We may earn commissions if you shop through the links below. Before they closed the entire Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness due to fires, the US Forest Service issued a bear advisory. With the extreme drought and limited food, bears were coming into camps. There was concern that bears were searching for low-hanging fruit, so to speak. The USFS issued the advice that the preferred method of food storage was a bear-resistant container, but included advice on how to bear bag, and the preferred methods to use in Superior National Forest. That got me thinking about how much I hate bear bagging and bear-resistant containers. If the BWCAW reopens this fall, I’d like to try a container. Single Tree and Pulley Bear Bagging Method The Superior National Forest suggests using the Single Tree and Pulley method for bear bagging. This makes a lot of sense in a Boreal forest, because you’re not likely to find a tree with a limb big enough to do the PCT method or other over branch method. Join REI and Earn $30 towards your next gear purchase. For the Single Tree and Pulley method, you’ll need two ropes. The first you toss over a limb that’s about 22-25 feet into the air. On the end of that, you tie a pulley or a carabiner then you run another rope through that pulley. That second rope pulls the food bag away from the tree and off the ground, like shown in the diagram. You need to get the bag 12 feet from the ground and six feet away from the tree. Then you hope that the bear doesn’t find either of the ropes and bite through them. Using something like Cloud Gear’s Dyneema Bear Bag and Rock Sack, keeps your system light, a couple of ounces depending on the rope you pick. Bear-Resistant Containers I’ve avoided these things because they seem to be big and bulky, but I’m also sick of dealing with bear bags. Bear bags take time and they are a PITA. With a bear-resistant container, you just show up, pull it from the pack, eat, and stash and you are done. Since I haven’t used these before, I’m looking for a bit of advice on which one to try. It seems like it would make a lot of sense to get one of the sizes of BearVault’s containers. They have two sizes. The BearVault BV500 Food Container is 700 cubic inches and the BearVault BV450 Food Container is 440 cubic inches. We have a family of three and when I do solo trips, they tend to be over a week, so I think the BV500 would be the best way to go on these. But, I’ve also seen the Grubcan Bear-Resistant Container. It’s 574 cubic inches and long and narrow instead of short and wide. It looks like it would work better in a pack, but it is a bit heavier with less volume than the BV500. It’s crazy-looking, so it’s worth checking out. There’s also the Garcia Bear-Resistant Container, which is 614 cubic inches which uses a closure system that the reviews would have you believe work better in the cold than the BearVault containers. The Udap NO-FED-Bear Bear Resistant Canister is another one. It’s 8×10 inches. and 455 cubic inches. I’m curious if you have used any of these. If so, what are your thoughts? What do you use to protect your food against bears? How well do they fit in your pack? Additional Thoughts on Blue Barrels Since blue barrels haven’t survived any testing by the various groups that test these things, I’m not interested in them. This is especially true after seeing what the barrels look like after encounters with bears in the Boundary Waters.