Bears in So Cal

[RoverLander]

Age-old question that I’m hoping to get a more localized answer to: what is everyone doing for food storage while overlanding/camping in So Cal bear country (specifically Big Bear/Holcomb Valley).

I watch so many videos of people pulling out the mini gourmet kitchen, complete with skottle, a fresh herb garden, and 25 lbs of tasty raw meat, with not a single bear canister or odor-proof pouch to be seen, and drfinitrkt nothing hanging in the trees.

Thoughts?

 

[Brett L.]

I just spent 3 days near White Mountain in a dispersed site and never thought twice about bears. I didn't even realize that there were still bears up there until I did some research upon my return. It seems that the bears are more likely to visit the spots where they know they can find food like residential neighborhoods and the more populated camp spots. At night I placed my cooler back inside my truck and placed my dry food bin (peanut butter, seeds, etc.) up on my roof rack. Knowing what I know now I too am curious what others do when camping up there.

 

[RoverLander]

Same here. I’m interested to hear who unplugs their $900 ARB fridge from their Yeti 500X and dumps it all into a bear canister every night (rocky road ice cream too).

I can’t imagine Marco from Trail Recon hanging the ingredients for some cedar plank ahi tuna with a cilantro mango aoli halfway up a pine tree.

 

[CARogers]

I’ve thought about the same thing. In eastern sierras, bears are a huge problem. I had a bear climb up on my tailgate while I was sleeping in the bed at Whitney portal. He must have smelled the PB&J I made earlier. Whitney portal is probably the most extreme example too, next to Yosemite. Lots of people bring lots of opportunities for the bears.

I’ve always thought that the folks with large kitchen setups don’t typically plan to stray far from their vehicles. If I plan to head out from my truck for a hike, I usually pack light on the food. I’ve been looking for a tall Plano box thats the length and width of my two burner stove. More than a few camp sites along the eastern sierras have bear boxes and I‘d like to be as considerate as possible and pack stove and food items down to a small footprint knowing that others need space to cram their things in the bear box as well. I’m not as concerned about it around the Big Bear area as I’ve never run across bears out there, but I’m sure they’re out there and I still try to eliminate any food items from my car. It is named Big Bear after all...

Someone posted a cool Plano box setup here where they nested a couple of smaller wood trays the Plano box. Will do the same thing once I find a Plano box with the right L/W/H and the motivation to build something.

 

[CG87]

I go to Colorado every year, lots of Black Bear. One thing I learned was kitchen area 100ft from sleep tent, throw some 550 cord over a branch, I use my roof cargo net as a a sac pull it up 20 ft. I use a gsi water cube for grey water that goes in with your cooking platform ie. grill, jet boil. Food stays in fridge in the Jeep. I spray stuff down cook area with a spray bottle of white vinegar and water. Eliminates smells or confuses smells anyway. If you hear the dude moving around your stuff, hit the panic button on your vehicle key, you wont see them for a week. Oh... leave bacon off the menu in bear country.

 

[RoverLander]

Yeah, there were 2 bears in the next campground over last weekend. I wonder where those guys with the big kitchens store their stuff too. In the rig doesn’t really help. Unless you’re doing an attracting bears experiment.

Fortunately, Big Bear was named after all the Grizzlies that used to roam up there, but they were hunted to extinction so now it’s just “little” black bears. Lol

 

[RoverLander]

Oh... leave bacon off the menu in bear country.

That’s the tough one. Nearly a deal breaker.

 

[CG87]

It is extremely painful to go without the pig.

 

[GMoney]

On our recent trip to Sierras, we brought both a cooler and the fridge. The cooler has all the food that smells good and went into the bear box. The fridge had only "non scented" food things and drinks and stayed in the truck. Of course, for visual reasons all things in the truck get covered with a sheet but that is standard practice. I will admit that bear country throws a wrench into the fancy electrical fridge luxury. I thought annoying ice was a thing of the past....

 

[trikebubble]

We spent 2 weeks on Northern Vancouver island this past summer (and I spent 2 weeks in the same area last summer). I don't recall spending time in any other area where their is such a concentration of black bears......and of course cougars.....then their are the wolves. We cook what we enjoy (lots of meat meals) , mainly outdoors, and make sure ot clean up the best we can afterwards. I try to keep as clean a camp as possible, tidy up, not foodstuff left laying around, clean up all garbage and waste all the time. we have a pop-up camper and have a fridge and pantry in the camper that are both always full. Garbage is kept in the truck overnight, along with our grey water container. We try not to cook stinky smelly meaty stuff in the camper...but have done so on occasion. Over the course of both trips I only ever had one curious bear come roaming around camp to take a peek...and my dogs scared him away before I hardly noticed him. In all my travels I've found that by far the most dangerous animal as it relates to food has got to be the mighty mouse. No matter what you do, he always seems to find a way into the truck and leave a little poop present on the seat.

 

[socal66]

I have heard that a couple of sprays of ammonia on the ice chest or other food storage box acts as an effective bear deterrent. Has anyone done this on a regular basis and found this to be true?

 

[HellsAngler]

I have heard that a couple of sprays of ammonia on the ice chest or other food storage box acts as an effective bear deterrent. Has anyone done this on a regular basis and found this to be true?

My dad used to sprinkle chilli/cayenne powder on the coolers at night. if a bear did come it wasnt staying long after a big whiff