Bearikade Expedition MKII / Outsak UL / Bear Vault BV500

I splurged last year on a Bearikade Scout and haven't looked back. Love it. It's small, portable, light, effective. I get five days worth of food in it without repackaging, assuming I carry my first night's dinner. Yes it's expensive but once bought you're done; the thing will last forever. And for the Colorado trail you'll have a fail-proof 4-5 day store of food if Bruin shows up after all.

My solution to "bear canister not required – but still some chance of bear encounters, and a high probability of other critters" is the Ursack Minor.

I tree hang it, which decreases the probability of anything getting at it, especially bears, and its construction means that even if a tree-climbing pest reaches it, they will have a very hard time getting through it.

If you go the Bearikade route like others have said you are done. If you buy an Outsak you may still buy a canister. The Expedition is
mammoth. I would look again at the Weekender unless you are going to out for 10 days+. I am looking forward to my Weekender that I'll get this summer. I have an Ursack as well. So me? I wold buy both.

Feel enabled?

"Bob – I feel like I've read a few reviews for the Bear Vault where users described having difficulty gripping the lower portion of the canister in order to remove the lid. Have you ever experienced any slippage/issues with getting in and out of your Bear Vaults?"

That is an excellent question. On one trip two years ago, I loaned my friend a BV450 to use. His mistake was to store a tiny bottle of olive oil in with the food. Due to altitude/air pressure on the bottle seal, the olive oil erupted inside the canister. So, imagine all of these plastic bags of food, and they are all just slightly slimy. Also, some of the olive oil started leaking out through the plastic lid joint. He discovered this in camp, and then put the lid back on. That's when the problem really began, because now he had a little olive oil on his hands. Without a lot of soap and water, that is hard to get off. His hands were just a little too slick to really grab the plastic canister. I tried, and I just made it worse. The lid was on to stay, and it took us 30 minutes to get the thing open. Now, that is not exactly the fault of the BV design, but if your opening techniques get compromised by olive oil, you may have a problem. With that in mind, I practiced opening it different ways until I found which one was best without the olive oil and with clean hands. If you got really concerned about this, apply some duct tape ridges to a few critical spots on the plastic to aid in gripping it for turning. That ought to help.

–B.G.–

I'd recommend getting a canister if you hike in any of the areas around the Sierras that require them. Now the trick is deciding which one. I own a BV500 and don't have problems opening/closing it. It can be a little bit of a pain pressing those tabs in when its cold, but I've never been unable to get to my food and I've never worried about it. If it were me, I'd pick up a Bearikade Weekender. It sounds like you'll get plenty of use out of it to justify the cost. That's what I plan on doing once the kids are a bit older and I can get out more.

"… I think I'll leave the olive oil at home this summer."

No, no. You must have a little olive oil for your Italian cooking.

The secret is in thinking accurately about how to bottle an ounce of olive oil so that it will not leak. If you have a 2-ounce size bottle with one ounce of olive oil inside it, then you have the rest of it as air space. Assuming that you pack that at sea level, then what is going to happen when you take it up to 10,000 feet? There is less pressure outside, so the contents of the bottle will be trying to leak out.

The first suggestion is to fill the 2-ounce bottle completely full so that there is no air space inside it. Once that is sealed, put it inside its own ziploc bag and seal that. At least if it is going to leak, the bag ought to contain it. Finally, you might orient the bag inside the canister someplace so that if the canister is overturned and bounced around, still the olive oil won't leak around.

For a short trip, I want to carry only a tiny bit of olive oil, so I have the little sealed single-use plastic pouches of it. They will expand or contract depending on the air pressure, and I have never had one leak.

They say that we all learn by our mistakes. My friend learned a lot on that trip with the olive oil.

–B.G.–

More volume. Family trips need more volume. Plus bear cans prevent high bulk foods like chips, crackers, etc. if you're at the capacity limit.

Our kids will be 11 & 9 this summer and we plan on a weeklong Sierra trip. Out with the Garcia cans and in with two BV 500 and one BV 450.

I don' like the see through aspect of the Bear Vaults. Get some sun on it and everything inside gets hot and sweaty. Like a greenhouse.

I'll admit to using a can plus a Ursack. We tried to put things in the bag that had the least chance of either attracting or giving a reward to bears- dry pasta, etc. As soon as the bear cans had enough vOlume the Ursack wasn't used anymore.

Talking with BV owners they like the clear canister. It lets them find food items more easily.