Cooking in Yellowstone and Grand Teton NP

[BuddyRay]

OH - so we're tellin BEAR stories are we :-).

Check out the next two photos - these were taken at the trailhead parking area next to the upper pines campground. The owner of this very nice Corvette had left his closed cooler in his locked car while hiking.




A bear, in broad daylight, with lots of people around, hand put his claws into the top of the window (you can see the claw marks on the rubber gasket), popped the window out with one motion, reached in and opened the cooler (ripping up the seat cover in the process) only to find nothing edible in the cooler (just drinks).

We saw a lot of AMAZING sights on that trip, but 20 years later, what my kids remember about Yosemite was the Corvette and the Bear.

Rangers told us it's not just smell. Bears have learned to recognize the shape of coolers, even through car windows.

I would love to have been on the phone when these folks called their insurance company to explain this :-).

[SecretCoveDave]

saw a video some bear researchers shot. Cooler full of salmon in a mini van. Grizz walks up and looks in window, drops down and puts claws in door handle opens door, pulls out cooler.
Sits down, eats fish, leaves.

Stunned scientists stare at empty cooler and van.

Dave.

[BuddyRay]

Animals are incredibly smart and adaptive in their own way.

Back in the 1970's I took 5 groups of Boy Scouts on Expeditions to the Philmont National Scout Ranch in NE New Mexico in the Sangre de Cristo range of the Rockies. There were a LOT of Scouts backpacking in those mountains each year - and there were a lot of smart bears.

In one camp (Ponil for those of you who've been lucky enough to trek at Philmont) the rangers had documented bears teaming up with raccoons. The scouts were taught to run a rope between two trees, then throw another rope across that one and haul your food up high in the air so it's basically in the air between two trees. Rangers watched at night as a bear and raccoon would amble into a campsite together - the raccoon would climb the tree and bite the rope until the bag fell - then the bear would rip open all the packaging and the two would enjoy a feast.

On my first trek, the 8 of us hiked into a remote campsite (I believe it was Webster Park campsite) and stacked our backpacks in a row up against a tree while we scoped out the campsite to decide where/how to setup. In broad daylight a bear ambled into our site, right up to the row of packs, proceeded to pick one, rip open the side pocket, extract a single piece of beef jerky and ambled off.
The Scout who's pack it was said he didn't even remember the jerky (left from an earlier campout back in Georgia) was in there. The bear completely ignored pounds of dehydrated food to go after a few inches of jerky.

On another trek to Philmont my group was at Clarks Fork Campsite when a sudden and short but violent mountain thunderstorm caused a few minutes of hail. A bear came charging into the campsite, right under the cooking tarp, which was quickly vacated by the 3 scouts who were taking shelter there. The bear then proceeded to lay down and calmly wait until the hail stopped, sniffed around a bit, then wandered out of camp.

All true - I swear!

[dewey02]

Yellowstone is a big place with lots to see.
We were there for over a week and found we didn't have a lot of time for cooking. Get up early, have cold cereal for breakfast. Either took a bag lunch with us during the day, or ate at one of the Yellowstone restaurants. Usually got back to our campground pretty late in the evening and just made something simple to eat and usually just cooked that inside on the stove - or we went to another Yellowstone restaurant on the way back from whatever we were seeing that day.

The days will be long. You will be tired and hungry. Dragging your grill and food outside, then cooking, then cleaning up and then re-storing it all back away is a lot of work. You will probably be eating and cleaning up until very late. Who wants to do all that? We did our serious outside cooking when we were on our way to and from Yellowstone Park itself. When we were in the park, it was all about seeing the sights. We used our camper more like a hotel room - to sleep, shower, relax at night, and sometimes eat simple meals inside.

Re: Philmont. Yes, I was there 50 years ago as a scout. We definitely had bears at Ponil, had a rattlesnake too! Fun!

[Cosmik Debris]

While at YNP one of the employees were telling us about finding unattended camps with a cooler sitting out, which they confiscate. Campers return and are baffled, then upset at park employees. From all of the bear encounter stories above, it sounds like stupid humans/smart critters.
I'd second the opinion that you'll want to hurry to see sights, pack a lunch, then get back in time to have an easy dinner before quiet time shuts down generators, which is another restriction enforced.
The park is amazing and well worth experiencing. Every place you go surpasses the last, and you'll also see a daily stupid human event.

