Bears & food storage in national parks

[Ilyaracka]

[font=arial, helvetica,]My wife and I are newbies, having bought our first RV in 2019, a Class B van. During May and June, we drove from Tampa Bay, FL, to southern CA and back with no major incidents. Great trip! We also visited Yosemite, Sequoia, and Kings Canyon national parks in CA. Each park warned about not storing food in your vehicle but instead using a bear-proof locker provided by the park, because bears frequently break into vehicles to get at food. We had a week's worth of food in our RV, including a full fridge -- far too much food to fit into a locker -- because we were leaving CA soon to head back to FL. What do RVers do with all their stored food when in bear country, especially the refrigerated food? Is there a way to reduce the chances of a bear break-in while day hiking away from the RV in a park? We hope to use the RV as a base camp in the future to do overnight (and even prolonged) backpacking. We are concerned about food storage in the RV while tent camping so bears have little incentive to break in. Any advice from backpackers/RVers will be appreciated. Thanks in advance![/font]

 

[WanderingRose]

I don’t believe I’ve ever seen it recommended that RV’ers remove food from their RV to place into the bear lockers.

These are generally for people in tents, hammocks, sleeping in cars, vans, etc.

I have had a ClassB for 13 years and stayed in it in bear country in various parts of the country for hundreds of nights.

I’ve never had a bear try to break in nor heard of such a thing with a ClassB, and there are many, many of us out there on the road.

Use common sense and reasonable precautions.

 

[Qxxx]

It depends upon where you are at. There are specific regulations.

3 summers ago I was in the Sierra, where they have only black bears, and the signs indicated to NOT store food in vehicles, but put in the lockers.
https://www.tripsavvy.com/bear-safety-at-yosemite-and-sequoia-1479619

OTOH, summer a year ago, I was in Montana Glacier Park, where they have much more ferocious grizzly bears, and the signs indicated food should be stored in vehicles. Go figure.
http://taketothehighway.com/2014/09/11/the-bear-facts-about-glacier-national-park

And for a fun story, when I was at Whitney Portal CG, the neighbors stored their food in the bear locker but one of the party forgot to secure it properly. The bears came about midnight and cleaned out the locker. They were especially fond of potato chips.

 

[WanderingRose]

I really don’t believe that not storing food in vehicles pertains to RV’s, tho.

Class A’s, Class C’s, trailers of all sorts, plus we Class B’s, I’ve never seen recommendations to empty your RV’s into bear lockers, nor seen anyone do this, nor been asked to do it by Rangers.

Ever, anywhere.

 

[B and C]

The only thing I remember is any soft sided camper/tent is supposed to use the bear lockers.

 

[Qxxx]

All I know is what the signs in the Sierra said, as linked. In america, people just do whatever they want to do, as we all know. But I thought this picture was of interest. Of course, a griz did this. RVs tend to essentially be made out of tin and cardboard.

https://www.rvtravel.com/hungry-bear-rips-through-rvs-side-to-enter-see-the-photo/

Cool video showing the inside of someone's car after a visit, see 4:30 on.

 

[WanderingRose]

Yea, I guess anything can happen.

 

[Spaceman Spiff]

It depends upon where you are at. There are specific regulations.

3 summers ago I was in the Sierra, where they have only black bears, and the signs indicated to NOT store food in vehicles, but put in the lockers . . .

 . . . I was in Montana Glacier Park, where they have much more ferocious grizzly bears, and the signs indicated food should be stored in vehicles. Go figure . . .

In the Sierra's the bears have been conditioned to look to vehicles for food, hence the restrictions.
In Glacier, the bears have not, so no restrictions.

In the Sierra's you must carry an approved bear canister for your food when backpacking; hanging is not sufficient nor allowed.  It is a hefty fine if you are caught without a bear canister, and the rangers check.

