RV camping in bear country. Do you really put your food in a bear locker?

[cantdrv55]

Some say they do while most say they leave their food in their vehicles in closed bins or fridge. I’ve never camped in bear country so I’m not sure how to prepare. Going to Yosemite next month. Exciting but also concerning.

[look 171]

I camped throughout the high Sierras for the past 30 years on and off. I always try to hang my food if I am in a known area where bears WILL come in the camp like Huntington Lake or Lake Thomas Edison. Its just depends on your luck. Once we were at Huntington Lake, I purposely left a ham and cheese sandwich at the entrance of our camp site to try to scare the girls. We must have been in college at the time and my friend had a dog with him so the bear alarm (dog) will go off way before the bear will reach our tents. No bear so I go to bed after 3am. By 4-4:30, we heard this bam, the car alarm goes off in the distance. Someone must have been drunk and hit a park car. Early morning, we go out for a walk to the general store near the dock for eggs. The people showed us the claw marks on the side of his pick up truck. Bear ripped the tonneau cover off to get at the ice chest. Don't you have an RV? It should be fine inside.

[917_Langheck]

Bears do frequent the YOSE campgrounds and will go through your tent to eat flamming hot Cheetos, or your car for whatever you left in there - plenty of vids on the utube.

If a bear locker is placed in your campsite, there's likely a chance it will be needed. I always take advantage of them. Also, those squirrels and raccoons are pretty savvy too.

[look 171]

They like to eat newly retired guys who drive Sequoias. They know

[Soterik]

[LWJ]

I certainly needed the locker in Yosemite. The bears there have been trained. They will grab anything that isn’t in the locker.

[flatbutt]

I always used the two tree method. Run a rope between two trees then hang the food from that line. But that was backpacking so no big coolers involved.

[Crowbob]

I try to camp with somebody slower than me in bear country.

[KFC911]

^^^^ LOL ... I miss my ol' hiking buddy.... don't feel safe out there now..

RIP Tubby Fats

[Bugsinrugs]

If I remember correctly… you will be cited if you leave food in your vehicle in Yosemite. When I was a kid the rule was to leave your food in your car and not in your tent. That was back in the “Fire Fall “ days. I’m old!

[Rusty Heap]

[craigster59]

I've camped a lot in bear country, both in improved campgrounds and the backcountry. All told I saw more bear activity in campgrounds than backcountry. Bears can be stealthy and have a sniffer that can put a Bloodhound to shame. I'd use the lockers to store food and they are also large enough to store a cooler.

[The Synergizer]

Been a lot of bear attacks this year. Or, they're just getting more press....

[ramonesfreak]

a few months ago it was sharks, now bears. your hitting all my greatest fears when it comes to being eaten by animals

i saw a full grown black bear recently on the side of the highway standing up straight just watching cars go by. enormous. can’t even imagine coming anywhere near a grizzly. no thanks - follow what the pros say about your food or else…..

[Scott Douglas]

I remember going to Sequoia a long time ago with my buddy from Missouri. We took my parents '59 Pontiac wagon. We got to the camp ground late so didn't have time to scope out the sites. Tossed our bags on the ground and hit the hay.
Sometime during the night, not exactly sure when it was but well after we'd gone to bed, we hear a nearby trash can lid being banged around. We look up just as someone turned on their car lights which were shining right at the trash can. There's a bear doing its best to get whatever is in there out. This is like maybe 30 yards away from us, if that far.
We quickly and quietly discuss our options and decide to get in the car for the rest of the night.
I can't for the life of me remember why we'd locked the car before going to bed. It was quite the scramble to find the keys to get in.
We had surreptitiously met my then girl friend and her friend up there, only to be found out years later by my parents when reviewing old print photos that I'd taken at the time.
I wouldn't want to tangle with a bear, ever.

[ckcarr]

I love listening to this guy's stories. Here's a bear story...
Starts at 7:50

[Arizona_928]

Trick question.


You are the meat bag and you go in the bear locker.

[Crowbob]

Way back when I was young, probably a few minutes after Columbus rediscovered the New World, I, my cousin and his buddy were camping, dispersal type, in one of those old, musty, canvas cabin-type tents with a flap on one of the walls for a door.

Well, we’re pretty much minding our own businesses, getting ready to crash after telling bear stories, when a HUGE black and brown snout poked its black and also BIG and surprisingly prehensile nose through the flap and into our tent.

Were one happening to be looking at our tent from the outside, one would have seen, in 3-D, three writhing incoherent lumps of horrified flesh trying to bust their ways to safety through each of the other three walls of a musty old canvas cabin tent.

One would have heard some heartfelt screaming, also.



Come to find out, eventually, an enormous German Shepherd brought its family of humans for a camp-out in our vicinity just that very same evening.

[Evans, Marv]

I worked as a seasonal ranger in Sequoia Natl Park for three seasons 50+ years ago. We always had probems with bears. I've related a couple of instances on here before. I'd be glad to use a bear container. We had cars with broken windows, & VW busses with side doors ajar in addition to camp coolers, etc. broken into. We had to relocate two bears and I came face to face with a huge one going to my cabin one night. We both scared each other. Bear containers are available on some of the better used hiking loops and trails in the back country now & have been for years. I would think some RVs would be prime targets for bears.

[ramonesfreak]

Back in high school me and 2 friends went hiking in Vermont. At night me and my friend slept in a trailside cabin….I’ll never forget it was called Ritterbush camp….our other friend slept outside under the stars. While we were asleep in the cabin we heard a lot of commotion outside that sounded like wolves or maybe a bear and we just figured our friend outside would be dead and eaten when we got up. We decided to just wait it out and stay inside because we warned him so….oh well.., I remember the sound seemed so loud and like just what you would expect if a hungry bear was rummaging around looking for fresh meat. Terrifying!

We did get up in the morning and found our friend making coffee on the fire and we looked around and found that a mouse had chewed through my pack to get to a small packages of saltines I picked up at a diner

It happens to the best of us

Originally Posted by Crowbob

Way back when I was young, probably a few minutes after Columbus rediscovered the New World, I, my cousin and his buddy were camping, dispersal type, in one of those old, musty, canvas cabin-type tents with a flap on one of the walls for a door.

Well, we’re pretty much minding our own businesses, getting ready to crash after telling bear stories, when a HUGE black and brown snout poked its black and also BIG and surprisingly prehensile nose through the flap and into our tent.

Were one happening to be looking at our tent from the outside, one would have seen, in 3-D, three writhing incoherent lumps of horrified flesh trying to bust their ways to safety through each of the other three walls of a musty old canvas cabin tent.

One would have heard some heartfelt screaming, also.



Come to find out, eventually, an enormous German Shepherd brought its family of humans for a camp-out in our vicinity just that very same evening.