Food storage in Bear Country

[Jeepncj7]

Hello all,

I car camp all around the northwest, and realized my food storage/sleeping setup was probably not the most ideal for certain areas concerning food smells in your sleeping area.

I sleep in my 4runner, and I just got a awning/room setup that I am going to try out now that it is (3) of us (two adults and a toddler) for a more flexible sleeping arrangement. It's the ironman unit along with the detachable brackets so it can be standalone if I want to as well.

To allow some flexibility with my 12v fridge, I now have a portable battery station if I need to put it in a bear box etc. Otherwise I'll have the fridge covered in the front seat if I use the sleeping platform.

But for dry food storage/smelly cooking items, I was thinking these (2) options:

1) Plano sportsman trunk with gasket added and put on top of the fridge in the front seat (but covered) , and then a bear bag if I decide to hang it instead.

2) Used RTIC/Yeti cooler with padlocks, and just use this for dry storage away from the vehicle/awning.

Any thoughts on these options?

 

[stevo_pct]

I think either option would be fine. I would prefer to have those items inside the vehicle (locked), but I don't think it matters. Yeti with padlocks is supposed to be bear proof.

In most places (Yosemite is an exception, so are several places back east) bears don't know to break into vehicles so your food items are safe there. It's probably a good idea to know before you go if it's an area where bears have learned to break into cars.

 

[ITTOG]

If you are using the tent and the car is open at night, then the food should be outside the vehicle. Studies have shown bears, and other animals, can smell through any container. Also, have shown they can tear a Yeti apart.

 

[Fishenough]

We sleep in a 4Runner and bring along a bear vault for non perishables, our fridge is also always kept in the vehicle also. The bear vault container is handy because leaving non perishables outside for even a short time can attract the attention of something that wants a snack, from a determined bear to mice. Ravens in the north will exploit a weakness for food even when your back isn't turned.

Have the different size bear barrels from my Yukon trips, and still use one yearly when hiking in popular areas with a large number of bears.

I believe the Plane trunk wouldn't hold up to a determined bear long. I've seen a bear crack an action packer in less than a minute.

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[stevo_pct]

I should point out that the vehicle should be locked if you're storing anything in there that might attract a bear. If you're sleeping in the vehicle or in an attached tent then you'll wake up if something is sniffing around and you can run it off.

I don't know how your room/awning attachment works, but if the car is open so that you have an open entry way between the vehicle and the room, then I would caution against that. If that's the case I would get a dedicated bear proof product and store that stuff away from the vehicle. I would only store food in the car if all doors were closed and locked.

 

[Jeepncj7]

Hello all - Thank you for your responses on this, it's one area I have been scratching my head which direction to go. The point about the car door to the awning room being unlocked is a good one as the intention is for the awning room is to be a changing/hangout/bivy room with storage for clothes and non food related items.

But given the size we could sleep out there instead with (3) of us. I haven't tested the sleeping arrangement with the three of us inside yet, it could be really tight. But with a toddler I could see us needing to go back and forth into the car at times if we slept in the awning room.

The idea behind the Plano trunk was really just for inside storage, and if we need to have it outside, to hang the food with a bag instead.

I am kind of leaning towards the Yeti cooler or bear cannisters and if relatively safe, keep it locked with us. But in known areas for activity, use bear lockers if available or just keep the dry food way away along with stove, dishwashing/toothpaste etc. I feel like I would feel safer if we can just sleep in the 4runner locked with us given I can set off an alarm to scare em away and some bit of protection.

For bear canisters do to they sell large enough ones for what people normally bring car camping? I just see the small backpacking ones available, which got me on the idea of a cooler instead.

It's funny, I built this whole low profile kitchen setup in the back of the 4runner for convenience, but not really thinking about bear/animal best practices. I'll still get to use it some places, but I have moved to make it more flexible to be smarter about this.

 

[Fishenough]

My old canoeing bear barrel is 60 liters and the larger of the bear barrels (bear vault brand) is 11.5 liters. I use the 11.5 for car travel and the smaller 7 L when we drive than hike in remote areas.

Pictures below are from the early 2000s in a Mitsubishi Delica, we were camping from Bella Coola to Alaska and my ex wasn't comfortable with anyone sleeping outside the vehicle. Myself have camped in tent in Bella Coola since I was a baby, and I have never locked a vehicles door in a remote areas. But I hike the mountains all over Alaska, Yukon, and BC never carrying bear spray - I have seen too many to count, one black bear being right there when I opened my back door last month. I am cautious, in the Yukon when a grizzly was munching on my Halloween pumpkins I let him finish

FYI https://bellacoola.ca/activities/wild-life-viewing/

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[Lmg]

Some of the national forests, and state lands in Colorado require a bear resistant container which you are required to move away from your campsite, and let them play with it if the bear finds it. Container has to be certified.
Some of the better made ice chests are certified. Check regulations where you will be going.

https://www.nps.gov/subjects/bears/storingfood.htm


https://liveferal.com/where-are-you-legally-required-to-use-a-bear-canister-in-colorado/

 

[Lmg]

How did you use up the entire column....

Operator error. Tablet issues, was unaware that it posted. Fixed it.

