Black Bears & the Pop-Up Fridge

[alphaa211]

Anyone have any thoughts on camping in black bear country (Pike National Forest in Colorado) and using the popups refrigerator?  We use our fridge everytime we camp but we've never camped in bear country.  I understand putting food & coolers covered in the TV at night but can you safely keep things in the fridge if it's kept closed and locked?  (locked to keep it from accidentally opening while compressing the seal a bit better)  I don't want to scare the kids/wife, put anyone/anybear in danger, or have to shoo away a black bear that's trying to get into the camper because it wants the steaks in the fridge.  From all I've read the odds seem pretty good that black bears won't be a problem if you follow the proper recommendations.  I'd rather ask and sound naive than assume and have problems because I did something stupid.

Anyone camp in black bear country regularly and also use the fridge?

Thanks in advance for all replys.
_____________________________________
Me, wife, & 3 kids (4, 6, & 9)
2003 Jayco 14SO
1997 Mercury Mountaineer AWD
Days Camped in 2006: 39

[aw738]

I've camped in both a tent and a popup in black bear contry but not with a fridge. I will advise you that from personal experiance bears like Doritos.

[AustinBoston]

What I generally say is if they advise people putting coolers in cars, they don't have a bear problem.  We've stayed in some places where bears would rip the doors off your car to get at a stick of gum.  We even stayed at one place where there were no bears, but the coons had figured out how to open hatchbacks to get at coolers.

If the area does not require the use of bear boxes, then the bears have not figured out how to get into most things to find food.

In any case, the real issue isn't food in the fridge, it's food odors in the canvas.  If you frequently cook greasy food inside your pop-up, or plan on cooking anything in your pop-up while in bear country, better to get a hard side.

Finally, the thing to tell your kids is that (to my knowledge) bears have never broken into a pop-up.

Austin

[ForestCreature]

We camp in black bear territory in MI. While I don't cook inside or next to the camper, I do use the fridge. So far we have not had any unexpected intruders inside the camper.

They do pass thru the campsite at night. That's all they'll do if you give them no reason to stick around.
Keep a clean camp, put garbage in the vehicle at night (supplied trash cans that are not bear safe will attract regular bear visitors looking for an easy meal)  If you grill, clean the grill well after each meal.  All the typical bear preventive stuff.

And if you use a portable Solar Panel put it out of Bears reach during the night, like under your vehicle.

[mountainrev]

Great question.  I camp (and live) in bear country, and try to be careful about putting my cooler in the TV at night or when away from the camp, but to be honest, never have given a thought to the camper's fridge.  I agree with AB:

If the area does not require the use of bear boxes, then the bears have not figured out how to get into most things to find food.

In any case, the real issue isn't food in the fridge, it's food odors in the canvas.  
Austin

Opening fridges is a learned behavior, since bears can't see the food or smell it when it's in a fridge.  I have an aunt who lives near Red Feather Lakes in northern Colorado where bears routinely enter hardsided TTs by prying open the doors like a can opener, and then raiding the refrigerators.  That's because they've learned the food is in there.  They don't know if there's food in the fridge or not, but they've learned that's a good place to look.

So if you're camping in a place where bears have learned to enter pups and look in the fridge, I suspect it wouldn't matter if the fridge was locked or if it was empty.  They'll break in anyway!  That's why many of the campgrounds at places like Yellowstone don't allow soft-sided campers at all.

But I believe if you have food odors in and around your camper, whether the bears have learned to look in fridges or not, they will be likely to try to get inside, and vice versa.  Don't cook inside your pup if you're in serious bear country!

[CampDirt]

Where in Pike's country are you camping?  I'm pretty familiar with the area, being from Aurora myself.  I've camped in a tent a lot in bear country, even had one snoring about ten feet from me during the night.  It's fun to tell everyone I slept with a bear!! (even though technically I was inside the sleeping bag wide awake ).  

Bears come out during the spring and summer months mostly.  Occasionally one will forage during the winter.  They don't hybernate all winter long (or so I've been told by a couple rangers).  Most of the bears in the Colorado Rockies seem to avoid humans, only to come into a camp because they smell food.  They even tend to hang around dumpsters.  There's been bears coming down from the mountains and into our cities.  

The best thing is to give a bear his space, and if he really wants the food he'll find a way to get to it.  Tying a bear rope between two tall trees seems to do the trick for me, but I've never had to tie up a cooler before.  I would think just keeping your frig clean, putting in a fresh small box of baking soda everytime, and storing your foods in tight containers will keep the bears away.  I've never had to use a bear box in these mountains before (Yellowstone, YES! because grizzlies are more aggressive and bigger!).

[Gone-Camping]

I am certainly no expert in this area (or any other area for that matter), however, I don't think compressing the refridge seals tighter will be of much help, considering they usually have a small drainage/drip tube that is open to the outside...likelyhood is that any oders inside the fridge would also be at the end of that tube.... just a bit of logic here... I too have camped in black bear country with food in the fridge without any problems. Only time I've ever encountered any kind of bear problem was at Loft Mountain (Shenandoah NP) when some friends left a pan full of creamed corn out in their AAR...now they had a visitor!!

 
I was in a tent at the time, and my nephew was with me, I hadn't realized it but he had a bunch of candy in his overnight kit... bear was in the next site but never bothered us....perhaps we just got lucky, or the creamed corn was a better lure!!

[kimrb266]

This year we've camped 2x in/out side of Yosemite and experienced bears both times.  The 1st time we were told to put our coolers in the popup and cover other stuff in the cars.  The bears are new at coming into the campground and haven't figured out the secret yet.  We were waken up at 2:30 am with a booom outside our trailer.  As we looked out, we found a black bear throwing a trash can from the bathroom on the ground and went through it.  Someone had put their trash in it and he was trying to find it.  After he found what he wanted, he wondered off.  
 
The 2nd, we were actually inside Yosemite and were waken up at 4:30 am to find a bear devouring our donuts, and other goodies from our bearbox.  I didn't lock it all the way.  Luckily, we scared it off without losing everything.  We were told that everything including toiletries had to be in the bearbox and that no food was to be stored in car or our popup.  We took out our carseats at set them on the bear box to be safe.  You can store pre-canned foods in the trailer and water and maybe soda in the fridge.  I wouldn't store anymore than that.  
 
Hope this helps.