Camping in Bear Country

Camping in the wild is serene and relaxing, but camping in bear country can be intimidating… if you’re not prepared. Misinformation is, most of the time, the reason that some people fear bear encounters. Don’t get me wrong, I understand, my first time camping I was not feeling super confident, but since then I learned a lot!

First, we need to understand that bears – like people – learn from experiences, have great memory and instincts.

Here are a few tips to know before going camping in bear country:

• Use the Triangle rule! I was taught this from rangers in Alaska. The idea is to separate your tent, your campfire/meals, and food storage in a shape of a triangle (100m apart). Bears can smell food from miles away, and when they are not sleeping they are looking for food for their own survival. Your tent should always be set up upwind of the other two.

  

•  Use bear-proof food storage (not Tupperware!). Are these big, clunky, and annoying? Yes, but it is important for your safety and the bear’s safety. These are not to prevent the bear from finding your food, they are made so that if found the bears can’t get into the container. If the bear starts to associate people with food it may lead to interaction issues with people, and eventually, the bear has to be killed. It is called food storage but anything with a scent needs to be put in there. That includes toothpaste, face creams, snacks, etc… Even if we can’t smell it, the bears can. You can sometimes rent bear canisters in national parks or in bear country towns. The one I use is here.

• Keep your campsite clean. It would be useless to do the 2 steps above if your campsite is a total mess! 🙂
• Do not set up your camp close to bear trails. You might think it is a stupid thing to say because why would you!? However, bear trails can be easy to miss. Look for signs of bear activity: rocks that have been turned over (insects are here.. so bears too!); torn apart wood or heavy marks on trees are all signs that a bear was there. Bears also love trails – I have seen many walking around on the trails we were, so do not camp too close to them. Also, do not camp in places where food or garbage has been left, for the same reasons above.
• Use the bear secure trash bins if they are available, if not make sure they are in your bear-proof food container. Also, if you are in a National Park campground and you see fresh bear scats or other signs of bears in the campground inform the park rangers.
• Be aware if you are in a black bear or a grizzly territory, act and be prepared the same. Black bears are generally easily afraid of new things but can be very aggressive and protective of their areas. Grizzly bears on the other hand can be fearless.

Interesting note

Bears have a great memory and if a bear finds food they will come back for the next few days looking for more.

These are a few tips from my experiences. Rangers are the best source of information, they can share bear activity and give you advice!

Remember never feed a bear, a fed bear is a dead bear so let’s try to enjoy camping out in bear territory without disturbing them.

Let me know what you think in the comment section! Have you ever encountered a bear at night?