Camping at Lake como

[SoCool]

http://www.14ers.com/forum/viewtopic.ph ... 44#p575044" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Backpacking bear canisters don't add weight, they replace the weight of the food hanging ropes you no longer need.

[JenGa]

Sean I think maybe you are thinking of something different (?). Bear canisters are plastic, about 2 pounds or so and really not a big deal to carry. I think someone else pointed out that by reducing the weight in your pack in other ways (lighter tent, lighter pack, etc...) it doesn't add much weight and can fit food for at least two people.

bear canister.jpg (30.97 KiB) Viewed 1191 times

[AdDoBe]

My daughter and I climbed Blanca on July 15-16. The weather and conditions on the mountain were excellent! We had heard all the reports of the bear in the area of Lake Como. While we were there at least one camp each day got hit, maybe more. When we arrived at Lake Como we just kept on going. We camped above the lake (east of it) on the north side of the road. There is a great campsite on the plateau that is immediately past the couloir that leads to the hourglass route on Little Bear. We practiced as much food discipline as we could muster and hung all smelly stuff in a bag high between two trees keeping everything away from the tent and packs. We cooked and ate under the bear bag. We had no issues with the bear or any other critters except the mosquitoes. This may have been due to us being away from the lake and the bear's normal poaching area, our food discipline, or just blind luck. I think our location and behavior at least improve our luck. Take our experience with a grain of salt, YMMV.

Sounds exactly like where my wife and I camped July 18-19... and the bear ripped a hole in our tent. At the time, we were ~150 feet downwind eating dinner and hiding our bear canister.

[Sean Nunn]

Sean I think maybe you are thinking of something different (?). Bear canisters are plastic, about 2 pounds or so and really not a big deal to carry. I think someone else pointed out that by reducing the weight in your pack in other ways (lighter tent, lighter pack, etc...) it doesn't add much weight and can fit food for at least two people.

bear canister.jpg

My bad, I stand corrected. I have obviously never used a bear canister. I guess I was thinking of bear lockers that I have seen perhaps at Yellowstone. Sorry. Just out of curiosity, what is the approximate volume capacity of a 2 pound bear canister such as the one in the photo?


Sean Nunn
Raytown MO

[reinselc]

Mine's like 9" in diameter and about 9" high, so I think that's about 570 cubic inches if I did my math right.

[AdDoBe]

The picture appears to be the BearVault BV450. According to the specs on rei.com, it weighs 2lbs, 1oz and has a capacity of 440 cubic inches.

[RobertKay]

The picture appears to be the BearVault BV450. According to the specs on rei.com, it weighs 2lbs, 1oz and has a capacity of 440 cubic inches.

Dodge also makes a 440 cubic inch model, but their's is much heavier!

[mrmethane]

As much as I hear what you are saying about putting your food in a bear canister, these are big metal objects and pretty heavy. It probably isn't realistic to carry one up the road if you are on foot. As much as I normally disagree with limiting access, perhaps the solution would be to close the "road" to automobiles and ATV's a few miles below the lake. No one going up on foot would have bear canisters, but something tells me no one would have cases of beer and huge amounts of food left out in the open either.

I absolutely agree with you. Too many have already demonstrated that they cannot be trusted to keep a clean campsite if they are allowed to drive all the way up with their beer and large amounts of food. They have contributed to the bear problem. When this happens, you close the road to eliminate this possibility. Access to those willing to walk with a full pack is not hindered at all. You just keep the yahoos out. I'm all for that kind of access restriction.

[JonW]

To put it mildly, camping at Lake Como sucks. There is trash everywhere, the mosquitoes are horrible, an overly aggressive bear that will tear up your stuff, and hiking that road is absolutely miserable. My advice is to tag all three summits and never return.

We camped above the lake just past the LB cairn on Sunday, 7/19. During our hike, trash and small food items were left in our bear canister. We broke down camp and placed our stuffed sleeping bags, tent, and air mattresses in a plastic bag high in a tree. We came back to camp to find it ransacked. For whatever reason, the bear tore up my buddy's air mattress despite it being rolled up in a stuff stack and placed in a trash bag. This bear has become overly destructive towards anything that resembles a human. I suggest carrying a bear canister per person and put everything you're leaving behind at camp in the canister. It's a good thing we were only there for a single night.

[macgyver]

Just curious if anyone has tried or had luck with the PCT method of hanging a bear bag. There are some youtube vids as well. http://theultimatehang.com/2013/03/hang ... ct-method/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[mattyanderson26]

With Little Bear still on my list of peaks to hit this summer, this thread obviously has me concerned.

I've seen many folks recommend using the Zapata Falls TH as an alternative for Blanca and Ellingwood, so I imagine it could feasibly be used to get Little Bear as well. So looking for your expert opinions (factoring mileage, additional climbing required and other conditions); if my climbing partner and I wanted to avoid Barney the Bear and skip camping at Lake Como altogether, are we better off hiking in on Lake Como Road and doing LB as a day trip, or hiking in to Zapata Falls TH the day before, camping, and then using that way to hit LB the next day. We both have 2WD vehicles, so we'd be starting from the absolute bottom of Lake Como Rd.

[Jim Davies]

The PCT method requires a good long branch away from the trunk with clearance under it. In my experience these are hard to find.

We did double-tree hangs last year when we backpacked, but for Little Bear we just car-camped in the desert and day-hiked it because of the bear problems. It took all day (and part of the night), but with good weather it worked.