 

[Inspired Adventurist]

If you are in the Northeast, particularly in CT, we have lots and lots of Black bears that are extremely familiar, unafraid, and regularly fed by humans (intentionally and inadvertently). Some have figured out how to get into cars, though they don't know how to get out. They're basically 500lbs raccoons at this point, and generally scare away when challenged. So yes, definitely lock the doors, keep your dog and children monitored.

I would lean toward securely locking all food/human items, and even brushing teeth well away from your campsite (toothpaste smells really sweet). I'm going to put a trasheroo bag on my van, but I'm going to have the trash inside of a bear canister/scentproof bag. Reducing the smell footprint will encourage bears to look somewhere else.

Beyond bears, there's just the generalized nighttime riffraff of mice/racoons. The worst food theft I've experience, however, was in broad daylight by a pack of Ravens. They waited until we were all off fishing, ate a bunch of stuff and even managed to carry off and break into a hard plastic canister of peanut butter pretzels. Can't blame them. Those pretzels were really good.

 

[stevo_pct]

I would caution against hanging your food - especially if you're just car camping and have other options. A locked car is a safer place to leave your food. A bear container left outside your car is probably safer, and a bear box is best. If you're in an area where bears have learned to break into cars, they have also figured out how to get food hung in a tree.

Hanging your food is only wise (IMO) when you're backpacking (or canoe camping, or whatever) and you have no other alternative. It can be difficult to do correctly, can time consuming to get set up (only initially if you're staying in one place) and a lot of places (the mountains of Colorado for example) don't have good options with respect to tree branches. You're not going to find a lodgepole pine with a perfect branch to hang your food that a bear can't get.

There are so many times where I've seen food hung in a tree that I could climb up and get. If you could climb the tree and get the food, a bear could easily.

The only bear proof way to hang your food is the counter balance method (see pic). I have used this backpacking in the Sierras where bears are very smart and problematic. It works, but you need to find the perfect branch and that's not always an option. It might be hard to tell from the picture, but those food bags are high enough off the ground that a bear can't reach them. There is a loop hanging out of one of the bags that I can hook with a stick, that allows me to pull down the excess rope and then I can pull one of the bags down (and the other one goes up). To rehang the bags, you tuck the excess rope back in and leave the loop there so you can get it down. You then push the bag up as high as you can and then use the stick to push it up the rest of the way to get it high enough (the other bag goes down when you do this and the two bags end up at the same height). It takes a few tries to get the rope length correct. You're also limited by how heavy your bags can be.

You can also use a simpler method where you throw the rope over a branch and hoist up just one bag and tie off the other end of the rope to something else, but you need to make sure the bag is far enough away from the trunk, far enough below the branch you're hanging from, and far enough away from all the other branches. And some bears have learned to claw at the spot where the rope is tied off, so that doesn't always work.

 

[aknightinak]

Be religious in separating eating and sleeping areas.

This ^

The last time I hung a bear bag, on the first night of a week-long trip, a marten climbed down the rope in the middle of the night and took a single bite out of everything in the bag.

I generally just put my food box and cooler in the cab of the truck at night, which I leave unlocked, or use a food locker if I'm in a campground that has them. Some of the more remote sites I use, I don't even worry more than to boost things into the (open) truck bed and tarp it over and have never brought a bear to camp as a result. The worst near-robbery I had was in a populated area when my buddy left a cooler with a couple hundred pounds of halibut and salmon out in order to sleep in his truck bed, and a big ol' griz found it in the morning. Still, we ran it off before it could do anything other than rip the lid off the cooler, which it did with one toe.

 

[Jeepncj7]

I appreciate that feedback. I have hung up my trash (and will continue to), but never food before. I think I'll cross that off the list for the car camping scenario. Since I'll be camping in the car or the awning room, I'll just be separating my eating, cooking, and food storage areas.

I'm looking at coolers for food storage now (mostly dry food, but with the obvious ability to use as a cooler instead as well). Looking at the bear certified ones and trying to get through the marketing to find ones that will hold up to the abuse. Going this route for the ability to carry all the dry foods/cooking gear and have it away from the sleeping area.

In the past I honestly just hung up a regular trashbag away from camp. Thinking of getting a trasharoo style for some additional ease and durability (but still away from camp and not in or on vehicle). What are you guys using for trash?

 

[aknightinak]

What are you guys using for trash?

I use the same bags I use at home now that plastic shopping bags have gone mostly away around here. Same routine---depending on where I am, I tie it off at night and either leave it out or stow it on the floor of the cab. It is and isn't counterintuitive, but in wilder places I have had fewer negative animal encounters, my guess simply because they're not as human-habituated. Built campgrounds, places less rural, I'm a lot more careful.

 

[Jeepncj7]

I use the same bags I use at home now that plastic shopping bags have gone mostly away around here. Same routine---depending on where I am, I tie it off at night and either leave it out or stow it on the floor of the cab. It is and isn't counterintuitive, but in wilder places I have had fewer negative animal encounters, my guess simply because they're not as human-habituated. Built campgrounds, places less rural, I'm a lot more careful.

Yeah that has been my experience as well. I've mainly done dispersed wild camping and have not yet had a negative run-in with wildlife. So I think that is the key here.

It just donned on me lately that I haven't been doing the greatest practices, and the way I was building out my rig was to have all the food smells right there.

With a kid in tow now I'm trying to be as safe as possible, and be a better stuard.

So all this feedback and experience has been great. It's helping me redo some of my current build out to be more flexible.