Camping with bears around?

[Kay in NC]

We are going up to Western Maryland to camp at Swallow Falls State park //www.dnr.state.md.us/publiclands/western/swallowfalls.html

When I made reservations they told me that all food needed to be stored in your car because sometimes bears wander into the camp ground.  We have never camped where there were bears before....any advice?  We take a small gas grill with us to cook on....is that going to attract the bears at night?  Should I be scared about my middle of the night potty runs?  Help, I'm freaking out here!

[ForestCreature]

Please don't freak out on us!!  Don't give the bears a reason to visit your site and they'll just pass by and go to the next one.
 
 Keeping a clean camp helps keep the bears away from your site. Wash down the table after you eat. Put all trash either in your vehicle at night or take to the trash dump station in the park. Don't leave any food laying around outside unless you are eating it. Also any towels that may have been used to wipe your hands after handling food, put that in the the vehicle as well.
 
 After using the grill, burn off all food over a high flame. Let it cool and put it away for the night.
 
 If you are that afraid of those late night potty runs, get a porta potty to use during the night, worth the investment for the peace of mind it'll bring you.
 
 We have camped in bear areas and have had no real problems. Yes they passed thru but kept going because we had no meal for them laying around. Go camping and enjoy!

[Elly]

We are going camping next week in a campground where there have been bears. Like you Kay, I'm a little nervous. Is the food stored in the camper going to attract bears? Do I have to have ALL my food in the car for safety? We have had a run in with a racoon so we have learned to be careful about leaving anything out that would smell good.

[Campaholics]

All food, including coolers, should be stored in the TV.  The PU is just a fancy tent.

Bob

[abbear]

Bears are creatures of opportunity and will go where the pickings are easiest.  We have often camped in bear country and by following the guidlines the rangers give you you can be like us and watch the bears wander through your camp on the way to the idiot down the way who has left out a bear smorgasboard.

As far as toilet runs go you should be fine.  Last I looked there are only black bears where you are and they don't want you, only your food.   Whistle or hum on the way to the toilet or carry a flashlight and the bears will give you a wide berth.

Now, when you store your food in the car be sure to throw a blanket over it and your coolers.  Bears can read 'Nabisco' and 'Thermos'.

Now, if you keep a clean camp you should have a great time!

[tlhdoc]

We camp and live in black bear country.  Enjoy the sight of a bear if you are lucky enough to see one.  You will be fine going to the bathroom.  We use the refrigerator in the PU and I do keep some sealed foods in the PU.  Most food and the coolers go in the car when not in use.  Cover the coolers because the bears know what a cooler is.  So do the "wild" horses on Assateague Island.  As long as you don't leave food or food waste around your campsite you should be fine.  Take all trash/food waste to the dumpsters when you are done eating.  Have a great trip.

[Kay in NC]

Thank you all for the replies.  Keep em coming!  I am less freaked now

[deniski]

I'll second what everybody else has said...   unless the east coast bears are real different from the rocky mountain bears, keeping a clean camp is really all you need to do.  We keep coolers, fresh fruits and vegetables and DOG FOOD in the truck at night.  We take any trash we have to the trash bin before we go to bed.  We do cook on the stove in our popup and wash dishes and have the drained wash water go into a container under the popup that we don't empty until it's full.  But we've never had any problem, and just about EVERYWHERE we go out here is bear country.

Have we seen bears?? sure, but not trying to get into our camper!!  If you're really worried, I would get the porta pottie.  We have dogs that feel like they HAVE to go to the pit privy in the middle of the night when we do, so we feel pretty safe that we would know if a bear was in the vicinity....

Don't worry too much and just have fun!!

[flyfisherman]

