[pct-l] Cramming a BV450

[Erik The Black]

I carried the larger BV500 (or whatever they called the big one back then)
through the Sierra in '07, and could barely fit four days of food inside!

Of course anyone who has read my blog knows that I'm a hearty eater. I can't
imagine eating only 2,500 calories a day. Especially in the high Sierra -
the steepest, rockiest, toughest, snowiest, mosquitoeiest, highest section
of the whole trail. That stretch, more than any other, calls for big-time
calorie consumption!

In the future I will use an Ursack. I know they aren't "officially approved"
but I don't really care that much about meeting requirements and following
rules. I just want a practical way to keep bears out of my food.

It would take a really determined bear to break into an Ursack. Plus, with
all the "low hanging fruit" from JMT hikers camping by the lakes, roasting
marshmallows and frying fish over the campfire, there are a lot more
attractive targets for the lazy Sierra bears.

Smoky would really have to have a craving for your stale Ramen noodles to
hike way up into the mountains where you're dry-camped and gnaw through a
Vectran bag for an hour and a half to get to it.

An Ursack only weighs about 8 ounces and holds almost a much as the big
Bearvault. Two of them combined fit perfectly in the top of most packs, and
that gives you 1,300 cubic inches of "almost" bear-proof food storage, for
only 1 pound of extra weight.

My Bear Vault is now a container for storing loose change ;)


-Erik The Black
www.eriktheblack.com