[pct-l] Water, bear canisters, stoves/fuel

[Ben Crowell]

Re bear canisters --

Bears are extremely uncommon almost everywhere in California.
If you have a map that shows places where there are bear boxes,
that's because those are the unusual places where bears are
common. The first step toward avoiding bear hassles is to
avoid camping at those places. If you do that, you are extremely
unlikely to see a bear.

The Sierra is a patchwork of jurisdictions. In some of those,
canisters are required. In some, they're not.

For the sections of the PCT where hard-sided bear canisters are
not required, one option is to use an ursack, which is much lighter
than a bear canister. It is also fairly resistant to rodents,
etc. An ursack is much more effective against bears than hanging
your food from a tree.