Yosemite Forum

The last time I was backpacking in Yosemite I saw a guy with his BearVault strapped on the outside of his pack—and the BearVault was empty! Of course I asked him about it.

He explained that it didn’t really fit well inside his pack, so he just stuffed all his food into a plastic garbage bag in his pack (no problem fitting that!) and then carried the BV on the outside, as if it were a Zrest mattress or something. When he got to camp he put the food into the BearVault, and everybody was happy.

I’m not sure I’d want to travel that way, but I do give the guy credit for thinking outside the box…or the backpack!

As long as he doesn't leave the food and backpack unattended, he's probably okay with that.

But seems like he could still put the food inside and strap it to the outside. I'd feel safer that way, myself.

My Osprey Exo allows me to put my bear canister inside okay, but when I tried out the Zpack archaul I had to strap my bear vault to the top. Worked fine with food inside.

Full of food, it might weigh ten pounds. That's a lot of weight hanging on the outside, Empty it's a couple of pounds. Big difference

The ten - twelve pounds of food will always be inside the pack, with the water. No off balance backpack for me, I already deal with hip pain.

Would you guys have ever guessed that I have an opinion on this subject as well?

I'm a real stickler for not having things on the outside of my pack. It makes me feel bulky and encumbered. Besides that, I'm one to constantly toss my pack and hoof around too much to not have it be fast and easy to deal with separating the two. I can pull off a 50-60L without a can, but with one, I'll always grab the 75L. I'm usually just carrying my Garcia most of the time, but I've found that since I have to carry a big plastic cylinder almost without exception, I can just use my Bearikade Expedition and load it up with about everything but clothing, bedding and water filter since I don't need most of it except at camp when the can is out anyhow. And even if I do need something, the way I pack gives me a great base platform that keeps the lid of the can right at the top of my pack.

The way I see it is, if you can't fit your canister into your pack in the Sierras, you bought the wrong pack.