Flying into FCA for GNP need2buy MSR IsoPro for stove

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Re: Flying into FCA for GNP need2buy MSR IsoPro for stove

Post by Fairbanks142 »

Back from our trip last week, and I have some new info on this:

I shipped our bear spray to our hotel in Columbia Falls via USPS ground shipping, no problem. It was there and waiting for us when we arrived.

However, at the end of our trip, the post offices in both Whitefish and Columbia Falls would not let me ship my bear spray home. They said it's illegal, even shipping it ground, and they said that even though I've shipped it in the past from the Whitefish post office (and other USPS offices in MT and WY over the years), they said that this isn't a new policy, and no USPS post offices should have ever let me ship it in the past either.

I've always told the post offices exactly what it was, and that it needed to ship ground, and it's never been a problem to ship my bear spray before. But it's pretty clear that Whitefish and Columbia Falls absolutely will not let you do it anymore.

So at the airport before my flight home, I stopped at the Glacier Outfitters store (next to the rental car desks) and asked if they would take my 3 cans of Counter Assault. They said yes, they'll donate the cans to the Boy Scouts. Done.

Glacier Outfitters has a store right next to the backcountry office in Apgar. They rent cans of UDAP for $28 for a 3-7 window. You can drop the rental cans back off at Apgar, or as mentioned above they also have store and a drop box at the Glacier airport next to the rental car desks. So you have options and it's convenient to drop off your rental cans at the end of your trip.

Glacier Outfitters also sells cans of IsoPro stove fuel in Apgar. $7 for the large cans or $5 for the small cans, so pretty reasonable for inside the park. You can also get the cans at many other places around Glacier.
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Re: Flying into FCA for GNP need2buy MSR IsoPro for stove

Post by PeteE »

Your mistake was going to the US Post Office.
I'd rather take a beating than use the USPS for anything.
And it's for exactly the experience you had--they are inconsistent enforcing their own regulations.
You never know what to expect.
The lesson here is to use UPS or FedEX when possible.

my 2 cents

pete :wink:
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Re: Flying into FCA for GNP need2buy MSR IsoPro for stove

Post by indiana hiker »

We had always shipped our bear spray via USPS also and about three years ago ran into the same problem at Whitefish and Columbia Falls. West Glacier shipped it. Then the next year West Glacier wouldn't ship it either. We went to UPS and we did ship it home that year, but after that it didn't make sense from a money stand point. It was $22 to send it home. When we first started shipping it years ago, it was $8 each way, then went up to 10. At that point the spray was about $50 so we figured it was worth it for a few times. Now that the spray is 29.99 most places we either give it to someone or rent it when we are there. The funny thing is, our local post office will still ship it, but we can't get anyone to ship it home! So as Pete said, they don't even enforce their own rules the same at all locations.
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