Bear Story

One final story from our camping trip. The last two nights we spent on the west side of the Sierra crest. When we arrived at Devils Postpile the first of these nights, we saw that there were hefty bear lockers at each campsite, with elaborate latches you had to stick your hand in to open. Large instructions said to place all food within the locker, the definition of food being expanded to include “anything with a scent” (toiletries, first aid kits, etc. all qualified). The zealous park ranger came around to every camper and repeated the instructions. He explained that the bears had been visiting the Minaret Falls campground (run by the Forest Service) a couple of miles up the canyon, including breaking into one car, but so far there had been no problem at Devils Postpile. We took the instructions seriously, and even took advantage of the substantial size of the bear locker to stow much of our gear in there and try the successful experiment of sleeping in our car.

The next day we headed through Yosemite going over Tioga Pass, and avoided the crowds of the park to camp at a Forest Service campground a few miles outside of the west entrance to Yosemite. Again there were bear lockers, but flimsier and older ones. And the camp host said that bears had been visiting the campground every night. We try not to stress too much about this, but as we were in our tent that evening, the clanking of people emptying their trash into the dumpsters got replaced by impassioned banging about of the dumpsters, including the one about 15 meters from our tent. Shouts and lights, and then the noise moves off. We try to doze some, but maybe an hour later there is even more desperate banging nearby, not to mention audible huffing, as we stayed petrified in our tent. The bear or several (somebody was saying it was a mother and a couple of cubs) didn’t come closer, and gave up trying to undo the latch on the dumpster. We finally got to sleep, and were quite glad to see morning come.

It’s been a tough year for the bears—it’s been quite dry, and it’s been hard for them to find food.