What’s Your Bear Country Camp Routine?

How about eating a little earlier in the day, hiking for another 30 or 90 minutes and then camping? I think it makes sense to separate cooking/eating and camping if possible.

Have you had any ‘adventures’ with that system?

What Matthew said is a widely practiced tactic. I’ve not ever had any adventures myself and used an ursack but have come to wonder if maybe I’ve just been lucky along with most trips in areas or terrain where bears are not a big problem; still I’m becoming more reconciled to canisters and that extra weight. I still practice the points below though even with a canister.

You could also try to stay above tree-line if that’s possible. Avoid established heavily used campsites in lower elevations.

I also keep my food in nylofume double bags by having 5 nylofume bags; one each for breakfast, lunch – trail snack, dinner and smellables; and a bigger one for the other 4. Really keeps the smellables organized and simplifies finding what I need without a lot of rooting around.

I’ll also try to use the downwind terrain to advantage if possible like camping upwind of a lake so any smells have to cross the lake before reaching boo-boo’s nose. But that sort of site selection is harder or less available in non-alpine settings.

Try to avoid obvious choke-points, funnels, tight corridors. Probably why the trail is there anyway so…. try off-trailing a little. Again can be much harder in steep heavily vegetated terrain.

I usually hike solo in bear country on Vancouver Island.  I go stoveless so there are minimal smells and no dishes to clean. I don’t want to be cooking 3-bean chili, wondering how far downwind that goes.

All the steps  you take seem to be really good. +1 on what Mathew said – though I have not done it yet and want to start doing that.

Where do you typically backpack?

So on the JMT (bear canister), PCT-Washington (Ursack), CT (Ursack), SHR (bear canister) hikes, I never went that far from my tent to eat. Most of my meals are Mountain house etc. So, not much cooking involved – not like Ramen which tends to smell a touch more than de-hydrated meals. I do use Opsak’s. Even the Ursack or bear canister is not far from me – probably lesser than 100 yards. My theory is that the farther it is, the less you will be likely to hear an animal messing with your canister or Ursack. And if someone is messing with it, you would want to get out and scream or throw stones etc. I usually carry a big bear bell which I attach to my Ursack hoping that I will hear the racket and do something about it. On the CT, I have seen photos of Ursack ripped apart on some reddit column – though it has not happened to me yet:-)

Most of the folks on JMT eat within 10 feet of their tents or even closer. SHR doesn’t have many bears as this is mostly above tree line – again we ate maybe 10 feet from our tents. I was doing SOBO on PCT-Washington section hike and met at least 100 NOBO PCT thru hikers. Most of them eat inside their tents, keep food inside their tents or in their vestibule. I was using a Ursack. When I asked them – isn’t it dangerous – they just shrugged their shoulders and said they haven’t had one bear encounter in 2500 miles (doesn’t mean it will not happen) and they don’t care. They say after 30 miles, they just want to get into their tent and eat food. I would not do that – but that is what observed on the PCT section hike. One guy actually said that hikers stink so much that bears don’t want anything to do with us:-)

As long as you don’t drop food near your tent and your Ursack is some 20 to 30 feet and you can see it or hear stuff happening to it, you will be fine.  Also the places bears typically come are the popular campsites where they know people are cooking food and there are easy pickings. I was told that bears were sniffing around Red Meadows campsite during my JMT – we had bear canisters inside the bear boxes. So no issues. They will sniff around the campsite and as long as they don’t smell food – they will leave you alone. I was fast asleep and didn’t hear anything.

I’m pretty bad about bear practices since I live in coastal black bear country, where I’m used to just running at the bears like a possessed chihuahua to scare them off. I would probably die in grizzly country, LOL.

BUT, one thing I can say for certain is that turkey oven bags have a massive ability to cut down on odors if you twist and get a good knot in the top. Nothing comes close, for the weight, IMO. Use them inside bear bags and canisters.

Funny thing is that where I live, I’m 99% concerned about rodents chewing into my gear for food than 1% for bears. :)

Yeah, bears are everywhere in the Sierra (even above tree line if they know folks camp there.) they really aren’t dangerous if you know the rules. No food in the tent! I will cook and eat some distance from my tent, but not that far–usually 30 yards or so, depending.  and that’s more for spills than anything. I’m also a Mountain House packer, so there’s not a lot of cooking smells. I’m always going in and out of my canister, so it’s kept pretty close–with the lid always on!–for marmots etc as well as bears. At night I’ll carry it maybe 50 feet away. Bears know that they can’t get into a bear canister and just leave them alone. If they assess that there’s no food to be had in campsite, they quickly move on. So keep a clean camp site!

Bears often suss out a campground before entering. I’ve often seen bears wander right past me and head to another site where people aren’t following good storage practice. Of course mostly I try to camp solo or in smaller sites–altho to be honest after a day or four of solo hiking, I like the company of a few others at night.

+1 on eating and doing your dishes a mile or two before you get to camp.