[NVGun40]

Living in Alaska, we see lots and lots of bears. Brown, black, Kodiak, Grizzly. I've even had a bear take one of my salmon and thus the whole stringer back into the bushes and eat the fish I had caught while I was standing off the bank in waders. Most tourists and hikers tie bells to their shoes and carry bear spray. When we come across hikers with bells we usually say (under our breath..) "Oh, another dinner bell ringing".
You can tell the difference between what bears are in your area by looking at their scat piles. If it grainy, has seed looking stuff in it, it's a black bear. If it has bits of clothing and bells and smells like pepper, its a brown bear.
Its a common rule to lock up any food inside vehicles or campers. Most campgrounds have food lockers for those in tents.
However, I have had a discussion with park rangers and other enforcement types and helped more than one person avoid a ticket. Most fire pits have cooking grates and many campgrounds have fixed BBQ grills. People do actually use these to cook from. These things cannot be locked up or put away. So I simply and politely point out that if a person is to be ticketed for leaving a portable grill out, then the department of parks or state entity has to fine themselves for leaving these fixed grills and fire pits out. A simple couple of photos presented to a judge usually gets the ticket dismissed. Coolers and other food stuffs, I understand why they cant be left out.

[Kim Gass]

Yep in Yellowstone and Glacier we were told to never leave anything food or cooking related on the table.

They enforced this rule. Not us that were obeying but neighbors got a warning then a fine..

It was funny. At Glacier the bear walked right into camp.. Not surprising. The whole campsite was in a berry patch.

the bear bells are hysterical. Rangers we met on the trail said that for bears to notice a bell over wind and water noise it has to be a gong.

[NVGun40]

My wife capture this fine shot early this summer.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[A2Z_Adventures]

Only took us an extra 5-10 min to haul the food box in and out of the PuP. This was our first real excursion to a NP and our new to us PuP. During the process someone had mentioned, "I never cooked inside my camper, did not ever want to let the bears think there was something tasty inside". Consequently, we cooked everything outside except maybe boiling some water.

-The bathrooms at most campsites have dish washing stations and warmed bathrooms complete with running water(Not HOT water, Just water).
- The parks are HUGE, pack a meal and snacks for the day skipping back for lunch/meals is a trek
- Pre-planned most of our meals over a fire or propane. Our site was not electric so a generator charge/bump twice a day topped us off
- Provisions and Gas in the park are PRICEY. We stocked up and during one of our loops stopped by stores, so bring that cooler along. From Fishing Bridge CG to Walmart in Cody it is at least 1.5 hours one way
- Traffic is slow, be prepared for bobble heads everywhere and people randomly stopping

It is amazing... Enjoy!

[Kim Gass]

OK.. Did you keep your food in your refrigerator or in the bear lockers?
Bears are creatures of habit and swipe things off your table..hence the rule that no food outside unattended. We saw a Ranger give a nice 200 dollar summons to the people next door who left food on their table and went for a walk.

[A2Z_Adventures]

Locker was not really that close, we decided to take the risk and kept it in the PuP/day trip vehicle. Never stored any food items outside for more than 30 min around meals, the camp hosts and rangers would surf by quite a bit.

[Kim Gass]

the risk is lower the better trained the humans are.
In Glacier we had a bear in our campsite. There was a big berry patch in our campsite. Never was he or she interested in our food.

[Flapper]

Griz aren't the only offenders.

About 3 years ago was fishing in Voyagers Natl Park, and watched from the lake as a black bear completely destroyed a boat-in tent camp site. Campers had left everything - tablecloth, cookware out, cooler on the picnic table, etc. Neat and orderly. Then left for a day of fishing. Nothing left after the bear got done - tents, sleeping bags, food - he did it all in. Of course we yelled and shouted, but we were not about to go ashore to chase him off. He left, and then we left, as it was getting dark and a thunderstorm was moving in. Always think about the cold, wet night those campers must have had after their return.
It may be inconvenient, but I'd always be as careful as possible to to keep temptation out of reach, even more so in Grizzly country!