Bears and the Casita trailer

[4cornersjohn]

Brings back memories of camping in YNP in the 50's. We camped in the Fishing Bridge cg in a tent! Also fished from the bridge. Nothing but beautiful cutthroat trout then. Now, hardsided campers only at Fishing Bridge cg and no fishing from the bridge. Hard to catch a cut there in the lake now as it has been taken over by lake trout. I have spent many a night backpacking in YNP and the Teton Wilderness. Discovered early that it was simpler to hang the backpack with everything but a never contaminated water bottle, a paperback book, bear spray and my headlamp in my tent. Everything else in the backpack up on the food pole. Brushed my teeth w/ baking soda as odor not a bear attractant. Quite a few bear sightings but other than the one night when I woke up and one was sniffing just outside the tent up by my head. I spoke to it and was thankful that it quietly departed. I dreaded the thought of ever having to deploy bear spray while in a enclosure as I would probably have fared worse than the bear! Thank the Lord I never had to spray it at all.

[Civilguy]

Does anyone have any other stories/advice about camping in bear country, particularly with small children?

Camping in bear country with small children is generally very safe as you can usually outrun the kids very easily!

Sorry, I just couldn't resist re-purposing that old joke.

In general, Black Bears can be somewhat stubborn, but are usually not particularly aggressive. They have an acute sense of smell and are pretty smart. They will view packaging in a car as food related, even if it's just a can of tennis balls. They also will go after perfumed or scented non-food products.

Read up on them at the Yosemite web site and pay attention to whatever information is provided at your destination.

https://www.travelyosemite.com/disco...r-information/

[Alex in LA]

Civil guy,

it's a good joke! Hope I won't have to resort to that.

Have you heard the one on how to tell which bear is chasing you?

If you're running from a bear and start climbing a tree and the bear climbs after you - its a Black bear.

If you're running from a bear and start climbing a tree and the bear can't climb after you - it's a Grizzly bear.

If you're running from a bear and there are no trees around - it's a Polar bear.

[Civilguy]

Alex, thanks for being open to a little kidding.

I spent a lot of time backpacking in Yosemite and surrounding areas from the 70's on, including working and living in the Valley in the summer of '74. Bear encounters were a constant occurrence.

They used to take the worst offenders out of the valley and drop them off above Hetch Hetchy Valley where we backpacked a few times. One night we dealt with a sow who put her two cubs up to retrieve our packs from a fixed overhead cable. They were quite persistent in their aerial circus act, though ultimately unsuccessful on that particular night.

I dealt with a number of other scenes in the valley and the high country through the years, often at pretty close quarters. We never carried bear spray. Sometimes we would use our cookware to raise a racket.

When I first started backpacking in the Olympic Mountains in Washington in the 70's, I was surprised to find the bears we saw were not at all interested in us. They had not been trained by people to enjoy and seek out our rich food supplies.

None of the encounters I had over the years would have happened if everyone did their part to keep the bears from learning about our food. I've tried to take that responsibility seriously through the years as the bears who become acclimated to taking food from people end up being put down anymore.

[4cornersjohn]

then we can all laugh at the up close and personal experiences with bears. Very intelligent animals and oh so persistent! It took a long time for the managers in the park system to finally wise up and close the garbage dumps that fed the bears. But then of course the bears came to where the food was! Many a hour was spent running around the campgrounds banging pot and pans trying to scare them away. I always felt a lot safer when backpacking as the encounters were far fewer and not nearly as confrontational. I have on more than one occasion packed up the truck and moved away from persistent annoying bears who were just looking for food where they were last fed by totally uncaring people. No truer saying than "a fed bear is a dead bear". With the exception of the occasional dangerous aggressive bear all they are interested in is anything that could possibly be food and are not looking for interactions with people. Be safe out there people but don't be afraid of bears, just respect them!

[Alf S.]

Originally Posted by Alex in LA

Civil guy,

it's a good joke! Hope I won't have to resort to that.

Have you heard the one on how to tell which bear is chasing you?

If you're running from a bear and start climbing a tree and the bear climbs after you - its a Black bear.

If you're running from a bear and start climbing a tree and the bear can't climb after you - it's a Grizzly bear.

If you're running from a bear and there are no trees around - it's a Polar bear.

Hi: Alex in LA... I could "Barely" contain myself after reading this!!!
Alf S. North shore of Lake Erie

[Ice-breaker]

The Lake Louise campground in Banff National Park has an electrified fence around the tent camping area and only hard sided rv's are allowed to stay in the section of campground outside of the fence. The fence is intended to keep bears out of the campground. It is kind of like camping inside a prison compound!

[Alex in LA]

Originally Posted by Alf S.

Hi: Alex in LA... I could "Barely" contain myself after reading this!!!
Alf S. North shore of Lake Erie

You mean "bearly"

[jerrybob]

Just couldn't resist! BTW...we had a black bear in our backyard three days ago.

The National Park Rangers are advising hikers and campers in National Parks to be alert for bears and take extra precautions to avoid an encounter.

They advise park visitors to wear little bells on their clothes so they make noise when hiking. The bell noise allows bears to hear them coming from a distance and not be startled by a hiker accidentally sneaking up on them. This might cause a bear to charge.

Visitors should also carry a pepper spray can just in case a bear is encountered. Spraying the pepper into the air will irritate the bear's sensitive nose and it will run away.

It is also a good idea to keep an eye out for fresh bear scat so you have an idea if bears are in the area. People should be able to recognize the difference between black bear and grizzly bear scat.

Black bear droppings are smaller and often contain berries, leaves, and possibly bits of fur. Grizzly bear droppings tend to contain small bells and smell of pepper.

[Iowa Dave]

Hi Jerrybob
No worries starting today in Iowa . All adults can now legally carry a hand cannon on their hip without a permit. So even though we don’t have any griz, if one so much takes a second look at a camper after swimming the Missouri River from the west, the law abiding citizen can gun him down with the cry of self defense. Boy we really needed that law change.

I can’t see how there could be any other problems in any beer joints about 11 pm on a hot Friday night.
Bells and bear spray sales will no doubt plummet.
Iowa Dave