how much food will fit in a bear cannister

[Bart.T]

Hi again,
For a 5 night trip, is it realistic to expect that 2 bear cannisters will hold enough food for 2 adults and 3 kids? The kids will be 5, 8 and 11 at the time. We'll be renting the park cannisters, since that seems to be the cheapest and most convenient option.
If that's unlikely to work out, can somebody post the details on meals at one of the high sierra camps -- cost/reservations/quality etc... The two HSCs on the route are Sunrise and Merced Lake. Thanks!

[dan]

I think so, barely, or bearly.
My wife and I would use 1 bear canister for a trip that long, but it's a tight squeeze.
The first night, doesn't matter--you eat it.
Take non-bulky foods. For example, bagels are BULKY--don't take. Oatmeal, soups, and other stuff you add water too take no space.
There's websites that have examples of foods that don't take space (they still may be heavy). Remove extra freeze dried packaging right before the trip.

HST meals I think are just for the overnight guests, IIRC. You can buy candy bars, but that's about it.

[balzaccom]

Hi Dan

I agree with Bart. Remember that you can carry your first day's lunch and dinner outside the bearcan. And you can plan on making it to a trailhead and lunch on the final day. SO if you are in the woods for five days, and four night, you really only need to carry THREE nights' dinners in the bear can. It will be tight, but you can do it.

I would say definitively for four adults....but kids need a little something extra on the trail, and don't like being hungry. My wife and I can get five days' worth of food in a bear can, without problems. WE use instant oatmeal (add walnuts for extra calkories and flavor) and hot chocolate for breakfast. That's light, small and easy. Freeze dried dinners (we also like some miso soup before hand, for better hydration) You should probably get by with one four-person dinner for the five of you, given the ages of your kids. Lunches for us are the bulkiest part of the food.

Sometimes we cram whole grain bread into a square tupperware container, then take salami and hard cheese...or peanut butter.

Add to this a bunch of bars and dried fruit, and you should be OK. And if you wife can do without face cream, that will save some space, too!

Hope that helps.

You can see our whole pack list on our website: http://www.backpackthesierra.com/home/o ... t/the-list

it will even give you the food!

[TigerFan]

Also, if your SECOND night is one of the high sierra camps and you're planning to camp in their backpackers campground, I think they all have food lockers. So, potentially, you'd only need to pack 2 days' worth in the bear cans.

[AlmostThere]

I'd recommend getting one and practicing. I also recommend that if you don't want to run the risk of getting to the park and discovering the can doesn't pack the way you thought it would, getting instead the rent-by-mail Bearikade weekender - holds more stuff, canister weighs less. I rented one for a five day outing and it came three days before the trip. When I got home, I emptied it and put it back in the box, took it to the post office, mailed, done. These have a wider opening and it's much easier to pack when you haven't packed a bear canister before.

I tried to get reservations to eat at the HSC we were going to camp at - you have to get them early or they're booked. Go to yosemitepark.com for the phone number and price info.

Tortillas or flatbread pack well in bear cans. Those 3 oz tuna or salmon packets do too - couscous, oatmeal, instant potatoes, and instant rice, Justin's peanut butter packets... look at trailcooking.com for a lot of kid friendly meals, the author of the website and associated book raised her kid backpacking and there are things like mac n cheese redone as a couscous meal.

[TigerFan]

By the way, is there a particular reason why you're limited to 2 canisters for the 5 of you? If it's because you're assuming that your kids won't be able to carry one, I just wanted to sugget that if you haven't hiked with your kids before, I think you might be surprised at how much your kids can carry.

I took my son on his first backpack to the Grand Canyon this past fall. He had just turned 11, is very light for his age and was able to carry all of his own gear (sleeping bag, pad, clothes, headlamp, etc.) plus his food (4 nights) and water (2-litre reservoir). And I swear he practically ran up that canyon.

[AlmostThere]

That's true - you could even get a forty dollar bare boxer can (assuming they are still on the approved list) or rent the Bearikade scout, and one of the older, larger kids could carry a fair share of the food stores. either one is quite small. Or they can just carry some of the food in a gallon ziploc and put it in the canister at night.

You will need ziploc bags for trash btw. Trash goes in too. Which is why repackaging everything into as little packaging as possible is a good idea.

[balzaccom]

That is great advice.

Yes, do practice packing one of these things beforehand. THe first trip we took, we barely got three days' of food in it. By the third hike, we had five days' worth.

And part of that was re-packing almost everything. The freeze dried dinners get put into baggies, where they take up less room. I also puncture all the packets of craisins etc. to let out extra air so that I can pack things tight!

[Bart.T]

Well, even though my 11 y.o. is 5'1", she only weighs about 80 lbs. So I was figuring on her carrying about 20. It sure would take a lot of the stress out of the packing if she were to carry a bear cannister, but I thought it unlikely that she'd be able to tote her water, clothes, personal items, bag, and pad as well. I suppose I need to actually weigh her gear, instead of just estimating. Maybe her cannister could take the bagels and other bulky food ... thanks for the thought.

My hope is to avoid picking up a lot of the kids' bulky items.

I remember a backpack trip when my kids were 1 and 4. I carried the tent, 4 bags, 4 pads, the food, stove, filter, blah blah blah. It was only 2 or so miles in, so the weight wasn't a big deal. But getting everything into and strapped onto the pack took a while, and it was an awkward size load, to put it mildly.

