The fill-in parts,

I have been backpacking 40+ years in the Sierra Nevada and have never lost food to a bear. I had been hanging my food for the last 20 years or so and have been able to find the right branch at the right height so that the bears always went for someone else bag before mine. When I am above treeline I usually cliff-hang my food.

I had an Ursack then got the aluminum liner. I used the odorproof liners and never had a problem. Now that the Ursacks are no longer "legal" where I am headed (I am starting below Mt Whitney on the PCT and hiking north along the Muir Trail) I need a new modern way.

I was going to get the Wilderness-Solutions Palisade EST to replace my old ways but was informed a) first that It had not been tested yet and then b) had failed "sight inspection" whatever that is. I had held out high hope for this device for use in the Sierra backcountry this season.

To prepare for this trip I bought a brand new "large" BearVault and when I went to pack it into my new lightweight pack found out that the canister would not go in the pack sideways but only north and south (and just barely at that). The straps on my pack are not long enough to allow me to carry it on the outside either.

Yesterday I trundle back to REI and get the small BearVault (after it had been out of stock for some time) and buy it with the idea of returning the large one. Last night I set about working on the problem of not enough space for the food. (The JMT trip is one month away.) I am seriously thinking of getting a small (450 cubic inch) Palisade EST "as an experiment" to take along with the legal BV450 and test it out in real world conditions. This way I have a "legal" canister to fulfill the letter of the law and also have a real deterrent even if it is not legal. If I am stopped by the backcountry police I show them the red top of the BearVault and wander off on my merry way.

..........or do I just hang the extra food and eat my way down?

Randy

PS I keep looking at the Palisade EST and with the array it is possible to "protect" 2700 cubic inches of food at a weight penalty of 28 ounces. It is an ethical problem for me when my critter protection weighs twice as much as my tent!