Where are bear canisters required?

Bear canisters are required in all of the Yosemite Wilderness year-round, in all Olympic National Park wilderness, for all backcountry camping in Grand Teton, below tree line in Rocky Mountain National Park from 1 May to 31 October, in five named zones of Sequoia and Kings Canyon over the same dates, and in the Adirondacks' Eastern High Peaks from 1 April to 30 November. Everywhere else the rule is set park by park, and three facts decide it: the area, the dates, and whose list of approved containers applies.

Where bear canisters are required, by park and forest#

Every row comes from the land manager's own current text: for a national park, the superintendent's compendium, where food storage rules are set under 36 CFR 2.10. Where a text names no season, the table says so.

PCTA also calls canisters "necessary" in Mount Baker-Snoqualmie and Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forests. It summarises other agencies' orders, so treat that row as a pointer, not the rule.

Can you hang food instead of carrying a canister?#

In four of the nine areas, no, and it is the costliest misunderstanding in the table: PCTA reports that tickets are "far too common" and that a hiker who cannot show a canister is likely to be sent back to the trailhead. Yosemite, Grand Teton, Olympic and the Eastern High Peaks do not accept a hang at all. Rocky Mountain does not accept one below tree line in season, and outside it only recommends a canister or a hang.

Where hanging is still legal, each manager writes its own geometry, and the numbers disagree:

A hang built to North Cascades rules fails both Sierra standards. Both Sierra managers also make the container mandatory wherever no locker exists and no tree allows the hang, and SEKI says suitable trees "are rare". Above tree line, that means a canister whatever the zone map says.

Does an IGBC-certified container count everywhere?#

No. Two answers circulate: that any IGBC-certified product is a legal bear canister, and that only hard canisters are legal. Each is true somewhere, depending on which of three kinds of list the area uses.

The IGBC list. The Interagency Grizzly Bear Committee certifies products after live-bear testing. Its May 2023 list of backpacking containers includes hard canisters, a modified ammunition can, open-head steel drums and two soft food storage bags. Grand Teton requires "Interagency Grizzly Bear Committee (IGBC) approved portable bear resistant food storage containers", and North Cascades accepts "an IGBC or park approved" device. In those two parks the IGBC list is the test.

A rigidity rule. New York requires a container "constructed of solid, non-pliable material" and states that "non-rigid containers, sacks, or food hangs are not considered bear-resistant canisters". Rocky Mountain requires hard sides "or a non-crushable insert". A soft bag on the IGBC list fails both.

The park's own list. Yosemite accepts containers "allowed for use in the park by the NPS". Sequoia and Kings Canyon prohibit unlisted models "including those by the same manufacturers and with the same construction", so another size of an allowed canister is not automatically allowed. Olympic's list, updated in June 2026, holds canisters, panniers and steel drums, and no soft bags.

The IGBC itself says certification "is not a guarantee that a grizzly bear cannot gain entry". New York makes the same point locally: black bears in the Eastern High Peaks "have regularly defeated" canisters made of clear plastic, and NYSDEC discourages them even though they are rigid and commercially made.

Which seasons apply#

The season lengths are simple arithmetic on the published dates:

• Eastern High Peaks: 1 April to 30 November is 244 days.
• Rocky Mountain and the SEKI restricted zones: 1 May to 31 October is 184 days.
• Yosemite: all year. The only seasonal exception runs from 15 December to 30 March and covers overnight visitors on skis or snowshoes above 7,200 feet (2,195 m), or above 6,800 feet (2,073 m) within half a mile of a marked ski trail. They must still hang food or keep it within 6 feet (1.8 m) of an awake person.
• Grand Teton, North Cascades and Olympic: their texts name no season. Read that as year-round, not as a gap.

New York runs a month longer at each end than the western dates, so a November trip to the High Peaks still needs the canister.

Outside a season, the general rule does not switch off: SEKI still requires an allowed container, a locker or a legal hang everywhere in its wilderness, all year.

The exceptions that catch people out#

Yosemite's High Sierra Camps. Backpackers staying only in a High Sierra Camp or Little Yosemite Valley do not need to carry a container. Anyone going beyond them does. PCTA notes that the last locker on the PCT in Yosemite is at Glen Aulin, 5.5 miles from Tuolumne Meadows, so a canister is still required between there and Sonora Pass.

Rocky Mountain bivouacs. Climbers and backpackers in bivouac areas above tree line are exempt year-round, but the Longs Peak Boulder Field is named as part of the requirement.

North Cascades' temporary orders. The compendium allows a container requirement "at any time, in any area of the park". A list printed before your trip may be shorter than the one at the ranger station.

Where to put it. Rocky Mountain requires the locked canister 61 m (200 feet) from camp, Grand Teton 91 m (100 yards) downwind, North Cascades 30 m (100 feet), Yosemite 7.6 to 15 m (25 to 50 feet). Plan that distance into pitching and site selection.

How many days of food fit in a canister?#

All food and scented items must fit, not just tonight's dinner: Yosemite's page lists sunscreen, soap, insect repellent, lip balm, deodorant, medications and feminine products alongside food and trash.

