Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board Ursacks!

Couldn't find any recent posts on this - are these still controversial, or are they widely accepted and allowed on the trail by rangers etc.

I can't find anything official on the site - but technically, ursack meets the conditions of a bear resistant container - which appears to be the only requirement.

Thanks!!

There are some topics on this, like here, but currently, they're still ok in Inyo National Forest, but not SEKI (in certain areas). So, camp east of the crest, until Inyo NF randomly, and without notification, changes the rules...

(Yes, that's thinly-veiled criticism of the new "no walk-ins" permit policy.)

Thanks - I did search for other topics - and that's the only other one I found, and it hasn't seen any activity in 4 years...

I'm surprised there isn't more chatter re the ursack? It's the easiest way to reduce bulk and weight in one's pack?

Maybe there'd be some chatter if it were the be-all-end-all, but since you can't use it in many places, you still need to counter-balance it, and if a bear gets it and doesn't carry it off, then you'll probably be left with mush inside. I don't know anyone who has one that doesn't also have one of the others.

So, yeah, it's kinda like the lack of chatter over single-ply toilet paper...

I bought an Ursack in 2017. I had to use a heavy can last summer for one trip into Yosemite, but I’ve been using the Ursack everywhere else. It’s legal in Inyo NF and most of SEKI. So far, I love it, but that may change if a bear ever tries to smash its contents.

Ursack had one type disguised as a tide pod, no longer legal, juvenile bears were swallowing them.

Yesterday (5/25/23) I talked to a ranger at the White Mountain Station. Phone number 760-873-2500. She said that the Ursack Major XL was approved for the Whitney Zone but not recommended. The reason for the non recommendation was that most of the Whitney Trail is above the treeline. The Ursack then cannot be hung from a tree and therefore marmots and other rodents as well as birds could get in through the opening which is closed by a knotted cord. It appears to me that using the double or triple overhand knot does a good job of closing the opening to the smaller critters. We are planning to use the Ursack as it saves ~ 2 lbs and is much easier to pack. We will also use Opsacks in the Ursack to hopefully eliminate odors and as someone mentioned place the Ursack away from our tent with rocks on top of it.

Save even more weight with a regular nylon sack and cantilever it off a large boulder with a hiking pole. I've personally never had any varmints get at it in 30+ years above treeline.

Thanks. Good idea.

I just called and talked to a ranger at the Eastern Sierra Visitor Center just south of Lone Pine asking about the use of the Ursack in the Whitney Zone. She indicated that Ursacks are approved but not recommended just as the ranger at the White Mountain Visitor Center did last year. Apologies but I don't know the "geography" very well in the area. Have to do some homework on the Whitney Zone, Inyo, and Sequoia. She did state that Ursacks are not approved in the Sequoia area and that the summit of Whitney is in Sequoia. Usrsacks are approved at Trail Camp which is in the Whitney Zone. No one would take an Ursack to the top anyway so it seems that Ursacks are pracitically speaking approved in the Whitney Zone.

Just to be on the safe side, maybe use the ursack but then put it inside a bear can....double cautious!