The Outdoor Adventure Giving you tips, tricks & recommendations to help make adventuring in the Outdoors fun, safe & exciting for you and your kids.
A few weeks ago we looked at what to do when encountering bears on the trail. Now we want to look at keeping a safe, bear free (or bear resistant) campsite. Most of this has to do with food.
The biggest attractant of bears is the smell of food/belongings and they can smell it from miles away (some parks suggest 3 miles away others just say “miles”). Bears have been known to rip cars open to find it… how much more your tent?
NEVER KEEP FOOD IN YOUR TENT/TENT TRAILER
Not even that snack / bottle of wine /can of pop you were saving for 3 AM.
TOOTHPASTE IS FOOD
That’s right, we forget that to a bear anything odoriferous can be food. Stow your deodorant, toothpaste, juicy fruit, body spray, perfume, lotion, etc. together in a safe place away from your tent.
WHAT’S A SAFE PLACE?
Three recommendations are food lockers, bear canisters and hanging your food. However, due to negligence and human presence bears are getting more and more clever and some of these practices are not recommended in specific areas. Check with your park rangers for their recommendations.
Some parks provide bear proof vaults (food lockers) where food can be stored. These are great as the bears can’t get into them at all. Definitely your best choice.
Food hanging is a back country tradition. Hang your food at least 10 feet off the ground and away from the trunk of the tree (don’t forget, bears can climb). If you are using a rope to prevent the food from falling, make sure that the rope isn’t in a place where the bear can bite through it easily. A great option is to counter balance the goods with another bag on the other side of a branch in a way that you have to use a long stick to get it back down. (if that’s confusing leave a comment and I’ll explain it further).
In some parks bear cannisters are required and food hanging is illegal (Yosemite). Nevertheless, in the Adirondacks there is at least one bear who has learned the secret of bear canisters (New York Times). Your best bet is to check your park website and see what they recommend.
DON’T COOK CLOSE TO CAMP
Obviously the most smells will be produced where you cook the food and where you prep it. That is where the bears will be looking for their midnight snack. To lower your chances of being that snack, make sure everything is done well away from your sleeping area. Any food preparation / fish cleaning should be done at a safe distance from your tent/hammock. If your clothes smell like food (especially fish) then dump them with your food stuffs. Any leftover food /guts should be packed up with food or burned in the fire. Obviously don’t put plastic or tinfoil in the fire.
Have fun and stay responsible!
