Food Storage in Brooks Range

Gear
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Bear canisters vs. Ursacks on northern Alaskan rivers? Recommendations?

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Hey Forest! Ursacks are of course lighter, but depending on where you are, there may not be enough brush to tie them to (I’ve seen a bear walk off with an Ursack that wasn’t tied to anything). Bear canisters would be a safer but bulkier bet. That said, I plan to use my Ursack in AK this summer :laughing:

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Bear canisters were our go-to on the Nigu. We used a combination of both, but for food cache and a majority of the food it was canisters. Also, a great camp stool. They fit well into the gunnels of the Alpacka Expedition!
Ursacks were way easier to pack into boats, far lighter, but didn’t have the same confidence as the canisters. Picked our canisters up from the Interagency Center in Coldfoot.

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Thanks for sharing your intel Paul! Were the canisters free to borrow or did you rent them from the center in Coldfoot?

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Thanks to both of you for the feedback! I’ve used canisters while backpacking in the past but really dislike their weight and bulk in a pack. But…when heading off to climb some peaks I imagine the canister is going to be much greater piece of mind that our food will still be there (unsmashed!) when we return. Speaking of that…(another topic perhaps), has anyone had bears mess with (shred) their packraft (and/or other gear) when leaving it cached for a period?

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I agree, bear canisters are more of a safe bet. That being said, I have always used ursacks on several AK trips and not had issues… I have heard stories of animals messing with packrafts when left unattended. Last summer in the Brooks Range while on a side trip for a few days, my group rolled up our boats tight and managed to get them into our ursacks, and then hung up high on a line between two trees. This seemed like a good solution, if you have trees.