Re: Bear Box Information

Hey Folks,

You all have been incredibly helpful with all my questions but I've got some more! This one pertains to the bear boxes at trailheads and at campgrounds. I realize the purpose of them is to lock them against bears getting in but what can we do to make sure people don't get into them? Can you put a padlock on them? If you can't, what's your experience been with people opening what's not theirs?

Thanks,


Steven

Can't padlock them from what I remember and if you did I think they'd cut them off. I personally haven't had a problem off Tioga Road trailheads. Curry Village, who knows.

Haven't had any problems at Curry Village either.

Haven't had any problems at Curry Village either. Often there are multiple people using one box so putting a padlock on it would not be very neighborly.

I was in North Pines Campground the week of June !st. Guy in the campsite next to me had a padlock on his bearlocker.

You cannot put a lock on communal boxes (meant to be shared by multiple individuals or groups) at trailheads
or similar, and the boxes in the Curry apple orchard parking lot as well (those near the Campground office that
are so marked on the outside: "no locks" )
You are allowed to put a padlock on the bear box in your individual campsite in Upper, Lower & North Pines
campgrounds (I've been doing this for years and years).
Same goes for the individual bear box assigned to your tent cabin in Curry Village. They just don't want people
putting locks on bear boxes at trailheads and such which are intended for multiple people to share.

Yes, good clarification. I was thinking of the trailhead lockers. Individual campgrnd lockers could be locked.

Good to know. Thanks for answering my question.

Trailhead parking lot bear boxes are considered communal, and they're not supposed to be locked.

I once saw a lock placed on a bear box at the Valley Backpackers parking lot. I got back in an hour and it was gone. I don't know if the owner took it off or if it was removed by the NPS. In any case, NPS employees have bolt cutters and will eventually lop off any locks placed on the communal bear boxes.

I left my food and a few propane cylinders in one for about 5 days and everything was still there, although it looked like a mouse bit through my cardboard box. It's recommended that you mark your stuff with the date you plan on returning for it. If you don't, then they might start clearing things out.

Tangential to the original purpose of this thread, here is a link to a compilation of bear boxes found throughout the Sierra:
http://climber.org/data/BearBoxes.html



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/22/2010 01:20AM by szalkowski.