Last July my wife and I were heading into Little Lakes Valley south of Mammoth in CA. We were stopped by a ranger and he asked me to produce my cannister as it was mandatory. I did and we were off for the weekend for our adventure. I have been using Ursacks now for 5 years and have yet to have a problem. I trek in The Sierras and if their is no requirements then the Ursack is my system of choice. Sometimes I eat where I sleep and I still have had no problems. Then again these areas were not "bear problem" areas.

Edited by kennyhel77 on 02/23/2005 18:16:40 MST.

You might wish to remember that our own odors, BO that is, is very very strong to bears, much stronger than a pin hole in the 30,000 times less odor special bags Ursack makes. Cook and camp in separate places, camp AWAY from where most cook and camp best policy.

Well, sorry to say but the only cantainer that is okay'd by the NFS is that big, ugly, heavy, plastic can that they rent. Of course it is a mandatory piece as they ask if you have one or even two. Of course, we say and get our passes. As earlier stated the canisters are required in some areas but not all. The canisters are not for the low impact packer, but the high steppin' masses that want to camp in the woods (without any experience). Plus it brings more revenues for the Parks. (In short)

Does anybody know where I can get an Ursack TKO?

That's funny, the NPS Yosemite site (http://www.nps.gov/yose/wilderness/bfoodstorage.htm) says that the PME is 'conditionally approved' and refers you to the SIBBG site. The SIBBG site (updated 1/27/05) doesn't even list the PME. Also, the PME website given at the NPS site doesn't exist and a Google for 'Purple Mountain Engineering' doesn't turn up their site.

Your 'anecdotal evidence' is just that, anecdotal. The Bearvault 110b and 200 are approved by SIBBG. Not 'conditionaly approved' but 'approved'. That means they passed the 'zoo test' and "been successful during three months of field-trials in the summer. Approval may be revoked due to unexpected problems in the field that either lead to failures, injuries, or resource damage." (SIBBG)

Edited by earthroamer on 03/09/2005 14:15:27 MST.