Bear Activity Update

Bear incidents are up this year in comparison to past years, while property damage is down. Activity in Yosemite Valley’s campgrounds, and other lodging facilities has remained consistently high this summer. This week, bears have been getting into vehicles to obtain food left inside, even during the day. If you are in Yosemite during the day, please keep your food contained inside your vehicle, out of sight, with your windows closed. Never leave food unattended outside. Do not leave food in the back of an unattended pick-up truck.

Multiple bears have been observed at Glacier Point this week. These bears have obtained food from people who left food unattended.

More info: http://www.nps.gov/yose/planyourvisit/bearfacts.htm

A buddy and I just finished 3 weeks on the trail (completed the JMT). What a great trip!

We saw 5 bears during that time. 2 we saw while driving into Yosemite, another in the Y.V. backpacker campround that night; the 4th we saw in the TM backpacker campground on day 3. We didn't see another bear for over 2 weeks and this one was from a distance, and swimming across a pond near Bullfrog Lake near Kearsarge Pass.

There was a time when backpackers could count of having bears around. The containers have changed that. Bears don't bother with things that don't get them food.

What is it about LYV and TM? Does ones IQ go up the further one gets from the trail-head? With all the storage available there you'd think the bear problem would be totally eliminated. I support maximum fines for improper food storage especially in these two areas. Not just fines for food that bears actually got but just improper practices. The word would get out and the problem would cease.

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Old Dude

The more people you have, the more chance there is for mistakes. Bears need calories and those mistakes provide them.

Eeek I'll give you omissions and commissions but not mistakes. I just can't see how a bear getting food from a backpacker is anything but bad behavior on the backpackers part. TM isn't really BP territory but LYV?

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Old Dude

Many of the "backpackers" in Little Yosemite Valley are less than experienced.

Fine em.

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Old Dude

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mrcondron
What is it about LYV and TM? Does ones IQ go up the further one gets from the trail-head? With all the storage available there you'd think the bear problem would be totally eliminated. I support maximum fines for improper food storage especially in these two areas. Not just fines for food that bears actually got but just improper practices. The word would get out and the problem would cease.

A couple of years ago I camped at LYV. The bear boxes were pretty much filled, but whoever was closest to them kept them open and unlatched. It was similar to a lot of frontountry campsites I've been to where several campers think it's more convenient to leave the boxes open because they're there. I've heard of many cases where bears do a sneak and grab.

My parents had friends who were getting things out of the bear box for dinner and as he turned around to put what he had just pulled out of the box onto the table a bear rushed in behind him to take I believe marshmellows. This was several years ago when the bear activity was really bad, you could count on seeing at least one bear everyday, and hear people trying to chase away bears.

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Javmp
My parents had friends who were getting things out of the bear box for dinner and as he turned around to put what he had just pulled out of the box onto the table a bear rushed in behind him to take I believe marshmellows. This was several years ago when the bear activity was really bad, you could count on seeing at least one bear everyday, and hear people trying to chase away bears.

That happens a lot in the Valley campgrounds.

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Javmp
My parents had friends who were getting things out of the bear box for dinner and as he turned around to put what he had just pulled out of the box onto the table a bear rushed in behind him to take I believe marshmellows. This was several years ago when the bear activity was really bad, you could count on seeing at least one bear everyday, and hear people trying to chase away bears.

I already posted the photo of the bear casually snacking the contents of a malfunctioning bear box.

I thought someone might have called for help, but now that I think of it, that the bear was tagged meant the fast response. The transmitter tracking antenna was a few sites away, so I'm thinking the ranger on bear patrol knew to come immediately.

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y_p_w

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Javmp
My parents had friends who were getting things out of the bear box for dinner and as he turned around to put what he had just pulled out of the box onto the table a bear rushed in behind him to take I believe marshmellows. This was several years ago when the bear activity was really bad, you could count on seeing at least one bear everyday, and hear people trying to chase away bears.

I already posted the photo of the bear casually snacking the contents of a malfunctioning bear box.

I thought someone might have called for help, but now that I think of it, that the bear was tagged meant the fast response. The transmitter tracking antenna was a few sites away, so I'm thinking the ranger on bear patrol knew to come immediately.

Last time I tried to call I got a machine. Leaving a message didn't seem very useful.

It was actually in the Tuolumne Meadows campground, around the time when they used the bear dogs.

I was talking to someone who remembers a past trip when she was at an open bear box, in Curry Village, actively rummaging for something - and a bear walked up beside her and she heard the huffing, sniffing noise, turned her head, and there was this bear's head just inches from her. She yelled, bear ran, and she sat there freaked out for a while.

I don't car camp in Yosemite if I can help it. Seems there are a lot fewer incidents off the beaten path. We're avoiding Thousand Island Lake for camping as well.