Bear aware in Yosemite National Park

What was the buzz among campers and lodgers last week in Yosemite National Park? Yes, there was talk of the Telegraph fire, but an even more popular conversation topic, at least at White Wolf, seemed to be black bears, those things that –- in this park -– go bump, snort and growl in the night.

On our first night camping at the 8,000-foot-elevation campground, we heard a bear banging into the bear-proof food-storage bins at nearby campsites in the wee hours of the morning. It didn’t sound like anybody dared step out of his or her tent to chase it away.

Two nights later, when we were staying in a tent cabin, we heard a bear sniffing and snorting mere feet away from our heads. My partner was lying there paranoid that he might have left a Snickers wrapper in the car, and that we’d hear the crash of glass at any moment. Eventually, the bear left without hurting our car, or our heads.

We found out the next morning that our neighbor had -– against camp rules –- cooked steaks in a makeshift pit alongside the rocks outside our tents the evening before. I’m glad we found out about that after the fact rather than before; otherwise, I would have been a lot more terrified than I was about this bear, who really was on a serious mission.

A ranger we spoke with during the trip told us a story of an unfortunate backpacker who, a few weeks prior, had left his car, with food inside, at White Wolf while he trekked out into the wilds. While he was gone, a park staffer heard a bear break in and arrived at the scene to see the animal sitting in the back seat of the vehicle eating chocolate cake. The damaged car was towed away and the backpacker was fined.

Editor’s note: Check out our ranger-approved tips for avoiding bear encounters. Last summer, Yosemite park ranger Adrienne Freeman, who also serves on Yosemite’s Bear Council, described the park’s black bear situation as “more of a human management issue than a bear management issue.”

Visualizing a bear licking its frosting-covered fingers, I couldn’t help but laugh when I heard this story, but really, the situation is no laughing matter. The more bears get accustomed to our food, the more aggressive they can become. And when they become potentially threatening to us humans, the more likely they are to be killed or at least moved, for our protection.

What a shame it is that sometimes these magnificent park residents are destroyed because of our own laziness or ignorance. On our way out of the park, we were lucky enough to witness up close a mama bear and her cub scampering along, playing and climbing up a tree. It was magical to witness, and a great reminder to be extra cautious when sharing this park with them.

Do you have any Yosemite bear stories to share? We’d love to hear from you.

— Susan Derby, Special to the Los Angeles Times

[Photo: Jeffrey Brooker / NPS.gov]

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This entry was posted on Monday, August 4, 2008 at 11:09 am by Susan Derby and is filed under California, National Parks, News, Tips & Advice, Outdoors & Adventure, Sierra Nevada, Summer, Yosemite National Park. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a comment, or trackback from your own site.