One of the biggest changes about the Sierra’s is the presence of bears – black bears at least, not grizzly’s – but you have to deal with them since you’re in their house now. So for the next 400 miles every single hiker MUST carry all their food and or personal hygiene items or anything that might carry a scent in that plastic canister. Below is Kyle’s and when its full of food, it’s freaking heavy!

Bears don’t have opposable thumbs (thank goodness) so the lid is constructed in such a way that they can try to open it, but can’t. (At least that’s the theory…)

Not only do you need to carry and keep all of your food in there, but when you camp, you’re supposed to take your bear can and go 50 feet away from your camp area and with rope you carry, you suspend your canister up at least 30 feet in the air. This way it will swing in the air out of a bear’s reach. Just one more camp chore that I guess you have to get used to!

But this was too funny not to share. Most hikers I’ve seen have their cans inside their packs. But our friend No Man decided he wanted to put his outside of his pack. And, he decided he had a message for the bears!

Lastly though, and I really don’t want to end this on a scary note, but this is something that was found about 10 days ago at mile 719. No one knows who’s it is or where the rest of the can and its contents are. I don’t know of any unaccounted for hikers and no one to our knowledge has reported their can lost – so for now its just a creepy mystery. What concerns everyone is how the bear appears to have indeed gotten the top off! Clever, furry buggers!

Note from Scarf…. We don’t hang our bear canisters from trees, but we do carry them a distance from us before retiring. *Most* bears can smell through the containers, but know they can’t get into them, so they move along. That is the theory anyhow.