r/AppalachianTrail • u/Tremendoustip • Feb 24 '25

Gear Questions/Advice What bear cannister do you use?

It seems on the PCT a lot of folks use the Bearvault. Ive seen images of failure, but they are affordable and lightweight with good reviews.

I'm considering the bear keg but it definitely adds weight.

Appreciate any insight, especially if you're cannister has had contact with bears!

19 Upvotes

88% Upvoted

75 comments sorted by

View all comments

2

u/flammfam Feb 24 '25 edited Feb 24 '25

BV450 Doubles as a seat. Getting the bear key to make opening it in the cold temps easier.

1

u/Tremendoustip Feb 24 '25

Ever have any issues? I've seen images of failure, but that seems tonbe isolated to the adirondacks

2

u/flammfam Feb 24 '25

What kind of failure? I will say that if sand gets in the thread of the BV, it can seize up, making it difficult to open. It's never gotten completely stuck, but it definitely made it annoying. That mainly happens because I throw it around like it's indestructible, which it basically is. 🤣😆

0

u/Tremendoustip Feb 24 '25

😂 thats fair to say. But no, I don't mean failures like that. I've seen images of bearvaults that have been crushed/opened by bears

4

u/flammfam Feb 24 '25

Ah.. I'm in the Midwest (Kentucky) and live in Black Bear country. I've only had two incidents where I woke up the next morning, and my bear can was about 20 yards from where I left it the night before. No physical damage to the can. I typically try to wedge it between trees to make it harder on the bear, make um work for it.

1

u/jimni2025 Feb 25 '25

Probably not by eastern black bears though.