The site's own figures give a planning estimate. Trail food runs about 700 g per person per day and 1.2 to 1.5 litres per kilogram, so a day of food occupies 0.84 to 1.05 litres. Certified canisters cluster around 8 to 12 litres of usable volume, as pack volume sets out. We model the gaps between packages with the 20 to 35 percent void allowance used for packs, which leaves 5.2 to 6.4 litres of food space in an 8 litre canister:

Toiletries and trash come out of the same space, so plan on the lower figure and size food with the camp food calculator; calorie density per gram is the main lever. The canister is rigid gear that counts toward base weight, and packing a backpack covers where a rigid cylinder sits best.

Dirty cookware must be washed or stored as food in Sequoia and Kings Canyon and North Cascades, and Grand Teton requires anything that will not fit in the canister to be "completely clean and free of any food residue". A pot scraped and washed hot straight after the meal, the routine in camp cookware, does not need canister space.

Check the rule for your trip in five minutes#

Lists like the table above go stale, as Olympic's did. Check your route against the source.

1. Find the manager. National park, national forest, state land or wilderness. A route that crosses a boundary may need two rule sets, as on the PCT from Inyo into SEKI.
2. Open the current text. For a national park, the superintendent's compendium, section 36 CFR 2.10. For a forest, its bears or food storage page. For New York, NYSDEC's canister page.
3. Note the date at the top. Yosemite's is dated May 2026, SEKI's is effective 16 June 2026, Olympic's replaces all copies before January 2026. A news release from 2009 is history, not the rule.
4. Read three things: the area boundary, the dates, and whether a hang is still listed as a method.
5. Check your container against the right list. IGBC for Grand Teton and North Cascades; the park's own list for Yosemite, SEKI and Olympic; rigid and commercially made for New York and Rocky Mountain.
6. Measure your canister's real volume. Fill it from a measuring jug and use that figure in the table above.
7. Ask at the permit desk. Grand Teton lends canisters free with a permit, Olympic lends them from its Wilderness Information Centers without reservation, and Rocky Mountain requires you to bring your own as a permit condition.

Common mistakes#

Trusting a 2009 rule. Olympic's 2009 release limited canisters to the coast, Sol Duc and Seven Lakes Basin and Royal Basin, and allowed hanging elsewhere. That rule is gone, while Rocky Mountain's 2009 dates still stand, so an old source cannot be spotted by content alone.

Assuming IGBC means allowed. A certified soft bag meets Grand Teton's and North Cascades' IGBC wording and fails in the other parks in the table. In SEKI, even an unlisted size from a listed manufacturer fails.

Hanging to the wrong standard. A 10 foot hang that is legal in North Cascades is 5 feet short in Inyo.

Leaving the canister open in camp. Yosemite and Grand Teton both say it only works closed and locked, and that nothing should be tied to it, because a rope lets a bear carry it away.

Frequently asked questions#

Do I need a bear canister in Yosemite?#

Yes, for any overnight stay in the Yosemite Wilderness, all year, unless you stay only at a High Sierra Camp or in Little Yosemite Valley and use the lockers there. Hanging food is illegal throughout the park, the container must be one the NPS allows, and rangers may ask to see it. The only exception is for skiers and snowshoers in designated high areas from 15 December to 30 March.

Are bear canisters required in Olympic National Park?#

Yes, in all wilderness areas. The amended compendium, replacing all copies issued before January 2026, requires food and scented items anywhere in the park to be in a vehicle, a hard-sided camper, an approved animal resistant food container or a park locker. Hanging is no longer an alternative, and the approved list has no soft bags. Wilderness Information Centers lend canisters but do not reserve them.

When are bear canisters required in the Adirondacks?#

From 1 April to 30 November for overnight campers in the Eastern High Peaks Wilderness. NYSDEC requires a commercially made container of solid, non-pliable material, and states that non-rigid containers, sacks and food hangs do not count. It also discourages clear plastic canisters, because bears in the High Peaks have regularly defeated them.

Can I use an Ursack instead of a bear canister?#

Only where the rule accepts IGBC certification on its own. Two Ursack soft food storage bags are on the IGBC certified list, and Grand Teton and North Cascades write their rules around IGBC approval. New York excludes non-rigid containers, Rocky Mountain requires hard sides or a non-crushable insert, and Yosemite, Sequoia and Kings Canyon and Olympic accept only their own lists.

Where are bear canisters required in Sequoia and Kings Canyon?#

From 1 May to 31 October in the Rae Lakes area block, Dusy and Palisades Basins, the Rock Creek drainage including Miter Basin and Soldier Lake, the North Dome climbing routes, and the Emerald and Pear Lake Basins. Elsewhere you may use an allowed container, a locker or a counterbalance hang at least 12 feet up, but the container is required wherever neither is available.

Do I need a bear canister in Grand Teton?#

Yes, for all backcountry camping. Grand Teton requires IGBC approved containers and prohibits hanging food. Canisters are lent free with a backcountry permit. Lockers may be used instead at the lakeshore sites on Leigh, Trapper, Bearpaw, Phelps and Surprise Lakes and in four Garnet Canyon camp zones. Store the canister on flat ground at least 100 yards downwind of the tent.