Just a few weeks ago (last part of June), we had a camping get-togther at the Standing Indian NFS C/G (Nantahala Nat'l Forest) in western North Carolina. There was a big ole black bear that was terrorizing some of the campers the week we were there. Evidently the bear had discovered earlier the delights of a camper's larder and ice chest left on the picnic table at night and that was the targeted area that was checked out every night. Even if there were no goodies and maybe just clean pots & pans left out on the table at night, the bear would go through those and always created a racket. Of course, any human activity (yelling, flash lights and such), would send the bear scurrying off into the woods.  There was a camp site right next to the river that I always to go beside in order to enter the river and fish; and I always ask the occupants if it's O.K. by them if I access the river close to their site - which always is. Anyway,  one afternoon a new couple sets up their tent on the site and I stop by and make a little conversation and to let them know I was planning on fishing bright & early the next morning and to make sure it would be alright to go into the river right there by their site. They had set-up a good sized tent plus a picnic table canopie and they were keeping all food stuffs and such in the back of their enclosed pick-up. Well, the next morning I get down to that site all ready to wade the river with all my fly fishing gear and I see the wife setting in the cab of the Nissan Frontier pick-up. Seems the bear came to their site in the middle of the night and rattled around all the clean dishes and pots and pans, awakened, they shined a light out from the tent to see what was going on and of course it was the bear. The man  yelled and the bear took off into the woods with the wife promptly moving into the cab of the little pick'em up where she spent the rest of the night! The husband simply went back to bed but she'd have no part of that! He also told me that he had heard a little more commotion further over on the other side of that section  of the C/G ... more yelling and hollering. Guess the bear checked out a few more sites before calling it a night! Judging by the terrified expression still on the wife's face I kind of figured that site would be vacant directly but I guess all settled down and they continued their stay. Did see the bears paw prints and they were big! It was my understanding the NFS folks were planning on springing a little trap for the bruin and moving him to new surroundings. Their concern is that once the bear gets a good taste of camper's  food it's hard for them to go back to their old methods of finding something to eat on their own.

No doubt about it, a good sized black bear is a formidable animal that requires some common sense when you happen to be in the same local. I try to have all my dishes cleaned and put away, all traces of food scraps disposed of and all food stuffs, including the ice coolers, enclosed in the back of the truck. I have one of those low-profile fiberglass cargo bed covers and all that gear is stashed away in there for the night.


Fly

[vjm1639]

We do a great deal of our camping in Shenandoah National Park and there is a very large number of Black Bear in there.  We've hardly had a trip up there in the past few years when we didn't see at least one.  We just keep ALL food (dog food too) in the car at night and haven't had any problems.   We've seen them on the trails a few times too and they will go their own way when they see or hear people.

[AustinBoston]

I'm going to post one caveat...in at least three national parks I have been in, the advice was to NOT PUT FOOD IN YOUR VEHICLE and only use the provided bear boxes.  If they tell you don't leave put food in your vehicle, don't.

When we were there in 2001, Yosemite National Park averaged more than one car a night broken into by bears.  The story was similar in Sequoia/Kings Canyon.

IMNSHO, if they say to put food in your vehicle, you don't really have a bear problem.

Austin

[Camping Coxes]

I'm going to post one caveat...in at least three national parks I have been in, the advice was to NOT PUT FOOD IN YOUR VEHICLE and only use the provided bear boxes. If they tell you don't leave put food in your vehicle, don't.Austin

I was reading the posts and thinking, this is crazy -- I know we're on opposite sides of the country, but around here the advice is to use the bear boxes only, and NOT to put food in your car.  The bears figure out real quick what a box or can or cooler represents (a free meal) and will break into your car for an empty shoebox if they think it might be a box of cereal.  When we went to Sequioa and to Lake Tahoe, we were provided bear boxes at each site and we used them with no problem.  We stayed a week at each and had plenty of room.   I also kept our "smelly" items in there, i.e. bath kits and deoderants, toothpaste, even small laundry detergent I had brought.  Antyhing with scent went in.  It was quite interesting to see the pictures of cars ripped open from a  bear trying to get in to get at food in a car.  It also was a good lesson in why they want you to use a bear box.
 
I did keep anything that was sealed such as canned items (not boxes items, because they still can have scent) in the trailer, but out of view of the windows, and we pulled our curtains.  I cleaned up my camp stove nightly as well as any food prep areas with Clorox wipes.  We never had a problem, though there were bears in the area.
 
Basically, bears are looking for food, but trying to avoid people.  They want what you have left out, including beer bottles and candy wrappers.  If you empty a cooler, leave it out, but leave it open so the bear can look inside, sniff around, find it's empty, and move on.  Otherwise he'll destroy it to get it open (no opposable thumbs, remember?), hoping it's full, only to find it's empty, and now you've lost your cooler.
 
Follow the guidelines of the rangers and you should be fine.  If they have bear boxes, call ahead and get the measurements of the opening.  Some higher profile coolers will not fit, however most coolers do fit (we had one that would not fit, but it has a domed lid).  
 
