" inside the first night. I have the standard size- I was under the impression it was the Weekender. rlown is correct, you do not have to fit in any food that you eat the first day. So far, the Sierra bears are not attacking people walking down the trail. ( Although I have heard rumors that this HAS happened in Little Yosemite Valley CG).

I assume the 5500 is the cu in measurement, and she's an external frame pack. Right now it is filled with stove, tent, pots, fuel, food, clothes and whatever else I could fit it.. I've gone out of my way in several areas to get the weight down, but I refuse to get in a tent if it sprinkles.. I'm there to fish. That being said, I like to dress warm and waterproof until the rod guides freeze over. The tent is for sleep, which happens at such a time I deem so (or dfg mandates).

I like my can.. The Garcia was the perfect height for sitting; 12".. so, I did the same with the bearikade. She's a great asset for bear storage and seating..

I like the pillow concept. Could probably still stuff my down pillow in the top and be only at 53 lbs. I figure I'm good to go in a double rainbow and a WM 15 degree badger regardless of where I end up.. Good luck with your search for a can that fits your style.

I'm out of here at 7am tomorrow.

yosehiker wrote:...

SSSdave wrote:

SSSdave wrote:Any Ursack hater can drag a bag full of sharp rocks behind their vehicle and cause it to look like one well known web posting and then claim a bear did it.

Are you really suggesting that park/forest service officials did this? ...

No not any government officials . Someone that probably had a negative opinion about the Ursack bag posted a picture of a severly mutilated dirty bag a bear had supposedly gotten into. To me it looked like what would occur by what I speculated and I posed that on a forum. I would expect any government controlled testing was well documented and accurate. In fact it was such a test that was how a hole in a bag occurred. The one where the bear had the bag for two days.

Wandering Daisy wrote:Bear cans are becoming the standard. Now I would like to see pack manufacturers realize this and size pack bags so a bear can will fit...

As I noted in my first post in this thread, my biggest issue is we cannot fit more than 6 days of the kind of food we prefer to take in a Garcia. I've seen the kind of food lists of those who do fit 9 days of food into Garcia's and all I have to say is BORING. I can exist so for a day eating like that but not a week as I go up into the backcountry to enjoy the experience. Two Garcia's for the 7 to 10 day trips I prefer to take when hiking to more remote areas would weigh 5.6 pounds and be ridiculously bulky to fit even in large packs. Much more efficient to carry two Ursacks without the d!@# frame.

On another board was a thread about how much food people eat while backpacking. It was enlightening to find out so many people lose their appetites and eat like birds until they get back to civilization. On the other hand those I backpack with eat a lot of food. In fact we are eating all day as we are also burning lots of calories carrying heavy weights. For our one sitdown meal each day usually at lunch, I usually eat two dinner portion meals.

There are lighter choices than the Garcia. If you take an Ursack to Trailcamp I doubt that there will be anyone there to arrest, snitch, or fine you. Its like the weather, you run the risk. Your actions will define your beliefs and the Sierra will be your springboard for that personal statement. Many people use the wilderness these days for this. Dogs, fire, a shampoo and bath, toilet paper, coffee can fish stocking, neurotic hatchet chopping, the kitchen sink... Its time to get real here. The Ursack is better than nothing at all, but don't think for a minute that its the best solution to protect the bear, because arguably its been proven otherwise.

I used my Bearikade expedition (2 pounds, 5 ounces, 900 cubic inch volume--it's huge) on an 8 day solo trip in August. It actually had 9 days worth of food in it, as I was planning on a 9-day trip but cut it short by a day. I began backpacking in the Yosemite area in the late 1970s and, as others have said, backpacking for many years was synonymous with bears. Since bear cannisters arrived on the scene, I haven't seen a bear at my camp sites (except at Thousand Island Lake). As someone else said, bears don't go up into Sierra sub-alpine or Alpine areas looking for food from backpackers any longer because they know that, although they can smell food, they're not going to be able to get to it. I love that the expedition holds a long trip's worth of food, and I was able to fit it into my Kelty Cloud large size pack. I could feel it at my back but after a day, I didn't notice it all that much. Someone on a trip I took earlier this year fit it into the bottom portion of their pack without a problem. I had to put mine in vertically and it was a challenge fitting my other gear around it. Still I was able to do it.

I read once how a person needs about 4,000 calories a day backpacking, and I've never eaten that much, even on strenuous off-trail trips (I'm 5'7, about 130 pounds). Personally, I don't think it's necessary to try and eat (and carry) what you're burning. It's a personal thing. (As long as I have a few Mountain House beef stroganoff dinners in my pack and granola for breakfast, I'm good I know I'm going to lose weight on trips.