Protecting food (and us) from Bears

One of the biggest pains, gear-wise, on the trail will be bear-proofing our food. There are two generally accepted methods of dealing with this: hanging your food and/or bear canisters.

Hanging your food is the most convenient. All you need is a sack of some sort, some rope, and a high enough branch that's a bit away from your campsite. Toss your food in the sack, tie the rope to the sack, sling it over the branch, and tie it off. All done. Doesn't take up much room or weight. The problem with this is that most National Parks don't allow that method.

Bear canisters are pretty much what they sound like: big jugs that you stick your food in that bears can't get into. These do have the advantage that if bears try to get your food they can't crush it, and they help seal the smells in so bears are less likely to try in the first place. These are required for hiking through most national parks. The downside is that they are big, bulky, heavy, awkward chunks of plastic.

Right now, in the lead for Bear Canisters is Lighter1 Big Daddy (http://lighter1.com/products/). One of the lighter canisters on the market, it still weighs in at 2lbs 4oz. Not ideal. Also awkward to pack.

A new contender on the market is the Ursack S29 (http://www.ursack.com/product/ursack-s29-allwhite/). Not yet approved for use in most national parks, it is a bear-proof BAG. Made of bulletproof material, this 7.8 oz container can be used to play tug of war by 2 bears holding it in their teeth and come out unscathed. This would be much easier to pack and much lighter than a bear canister. There are a couple downsides, though. First, bears can grab it and run off with it, so hanging it out of their reach is still recommended. Second, your food will get crushed by a bear if you use it alone. This is why they make an aluminum liner (http://www.ursack.com/product/ursack-aluminum-liner/) made of airplane grade aluminum (adding 10.8 oz, the system is still lighter than most bear canisters of the same volume). Third, bears can smell the food through the bag, so the company recommends the use of odor proof bags to help avoid drawing bears to you.

I'm really hoping the Ursack is approved by the parks I'll be trekking through by the time my trip rolls around.