I know this is long, but here's a funny story of our first bear experience -- DH and I were dating and went tent camping in Seqouia NP for the first time.  They reported a lot of bear activity, so advised us to be diligent about disposing of trash and storing food at all times.  We got a warning note about leaving a beer bottle on our picnic table when we went out for a walk.  We also saw a bear foraging in the trash can (actually in a bag of trash that was set outside of the trash can) during a night time bathroom trip.  Anyway, one night we're asleep and we awaken to hearing something lumbering around near our tent.  We froze.  Soon we saw the silhouette of a big bear walking right along our tent.  It stopped at the corner of our tent.  I stopped breathing and looked at DH like, "What do we do?"  He pulled out his gun, which I didn't even know he had, and sat there quietly.  At that point the bear promptly lifted his leg, peed on the corner of our tent, and moved on.  It was pretty funny once he moved on.  We joked that he was marking his spot to come back for dinner later, and in the morning we washed it off with plenty of water.  The rangers thought it was pretty funny too when we told them about it (sans the weapon, of course) .

[ForestCreature]

[indent] Quote:     Originally Posted by AustinBoston
 I'm going to post one caveat...in at least three national parks I have been in, the advice was to NOT PUT FOOD IN YOUR VEHICLE and only use the provided bear boxes. If they tell you don't leave put food in your vehicle, don't.Austin     [/indent]I was reading the posts and thinking, this is crazy -- I know we're on opposite sides of the country, but around here the advice is to use the bear boxes only, and NOT to put food in your car.  
 
 Here in MI, there are no bear boxes in the SPs or the State and National Forests. Not even in the UP where the bear population is greater than the lower. We have Black Bear, they aren't as aggressive as the Grizzlies you have out west. But that dosen't mean they will not come by looking for food. I don't ever recall hearing about MI black bear ripping open cars for the coolers. The threat of bear is here, but not nearly as serious as you in the west have it.
 
 In all the time we have camped among bear territory in MI, we had only 1 encounter of bears passing thru camp. They made quite a racket ripping apart all the garbage cans in front of each site, leaving a trail of trash...our can was empty, garbage was double bagged and stashed in the van.
 

[Scamper]

I'm relativiely new to PU camping, but have been tent camping for many many years.  I have camped at dedicated camp sites, and in the back country.  I have seen several bears while camping, but more often only see evidence of bears having been there.  I have never seen a bear box to store my stuff in anyplace I have camped, so my truck always gets the duty if it is near.  Have never had one attempt to break into my truck, probably because they haven't learned that yet.  I think places that have bear boxes probably have bears that have learned to break into vehicles.

Some other tips that I have either read about or seen done that I didn't see posted here yet include:
-Clothes you are wearing when you cook food should be placed where you put your food, not in the camper with you.  It smells like food too.

-Strong scented lotions, soaps, or perfumes are also not a good idea.  It's not that a bear wants to eat your Bath and Body Works lotions, but he might want to investigate it more if he likes the smell of it in your camper or on you while you sleep.

-If you drain your sink into a bucket or container outside, dump it at night, and store the bucket in your vehicle or other bear safe place.

-I avoid hanging food in trees, even if you do it on an extended branch were bears can't get to it.  All it does is bring bears in to investigate, even if they can't actually get.  I'd rather not have them come into the camp in the first place.

-If your dog craps near your campsite, clean it up and dispose of it.  This is not only good bear prevention measure, but also considerate for campers who might come after you.

As everyone here has said, just keep your camp clean clean clean, and your pop-up or tent free of scents that might make a bear curious.

[Poconohound]

Returning from shopping Sat., a fairly large bear crossed the road approx. 20 ft. in front of our car. Merely ambled from 1 side of the road 2 the other...no big deal. My garbage cans have teeth/claw marks on the lid; my bird feeder has a lovely claw mark on its squirrel baffle...;basically, what i'm trying 2 say is just practice common sense and you'll be fine.  Black bears are not really aggressive-basically wanting 2 avoid u just as much as u they.  Unlike the grizzies out west; they haven't figured out "car=food"  (yet!)...Haven't seen 'bear-boxes' here (again, yet).  Don't freak out over the bears; simple reality is driving 2 and from the campsite is a heckuva lot more dangerous than any bears out there.   Relax, and have a fun (and safe) trip...