[pct-l] Bear Canister

[abiegen at cox.net]

Diane Soini of Santa Barbara Hikes <diane at santabarbarahikes.com>  wrote:

You all may enjoy Crow's review of hiking in Vibram Five Fingers and
barefoot last summer.

http://asthecrowflies.org

Crow also mentions her problems with her bear canister in that posting. It must have been fairly new and as she writes:

"I reached out of my tent, grabbed my frosty bear canister, tried to open it—it didn’t budge.     I straddled it and tried to open it,  it wouldn’t turn a bit—it was completely locked up.   And that is when I renamed my BearVault 450 bear canister: my “Goddamn, Piece of Shit!” bear canister."

I had had the same problem on a previous trip with my bear vault. When I was preparing for my PCT adventure, Piper walked into the kitchen to find me filing down the lock nubs on the vault. She was shocked and asked what I was doing. I told her, I'm filing down the nubs just a little so that I will be able to get this thing open.

After you use your bear canister for a while the little plastic nubs will naturally wear down a little, the edges on the plastic will soften and it will be easier to open. When it is new it may be extremely difficult to open. So when I get a new one, I artificially age it by knocking off just a couple of millimeters of the locking nubs. 

You don't want to be out in the high Sierra carrying this ungainly bear vault with all this heavy food and learn first hand a bear's frustration at not being able to open it. And it's semi-clear so you can see what you can't eat! Very frustrating. Been there, couldn't do that! And it will get even more difficult to open when it is cold, your hands are cold and you are tired.

Check your new canister several times when you first get it to make sure you can open it. If you can't and if it is yours, not a loaner, you might want to consider "aging" it a little so it opens easier. Just don't totally defeat the locking mechanism.

If I can, later I will try to get some pictures of what I am talking about.

TrailHacker

"When my feet hurt, I can't think straight"
Abraham Lincoln