Re: Food in the trunk parking at Yosemite Village OK?

We are driving to Yosemite in the coming weekend. We plan to leave the car at Yosemite Village day use parking lot and take the shuttle bus. We will drive out of the valley to Mariposa before sunsets. We have food in the trunk. Now is that OK? I have been there before but do not recall any bear proof food locker around the day use parking lot. might the bear come to the car during day light time? Thanks for your inputs!

It's hard to predict what a bear will do. There are lot's of ifs involved. If a bear is out at that time of day, and in that place, it WILL smell you food. If it likes the smell of your food, and if it's hungry, it may very well open your trunk and take the food. If a bear does that , nobody is going to stop it. If a bear rips your trunk apart, the ranger may decide to euthanize it.

I wouldn't leave food in the trunk.

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Doug Parr

Food in the trunk at day use parking is allowed. It's the overnight storage of food in cars that is a problem.

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Old Dude

If i want to play it safe, where can i find food locker near the day use parking lot at Yosemite village? I do not recall seeing the lockers around parking lot.

TalkingBear wrote:

> If i want to play it safe, where can i find food locker near
> the day use parking lot at Yosemite village? I do not recall
> seeing the lockers around parking lot.

Closest public bear boxes would be the ones at the backpackers/Happy Isles trailhead parking lot. It's past this sign. Even if the sign says full, it's not updated regularly and is sometimes kept up to leave backpackers space (they're supposed to tell backpackers about the sign not always being accurate).



For the most part, bears aren't going to try and break into a car during the day, especially if there's plenty of human foot traffic. I stored a little bit of stuff in my car, but covered it.

At Grant Grove in Kings Canyon NP (where the bears also break into cars) I asked a park ranger about leaving my food in my car as I waited for my cabin to be ready. I was told I was OK since it was daylight and there were enough people walking around to discourage bears from breaking in. Of course breaking in is very different than a grab and flee, which bears have been known to do even where they don't break into cars.

Over there I saw plenty of bear boxes - even in day use areas. The parking lot at Crystal Cave had at least 6 bear boxes, as did the trailhead parking for Redwood Canyon. The latter may be used by backpackers, so I guess it made some sense.

Returned from trip to Yosemite. Some update:

1. Day 1 (Sat. July 19th)

There were tons of people and cars in the valley. Cars were parked not only in parking lots, but also along the roads, wherever it was possible. I doubt a bear will bother to come out in bright daylight for food hunting.

2. Day 2 (Sun. July 20th)

There were clearly fewer cars in the valley. Still I dont think bears would come out for food during daylight.