Bare Boxer

[Heberto Calderon]

At 275 cubic inches / 4.5 liters, the Bare Boxer Contender (Model 101) is the smallest volume and lightest weight bear canister available today. 275 cubic inches will fit 2 days of food or even 3, if you pack very carefully with as little packaging as possible.

While small, the Bare Boxer Contender is more than adequate for a weekend trip, easy to pack, and barely larger than a large stuff sack. It can also be stored inside or outside your pack easily, provided you have some kind of top pocket that can hold it to the top of your backpack.

I have owned and used extensively the Bare Boxer Contender with excellent results. It is outstanding for 2-3 day trips (or longer with mid-trip resupply) and fits easily into ultralight packs. I also have the Ursack, several Bear Vaults of both sizes and used to own the Bearikade but sold it ten years ago when SEKI decided to allow the Ursack (big mistake since that was very short lived).

I decided on the blazer instead of the weekender bearikade for the couple extra oz but has a bit more height using it to replace the one pound chair And dido on no more Bear hangs. Especially above tree line.

The Garcia has been around for longer than most of the canisters in this list, and it is by far the most recognizable of them. They are big black plastic beasts, well tested and approved throughout all of the California parks (most of the parks use them as their rental units). The best thing that the Garcias have going for them is their history. They have been used and approved for longer than the other options. There is little chance that they would lose their approval due to the heavy park use and endorsement, and if you want to invest in a single canister that you can rely on year in and year out, this has been the go-to option for many years. At around $70 a canister, they come in around the mid-price range and are only available in one size.

The Bare Boxer is like a mini-Garcia. It has a similar locking mechanism except it is slightly more sophisticated. The volume is small, but perfect for a single person on a short trip. The Bare Boxer is also very reasonably priced at approximately $40 USD.

One of my biggest complaints with the Garcia was having to carry it on a simple overnight. What a waste of space and weight! The Bare Boxer fills this niche perfectly! If you are a backpacker who only goes on 2-3 day trips, this is a great alternate to the bigger canisters.

The feature that differentiates the Bear Vault from the rest of the pack is that you can see where your stuff is. It is hard to see in the picture to the left due to the lighting and the stickers, but the main body is translucent blue. The Bear Vault comes in two different sizes and both have a marginally better weight to volume ratio than the Garcia and Bare Boxer. The Bear Vault is priced similar to the Garcia, falling in the mid-price range category.

The Ursack has many different generations made of different ballistic fabrics (Spectra, Vectran, etc). There is also an aluminum liner than can be purchased separately that gives the Ursack some of the qualities and strengths of the hard sided canisters. The picture to the left shows the Vectran (white) model and an older Spectra (green) model with the liner inside.

March 30th, 2010 Great article, my husband and I just bought new Osprey Packs (his/atmos 65 her/aura 65) for our week-end trips. To try them out for weight and load potential we put 18 lbs of dumb bells into our Garcia Canisters. They barely fit into our packs. I think we will be investing in the smaller Bare Boxer because the diameter of the Garcia is what kills the packability of our great new packs. I wonder why not some thing smaller and square like a shoe box, seems like it would fit the pack better.

Thanks for the summary and tips. And thanks to the USFS and NPS for their past practice of feeding and breeding bears to associate humans with food. (And to the USFS for 100 years of fire supression.)

An update regarding the Adirondack High Peaks Wilderness. The folk there indicate that Yellow Yellow who is infamous for getting into BearVault was shot by a hunter. However, there are several other bears who know how to open BearVault. This canister is not expressly forbidden but prudence would dictate using an alternative in this location.

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In May 1922, tired of the winters that aggravated Frances' rheumatic fever and Jacob's high blood pressure,[9] the Baers drove to the milder climate on the West Coast, where Dora's sister lived in Alameda, California.[10] Jacob's expertise in the meat business led to numerous job offers in the San Francisco Bay Area. While living in Hayward, Max took his first job as a delivery boy for John Lee Wilbur, who ran a grocery store and bought meat from Jacob.

The Baers lived in the Northern Californian towns of Hayward, San Leandro and Galt[10] before moving to Livermore in 1926. Livermore was ranch and cowboy country, surrounded by tens of thousands of acres of open land on which large cattle herds grazed and provided fresh meat to the local area. In 1928, Jacob leased the Twin Oaks Ranch in Murray Township, where he raised more than 2,000 hogs and worked with daughter Frances' husband, Louis Santucci.[10] Baer often credited his work carrying heavy carcasses of meat, stunning cattle with one blow, and working at a gravel pit for the development of his powerful shoulders (an article in the January 1939 edition of Family Circle reported that Baer also took the Charles Atlas exercise course.)[11]

Baer fought Frankie Campbell on August 25, 1930, in San Francisco in a ring built over home plate at San Francisco's Recreation Park for the unofficial title of Pacific Coast champion. In the second round, Campbell clipped Baer and Baer slipped to the canvas. Campbell went toward his corner and waved to the crowd, thinking that Baer was getting the count. In response, Baer got up and flew at Campbell, landing a right to Campbell's turned head which sent him to the canvas.

After the round, Campbell said to his trainer "Something feels like it snapped in my head", but he went on to handily win rounds 3 and 4. As Baer rose for the 5th round, Tillie "Kid" Herman, Baer's former friend and trainer, who had switched camps overnight and was now in Campbell's corner, savagely taunted and jeered Baer. In a rage and determined to end the bout with a knockout, Baer soon had Campbell against the ropes. As he hammered him with punch after punch, the ropes were the only thing holding Campbell up. By the time referee Toby Irwin stopped the fight, Campbell collapsed to the canvas. Baer's own seconds reportedly ministered to Campbell, and Baer stayed by his side until an ambulance arrived 30 minutes later. Baer "visited the stricken fighter's bedside", where he offered Frankie's wife Ellie the hand that hit her husband. She took that hand and the two stood speechless for a moment. "It was unfortunate, I'm awfully sorry", said Baer. "It could have been you," she replied. She forgave him.[12]

At noon the next day, with a lit candle laced between his crossed fingers, and his wife and mother beside him, Frankie Campbell was pronounced dead. Upon the surgeon's announcement of Campbell's death, Baer broke down and sobbed inconsolably. Brain specialist Dr. Tilton E. Tillman "declared death had been caused by a succession of blows on the jaw and by any struck on the rear of the head" and that Campbell's brain had been "knocked completely loose from his skull" by Baer's blows.[13]

The Campbell incident earned Baer the reputation as a "killer" in the ring. This publicity was further sensationalized by Baer's return bout with Ernie Schaaf, on August 31, 1932. Schaaf had bested Baer in a decision during Max's Eastern debut bout at Madison Square Garden on September 19, 1930.

Two seconds before the fight ended Schaaf was knocked flat on his face, completely knocked out. He was dragged to his corner and his seconds worked on him for three minutes before restoring him to his senses... Baer smashed a heavy right to the jaw that shook Schaaf to his heels, to start the last round, then walked into the Boston fighter, throwing both hands to the head and body. Baer drove three hard rights to the jaw that staggered Schaaf. Baer beat Schaaf around the ring and into the ropes with a savage attack to the head and body. Just before the round ended Baer dropped Schaaf to the canvas, but the bell sounded as Schaaf hit the floor.[14]

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