Date: Fri, 11 Feb 2011 13:05:09 -0500
Reply-To: Joy Hecht <jhecht@ALUM.MIT.EDU>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Joy Hecht <jhecht@ALUM.MIT.EDU>
Subject: Re: camping amidst bears, safety question
In-Reply-To: <C97AAF87.1015A%mwmiller@cwnet.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1
I was once in a place with lots of bear warnings. (Grand Tetons, I think.)
I was with a friend who was MUCH more fearful than I, and we had his car
with us. We put the food in the car, which wasn't parked near us. We slept
with the poptop down. The rangers had also said we shouldn't have anything
with scents in the vehicle - shampoo, other toiletries. Well, being much
less risk-averse than my friend, I didn't mention to him the shampoo,
conditioner, and also a goodly supply of perfume in the van. You know, what
you don't know won't hurt you.
No problems with bears.
I would keep the poptop down and the windows closed in serious bear country,
but other than that, what can you do? Fumigate your van before you camp?
Joy
On Fri, Feb 11, 2011 at 12:19 PM, Mike Miller <mwmiller@cwnet.com> wrote:
> Yup, cooking, eating and storing food in the van. No problems. Bears are
> supposed to be pretty smart and can figure out how to get in but other
> vehicles must be easier cause vans just don't get busted into that I ever
> heard of.
>
> mike
>
>
> On 2/11/11 8:41 AM, "Sheilah Rogers" <sheilah@SHEILAH.ORG> wrote:
>
> > (okay good. i'm not nuts for thinking about this)
> >
> > so are you guys not only cooking in the van, but also popping the top in
> bear
> > country when you camp?
> >
> > because unlike an RV, we got some fairly easy access (considering bears
> are
> > climbers), i would think?
> >
> > s.
> >
> >
> >
> > On Feb 11, 2011, at 8:33 AM, pickle vanagon wrote:
> >
> >>
> >> the one time i went, the ranger told us to stow our food in bear
> containers
> >> and to absolutely not leave any food in our tent or car.
> >>
> >> i looked at him flummoxed.
> >>
> >> regarding his safety precautions, i sleep "in a kitchen". one that gets
> >> cooked in. one that's presumably permeated by food smells, at least from
> the
> >> perspective of a bear's nose.
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> I laughed out loud when I read this. I've often worried about the same
> >> thing---the idea of separating food smells from the van does seem like
> an
> >> absurd goal. Like Mike, we've camped in bear country and never had
> problems,
> >> but that's no proof that its safe...
> >>
> >> I guess a relevant question here is what RV owners are supposed to do.
> >> They're in the same kind of situation. Presumably they don't clear out
> their
> >> fridges and put everything in bear containers. Presumably the bears
> usually
> >> just don't try to enter the vehicles? That's what I've told myself in
> the
> >> past...
>
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