 

[highdesertranger]

one of those parks mentioned in the Sierra's has a huge problem with bears. I don't exactly recall which one. not only do they get into vehicles but they have gotten into the "bear proof" containers as well. highdesertranger

 

[Malamute]

Bears have figured out how to open car doors, keep that in mind. They are very intelligent in any event and figure things out quickly. Ive seen notices in different places stating IF food is in a vehicle in a cooler, to cover the cooler, as bears recognize them when used to seeing them and will break into cars with coolers if they see them. An opened window that gives enough room for claws to get a grip are in danger of being pulled out and broken. They can sometimes get claws in a door edge and end up popping it open. Theres plenty of vids of bears breaking into cars. Ive never looked for vids of them breaking into an RV, may be worth having a look.

A regular RV is less of an issue than a car/SUV/pickup, but id still suggest keeping food items out of sight and odors down as much as possible.

The only restrictions Ive seen in the N Rockies has to do with hard side campers only being allowed in some times and places after attacks.

 

[highdesertranger]

just in case you need to ID bear poop,



sorry I couldn't resist.

highdesertranger

 

[winterwanderer]

Wow, I had no idea bears were so crazy in the Yosemite area that they actually had to make it illegal to store food in a vehicle after dark. Keeping your car locked is common sense in bear country, but bears smashing windows to get at food is insanity.

 

[Sofisintown]

just in case you need to ID bear poop,
sorry I couldn't resist.

highdesertranger

Hahaha good one! :thumbsup:

 

[Qxxx]

Bears must have very good hearing. Once I was hiking up a trail above the Missouri River near Helena, and sat down to have a snack. A couple minutes later, this couple came walking down the trail with those little tinky bells (like HDR mentioned) hooked to their shirts. I could hear them talking, but shirely couldn't hear the bells tinking till they got to about 3 feet away. I wonder if a griz can swallow a cow bell?

 

[jacqueg]

Wow, I had no idea bears were so crazy in the Yosemite area that they actually had to make it illegal to store food in a vehicle after dark. Keeping your car locked is common sense in bear country, but bears smashing windows to get at food is insanity.

Remember, you are talking generations of bears in places like Yosemite. When I was still a kid, in the 50s and 60s, lots of folks vacationing in Yosemite and Sequioa had bear stories, including car break-ins.

You would come across traffic jams, caused by people feeding bears in the middle of the road. People mean cookies!

 

[Malamute]

This sign went up just out of Yellowstone after a guy was mugged by a bear at a National Forest campground (Soda Butte). A couple years later there was a fatality at the same campground from a predatory grizzly sow with cubs.



 Im apparently not that bright, Ive camped in bear country a fair bit, including sleeping out on the ground, though I tend to do that more out in the open. The dog(s) tend to know when anything comes near and wake me low growling. I sometimes would cook and eat one place, then move to camp for the night somewhere else.

 

[nature lover]

I’ve seen many of our eastern black bears when camping. Never any scary encounters but some close ones. Different situation when you get out there with the GRiZ. In eastern Kentucky we had a sow that had five cubs. I only got a short view of them but the Ranger in kingdom come park had great pictures. Park official said that was a record for them. I had one put its paws up on my window in my old van late one night It stood there for several minutes just sniffing. I was happy I had doors and windows shut. The next morning I found out what had attracted it to my camp. She or he had dug up several cat holes and enjoyed “Snacks” It seems they like a variety in their diet. I make sure my cat holes are far from the camp now.

 

[Qxxx]

Yosemite may just be using "one rule fits all", RV, car, and tent alike.

When I backpacked in the Sierra back in the 70s, it was estimated there were 4,000 bears in CA, now the estimate is around 30,000. Back then we were tent camping one time in a CG in Yosemite and right after dinner time, half a dozen smallish bears started wandering around the CG, so for fun we followed after them.Over the way were a group of people with 4 popup tent trailers, where you cook, store food, and sleep all inside a soft-sided popup tent. The bears found the dinner smells to be of interest, so they banged on the trailers, and tore at the tents. Not much protection, scared the hell out of the people. 

Probably not a good idea to cook, store, and sleep in a place with such easy access.