By the way, is there a particular reason why you're limited to 2 canisters for the 5 of you? If it's because you're assuming that your kids won't be able to carry one, I just wanted to sugget that if you haven't hiked with your kids before, I think you might be surprised at how much your kids can carry.

I took my son on his first backpack to the Grand Canyon this past fall. He had just turned 11, is very light for his age and was able to carry all of his own gear (sleeping bag, pad, clothes, headlamp, etc.) plus his food (4 nights) and water (2-litre reservoir). And I swear he practically ran up that canyon.

[Bart.T]

Thanks! That list with the weights is really helpful.

Based on that, it does look like a bear can with only really light stuff would work for her.

I am focusing on fun...so want them to have plenty of food and enough gear to stay warm and dry. If need be, I suppose I can probably carry the extra cannister as well.

I would say definitively for four adults....but kids need a little something extra on the trail, and don't like being hungry. My wife and I can get five days' worth of food in a bear can, without problems. WE use instant oatmeal (add walnuts for extra calkories and flavor) and hot chocolate for breakfast. That's light, small and easy. Freeze dried dinners (we also like some miso soup before hand, for better hydration) You should probably get by with one four-person dinner for the five of you, given the ages of your kids. Lunches for us are the bulkiest part of the food.

Sometimes we cram whole grain bread into a square tupperware container, then take salami and hard cheese...or peanut butter.

Add to this a bunch of bars and dried fruit, and you should be OK. And if you wife can do without face cream, that will save some space, too!

Hope that helps.

You can see our whole pack list on our website: http://www.backpackthesierra.com/home/o ... t/the-list

it will even give you the food!

[TigerFan]

Well, even though my 11 y.o. is 5'1", she only weighs about 80 lbs. So I was figuring on her carrying about 20. It sure would take a lot of the stress out of the packing if she were to carry a bear cannister, but I thought it unlikely that she'd be able to tote her water, clothes, personal items, bag, and pad as well. I suppose I need to actually weigh her gear, instead of just estimating. Maybe her cannister could take the bagels and other bulky food ... thanks for the thought.

My hope is to avoid picking up a lot of the kids' bulky items.

Well, I have to admit that I spent the year before the Grand Canyon hike watching out for deals on good lightweight gear for my son. He only weighs 70 lb so I wanted him to carry no more than 15 lb (I'd read that 20% of their body weight should be the upper limit.) He carried a 30-litre pack. His sleeping bag+pad only weigh 2.5 lb together, so that really helped. I found that he was perfectly happy with my old 3/4-length thin pad -- I guess when you only weigh 70lb, you don't need a lot of pad thickness to be comfortable. We also take very little in the way of clothes -- just one change of clothes, one fleece, one rain jacket, and camp shoes.

We're actually doing a very similar hike as yours this summer; from TM to the Valley in July. I've never hiked with a bear canister before. My plan is to rent a Bearikade canister (by mail) -- more room and a lot lighter. I usually bring all our trail food from home, so I can just pack it in the canister for the flight out. We don't get fancy with the food -- Mountain House dinners, cheerios and dried fruit, summer sausage/salami, sardines, peanut butter, saltine crackers, and homemade trail mix. I make mochas with Starbucks' instant coffee plus powdered chocolate and we like the powdered Ocean Spray juice packets and Tang. We're going to try to book a dinner at one of the HSC's too since I think that'll be fun.

[AlmostThere]

While I understand your wanting normal food to make it fun... Bagels and similar are going to take up a LOT more room than you think in a bear can.

One gallon is 231 cubic inches. Observe (I threw in can weights so you can compare the weight and the volume)

Garcia 2 lb 12 oz 614 cu in
Bare Boxer 1 lb 13.6 oz 275 cu in
BearVault BV500 2 lb 9 oz 700 cu in
Bearikade Weekender 1 lb 15 oz 650 cu in
Bearikade Expedition 2 lb 5 oz 900 cu in

Get a gallon can or plastic container. See how many of your meals will fit in one. Get seven of them (simulate two Weekenders and a Bare Boxer) and see if all your meals for four days and your toiletries will fit in. It won't matter that the container is square or round; your food will be jammed into the space regardless of the shape of the canisters. Heck, a five gallon bucket or one of those cat litter boxes would give you a pretty good idea of what it's like.

If you're going to be taking anything other than food that squishes, compacts and is able to be mashed into small spaces without concern, you will need larger or more canisters. Food that pours or molds without deforming works very well - m&ms, gorp, couscous and powdered stuff is popular for that reason. Sharp sided stuff like pasta needs thicker packaging so it doesn't poke through and tear the plastic. I typically take bulky food to eat the first day - that's when the potato wrapped in foil goes in the fire, or the bagel and cream cheese get eaten for lunch. It won't ever have to see the inside of the canister. For small items I don't want squished (condiment packets, for example) I'll put a small ziploc container in near the top of the canister where the bulk of the food won't be pressing down on it.

I'm not saying you shouldn't take real food if you want it - just that bear cans are smaller than they look. With practice you can get more in. I've hauled a platypus of wine in the top of mine for a few days. (Of course, it got progressively lighter ... )