Hi all, I'm planning a JMT thru-hike later this month and I have a bear canister question. I have a BearVault BV500 and am planning on 7 days from Muir Trail Ranch to Whitney Portal. I just tried to fit 6 days of food in the canister (my first day of food I can keep in my pack since it will be gone before going to sleep) but I'm unable to fit everything in the canister.

I assume other people have had this problem before - what should I do? Thanks!

In order of increasing cost........

alternate 1: re-do your menu to reduce the bulk so it does fit.

alternate 2: carry a 2nd smaller Beavault for the excess

alternate 3: buy a larger canister (i.e. Bearikade Expedition = 9 days capacity) and sell the Bearvault.

Edited by wandering_bob on 08/18/2010 16:23:55 MDT.

Option 4: (althought probably cheaper than option 2) Rent a Bearikade for that section of your trip. The rental rates are pretty good ($3 a day for the first couple of days, $2.50 a day afterwards).

Also, look at the packaging on your food. If you are using prepackaged freeze-dried food, a lot of space can be saved by repacking into ziplock bags or something similar.

Yes, definitely look at your food packaging and eliminate bulky items. For example, the packaging for commercial freeze-dried meals is very bulky--repackage them in quart ziplock freezer bags. Consider taking couscous (a more compact and quicker cooking form of pasta) to replace noodles. Or take a rolling pin to your noodles to break them up into very small pieces.

I have easily put 3 breakfasts, 3 lunches and 3 dinners for 4 people in a BV500, so it is quite possible to squeeze a week's food in the thing.

I don't know if I am alone here, but I was able to fit 4 1/2 days food in the small bearvault for my upcomoing jmt.

If you can't get more efficient then hang the excess the first night. I bet at least half the JMT hiker do that after resupply and it is perfectly legal. I have done this on most of my longer trips.

You can get ten days of food into a BV-500 if you pack for minimum volume per calorie rather than just trying to stuff a bunch of freeze dried stuff into the can. I am an old, slow hiker and spent ten days going from resupply at MTR to Whitey Portal. I was able to fit all of my food at 2800 cal per day into my BV-500. All it takes is a bit of planning and starting the trail with a bit of a reserve tank (eg pot belly).