In black-bear country, where they’re not hunted and get brazen, I set aside a stout stick and a pile of fist-sized rocks.  They’re surprised for 2 seconds that this human defends his food, but have always skeedaddled on to other less offensive campers.  I’ve retrieved several packs and food bags (other people’s stuff) that way.  I’d never do that with a grizzly.

In fact, it depends. Im in north GA. Weather changes have increased black bear population. Covid increased hiker population w novices that take few bear precations. Last summer, the AT from Carters Gap to Betty Cr. Gap to Albert Mtn had numerous bear warnings posted due to all the problems. I know two brothers that witnessed issues at Betty Cr Gap. Bears were climbing trees, crawling out limbs, then dropping to catch food bags on the way down. Also seen were bears grabbing well tied Ursaks, crushing and mouthing contents (the brothers food survived as powder but the Ursak was such a mess they tossed it once at the car). They saw 2 Bear Vaults repeatedly stomped on until they cracked and lids came off. Black bears, while not huge, are very smart. Lesson: keep food far from established campsites. Or use a Bearikade.

That’s crazy – that BV’s got broken. I am not sure a Bearikade would have survived – unless they tried stomping on them and it didn’t break – that will be good to know!

Stay far away from established campsites I suppose.

Depends where.  Most of the Gila to southern Rockies it’s typically a bear hang a bit away from camp.  Preferably an overhang over a slope just to make things more difficult for the bear and help ensure no late arriving humans camp underneath the food bag.  10 pounds of cereal and dried beans plopping on top of someone’s tent isn’t a good AM conversation starter ..

That said bears are out there, but humans have to be fairly sloppy to attract them in most of  NM. CO, AZ and UT.

One exception was the Maroon Bells near Aspen CO.  I actually hiked through that and had a claw grab my shelter door when trying to sleep .. despite hanging my food elsewhere as the bear family was visually habituated.  Now they now have a bear can requirement last I checked.

In the Sierra .. in most places a bear can is required and there’s ranger checks.

Then there’s other animals.  In various camps (desert to mountain), mice are increasingly habituated to humans and their delicious food.  Known them to gnaw  into one PCT section hikers tent going after some salt left by a dropped piece of jerky or playing “mice bongos” on one cowboy camped hiker .. to the tune of “give us food” probably.  It’s enough to warrant getting a mid with perimeter netting so there’s no floor for rodentia to chew on (maybe a fairly tight bivy for the desert?).

“Last summer, the AT from Carters Gap to Betty Cr. Gap to Albert Mtn had numerous bear warnings posted due to all the problems.”

Yes and Albert and Betty are practically drive up with Carters the winner at @ 2 miles of trail walking, 800 feet climb, 40 minutes. Sadly there’s a pattern there. One reason to use best practices, be careful and use a canister. But hey it’s here today, gone tomorrow and devil take the hindmost.

Camp near a large group… especially if the have a lot of kids… Bears will pass you by for the ‘easy pickins’

I think the big thing missing from advice threads about bear-food mitigation is site-specific context.

As an example, In black bear country on the southern AT, if you’re camping at an established spot, then you’re inheriting the current relationship between Man and bear, based on recent campers’ food behaviors.  In this circumstance a bearikade (or high bear lines, or a bear box) is a solid option, as in the south on the AT in some places the bears can take down pct hangs and tear up ursack and even plastic cans ( I saw a great chewed up one at broken fiddle hostel in Damascus).  You could encase your whole campsite in a nylofume tent, and a smart bear could breach it.

If you’re setting up in a less-used spot, then odor prevention tactics should be more effective. Even sleeping with your food will probably work, although that’s controversial.

The main influence is where you are camping, more than specific mitigation strategies, unless everyone before you has practiced them, which is very unlikely, because the bears become habituated to prior campers’ history of behaviors. Rather than suggest a single strategy based on your experience for advice to others, you need to start with context-specific knowledge of the campsite and it’s history.  Then pick your strategy to match the bear pressure there. There’s a lot of noise in bear-food interaction because people don’t specify the general context of their camp site selection preferences, then connect this to the needed methods.

1. Find camp spot

2. Store food

3. Set up tent

4. Eat dinner

https://lnt.org/tech-tip-use-the-bear-muda-triangle-to-stay-safe-keep-bears-wild/

I worry less about food than I do about human-conditioned bears in general: I’ll never be able to eliminate all of the possible scents that I carry that may or may not suggest “easy meal” to a bear.  That said, I simply attempt to be a hard target; if the area looks particularly ursine, I put the food in a tree, create adequate hominid noises around dusk, and make sure that I’m not accidentally inviting any unwanted guests to dinner by any other easily-avoided mistakes…and if things ever get unexpectedly romantic, I’m prepared for that as well.  I’m in black bear country, so this approach works for me; snuffles under the tent flap at night are usually resolved with an angry-sleepy “GO ‘WAY, BEAR!!” and a quick return to slumber.