Bear Canister capacity

[rlown]

most of us don't eat on a regimen with wax paper between the days. There is a daily regimen for repacking the can on what might happen the next day.. might happen.. As pointed out, after day 3 the can becomes somewhat emptier, and as my custom bearikade can fits horizontally in the lower part of my pack, she does shuffle stuff around.

[maverick]

I’ve never had a problem fitting everything (including toothpaste and sunscreen) for up to ten days since getting a Bearikade Expedition.

Wow, my capacity at the most, is 4-5 nights in a BV 500, anything over that, have to use my Usrack or BV 450. When the BV canisters were not around, there were quite a few trips, where 2 Garcia canisters were carried, and all my camera gear
My caloric intake is crazy at home, but when I am in the backcountry, it just goes into over-drive, especially after day 4, constantly need to eat.

[Wandering Daisy]

9-10 days food at 2300 calories per day and 1.25 pounds per day fits in my Bearikade Weekender. For my age and weight this is sufficient. I am however surprised that you larger guys can also do the same trip with the same size bear can. I will loose a few pounds on that ration, but funny thing is that I rarely am overly hungry between meals. Lots of activity and exciting things to see and do keeps my focus off food. At home I get bored and really have to watch that I do not overeat.

Mav- your pack is heavy because of the camera gear, thus you work a lot harder than most of us packing all that. It makes sense that you need more food! My total pack weight is 30 pounds or less for a 9-10 day trip. When I was younger, climbing hard, and carrying all that heavy gear, I needed 3000 calories per day. I guess needing less food is one advantage of getting old!

[longri]

9-10 days food at 2300 calories per day...

...would translate to maybe 6 days at 3500 Cal/day, or 3 days for a party of two. And if you take cornflakes or crackers or aren't really diligent about packing out every cubic centimeter of space you might not even get three nights out of it for two people.

Which is why I took the Expedition. But I guess we had too much for even that.

[rlown]

9-10 days food at 2300 calories per day...

...would translate to maybe 6 days at 3500 Cal/day, or 3 days for a party of two. And if you take cornflakes or crackers or aren't really diligent about packing out every cubic centimeter of space you might not even get three nights out of it for two people.

Which is why I took the Expedition. But I guess we had too much for even that.

Which is why everyone should carry their own can..

[Wandering Daisy]

When my husband goes with me, we take my bear can and an Ursack, and plan the first few days to be in an area where the Ursack is also acceptable. Coincidentally, most areas that require bear cans also do not allow dogs, and hubby will not go without the dog, therefore, our trips together are usually in areas where bear cans are not required anyway. We mostly do 5-7 day trips. So most of the food fits in my bear can and by day 3 it all fits. Our trips are fishing trips, so we only take 2000 calories per person per day. We usually catch plenty of fish. Honestly, if we were to run short we would just come out a day or so early.

When I go with someone else, we each carry our own bear cans and cook separately, even if we could stuff all the food in one bear can.

By the way, my Ursack has about 1-2 days less capacity than the Bearikade weekender. We also have a Bear Vault, which has about one day more capacity than the weekender. However, I no longer use the Bear Vault because I have such difficulty getting it open. We also have an old Garcia. It has about 2 days less capacity than the Bearikade, but its two downfalls are that it is heavy and the cook pot does not fit through the top opening.

[The Other Tom]

Interesting about the Ursack capacity. Do you use the aluminum liner in the Ursack ?

[oldhikerQ]

I can fit 7-8 days in my 12" Bearikade Blazer. If i'm lazy about packing, the first days lunch and dinner stay outside.
I like WD's idea for using wax paper to separate food into layers. I usually end up unloading the can before every meal to find something that I need for the current meal.
I also don't each much when I'm out. I'm not hungry the first couple of days, and have to force myself to eat. I also can not handle large food inputs before and during hiking. In spite of this, I still bring too much food. Maybe I will get a handle on what I really will eat some year.
YMMV

[longri]

Which is why I took the Expedition. But I guess we had too much for even that.

Which is why everyone should carry their own can..

That would work for three days.

But for a long enough trip do you think everyone should carry two canisters?

I've done a number of trips where that's the capacity I needed (1200 cu in). I have other strategies to ensure that bears won't get my food but, like Daisy, I often use an Ursack for overflow. We had two Ursacks on that weeklong trip I mentioned earlier where our food would not fit into our two canisters until the second to last night. So our food was secure from bears each night, just not legally.

[SSSdave]

I have never been able to pack more than 7 days of food I want to bring into a 615 cubic inch Garcia. But then I refuse to pack it like WD or just bring dense food. Unlike many, as a thin wiry person at 5'6" 137 pounds. I tend to be hungry on days with physical exertion. Conversely I eat on days like this at home just poking keys on my computer tend to eat like a bird. Also am a really slow eater. During work group luncheons I've always been the last person to finish their lunch even after choosing a modest menu item. On longer backpacking trips, I do tend to bring along those Mountain House freeze dried dinners for 2 and eat a whole package. Also a good variety of sweets and snacks.

Own 2 Garcias, a 500 cubic inch BV500, an Ursack, and a small 300 cubic inch Lighter1. Always carry the Garcia into the national parks, however the limited capacity of one Garcia has also prevented me from doing a few longer trips I would have otherwise made. For the upper Kern 10 day trip I was going to do over Shepherd Pass, I had a scheme to bring the Garcia full of 6 days worth of food plus the Ursack where I would use the latter on the first 2 approach and last 2 days leaving the Ursack east of the pass up in the talus within INF.