Well, with scheduling snafus making it difficult for me to get back to Shasta, I’m reluctantly shifting toward summer mode, so I thought I’d re-edit one of my few (actually only) summer hiking trip reports: the Langley Loop.

This is a great overnight or long dayhike in the Cottonwood Lakes/Horseshoe Meadows region of the Southern Sierra Nevada mountains, with a stop, of course, atop Mount Langley, California’s southernmost fourteener.

Looks like I’m going to have to update my BearVault BV250 Solo Review. The BearVault, if you don’t know, is supposed to be a bear-proof food canister for camping and backpacking in bear country. Bear Can useage is mandatory in some parts of the Sierra.

Wouldn’t you know it, though: the bears have figured out how to open them. Yes, the BearVault BV110B, BV200, BV250, and BV300 are no longer approved for use in Kings Canyon’s Rae Lakes Drainage.

Hikers getting permits for this area may exchange these models for a full-size BV400 at either the Cedar Grove or Lone Pine Rangers Stations, while supplies last. For more info, see BearVault.com.