Bear Canister Requirements on the Pacific Crest Trail
Bear canisters are required in the Sierra Nevada section of the Pacific Crest Trail. Technically, they're not required every step of the way from Kennedy Meadows (South) to Sonora Pass, but those are convenient places to pick up / ship home a bear can in order to comply with the regulations, and it's what many hikers do. And as of 2022, bear canisters are required in Desolation Wilderness, near Lake Tahoe.[1]
If you're new to thruhiking, you may not be aware that we carry bear cans primarily for the benefit of the bears. "A fed bear is a dead bear." That is, once a bear acquires a taste for people food, they're likely to become problematic and potentially dangerous, and they end up getting put down. Don't feed bears.
Note, there's also a 19 mile 19 mile section of the trail between Chester and Old Station / Burney Falls in NorCal's Lassen NP that requires bear cans due to bear activity there. By the time most hikers reach that area, they just hike through it in a day. If you'd rather not, Warner Springs Campground, near Drakesbad Guest Ranch, is just off the PCT and has bear boxes. Staying there reduces the carry to about 16 miles. Read more in a PCTA.org blog post here.
Links
There's a great bear regulations overview page on PCTA.org that includes a helpful FAQ:
HalfwayAnywhere.com has a helpful review of PCT bear can regs:
Sierra Nevada Wilderness Food Storage Requirements map, from sierrawild.gov:
Exhaustive list of which bear canisters are approved by Yosemite NP. If a canister is approved by Yosemite NP, it is likely adequate to comply with regulations anywhere else in the Sierra Nevada.
Here's the approved canisters page from SEKI (PDF):
"What to Do if You See a Bear," according to Yosemite NP:
PCTA.org blog post about the bear can regulations in Lassen Volcanic NP:
Sierrawild.gov's bear info overview page:
