Need advice about camping at Yellowstone & Grand Teton NP's

[OnTheGo]

It looks now like we will be travelling to the area this summer and staying at Grant Village and then down to Colter Bay.

I've been doing a lot of reading and browsing about the area and I'm confused about the stored food issue. I know caution is the best approach and I intend to follow the recommended procedures, but the information I'm getting makes it sound like there is wildlife on the perimeter of the camp sites waiting to tear into your equipment. I can't believe people would put themselves in that situation in the name of recreation. There have been cautions about cosmetics and gum wrappers.

I would like to hear from those folks who have been there about a realistic view of how they manage their food supply. And anything else a first timer to the area would need to know.

Thank you in advance.

[taviking22]

We stayed at Colter Bay and Grant Village Campgrounds in September of 2011 in our 5th W. If you have a hard-sided RV you are good to go. However, you can not leave any food, items with food odors, or coolers outside your RV. If you have a soft-sided RV or tent, you can either keep food in your vehicle's trunk or use the many food lockers supplied around the campground. Both parks are really picky about food safety and the rangers make regular patrols of the campgrounds, especially in Yellowstone. Supposedly they confiscate and then ticket the owner of any food related materials left out unattended as this was the talk going around. For the life of me, I don't recall what we did with our portable grill as it certainly would have lingering food odors...so I'm thinking we put it in the RV's storage bin when we would leave the campsite.

We never did see any bears in the campgrounds. We did see a sow grizzly and 2 cubs in the eastern part of Grand Teton. What a treat!
Didn't see any in Yellowstone.

Have a good time making your plans and a better time going and camping!!

[Doug]

Same story from my sister at Yellowstone.
They got ticketed for leaving their tablecloth on the picnic table.
Toothpaste, etc, nothing can be left outside.

Doug

[edowsfamily]

when we were there in 2002 everything went in bear boxes, everything. nice to see the wildlife in there enviroment

[ringneck]

we stayed in Indian Creek and Canyon Villiage this past summer (2012)

At Indian Creek my brother got a written warning for leaving an empty (but used) coffee mug on the picnic table. They do aggressively ensure that no food is left out. (Despite the harsh sound to that 'written warning', the ranger stopped in later after we had returned and he was extremely polite and friendly about the warning and just wanted to make sure we enjoyed our stay and understood the rules) There are tons of large locking storage boxes on the individual camp sites to ensure everyone - hardside or tent - has a safe place to store food. It's really not anything to get too worried about.

We saw a Grizzly maybe 1/2 mile or a mile outside of the Indian Creek camp site on a couple of occasions - but only mule deer and rabbits inside or in the immediate area of the campground. We didn't see any bears near Canyon Villiage - there were tons of buffalo south of there.