Backpacking advice...

[Backpackerproject]

Planning our first visit to Yosemite. We need advice on our first backpacking night.
We´d like to hike in mid-June ( hoping the backpackers shuttle will run) from Tuolumne meadows to Clouds Rest and then to Yosemite Valley, spending one night anywhere along the route.
The only thing I´m worried about is that we don´t want to be awakened by a bear in the middle of the night. If we use the bear canister and proper food storage we shouldn´t have any problem, should we? ( perhaps it could be a great story to tell but don´t want my 9 years old son to have such an experience like this: "Bear attack and the value of pepper spray", you can type it in a search engine to read it, can´t add the link. They didn´t make proper food storage, but this story is frightening.

We appreciate any tips.

Regards.

[orion]

A bear can is the best night sleep you'll ever have.

Keep the can at a reasonable distance, but not near a cliff, and if a bear wants to have at it, let him.

These are black bears, not grizzlies, pepper spray is not neccessary. In terms of their behavior, they tend to act like very large raccoons. I've chased many a bear out of a campsite over the years.

Probably the most important thing to do is start out with your loudest voice, they don't listen to reason, and a cooing voice might mean they won't take you as seriously after.

The closer to the valley you get (lil' yosemite valley, for example) the more brazen the bears will get.

Mostly, in terms of your personal safety, don't worry about the bears, so long as you use common sense and don't try to wrestle your food from a bear's paw or maw, you will be fine.

Yosemite bears don't eat people.

[Heybooboo]

Orion is right on target. My wife and I backpacked from Happy Isles to Agnew Meadows (trans-Sierra) last summer, end of June. Not a bear in sight, not one bear problem. We've had bear problems on other backpack trips and what has helped us scare bears away was LOUD yelling and noise, banging pot lids like cymbals. We also gather a small pile of throwing size rocks at our tent entrance so if a bear comes close you can toss a few rocks at them.
We like the Garcia brand bear canister made from high impact plastic. We place it about 20 feet from the kitchen/tent area and remember to take nothing, repeat, nothing into the tent with us. Also, we leave our packs open and pack pockets unzipped. I've seen many a backpack shredded for the want of an apple or granola bar.

Be sure to report on your trip after you've finished.

[orion]

Oh yeah, on the topic of throwing rocks to scare off bears. Be sure not to throw rocks directly at a bear. Back in 1996 a scoutmaster beaned a bear in the head with a large rock and killed it, and was subsequently charged with the federal offense of killing wildlife in Yosemite. (If anyone finds a weblink for this that doesn't charge money let me know, 1996 was before they built all them internets tubes.)

Bears have good vision at short distances, such as peering into a vehicle, but not so good at a distance. When you are throwing a rock at a bear, he doesn't see it coming, and is only aware of the sound of impact. Basically what you are doing is multiplying yourself in the bear's mind. The bear hears possibly other people around that are unseen or smelled and retreats to a safer distance to assess the situation.

Throw rocks in front of the bear or to the sides of the bear, and try to hit a noisy target, such as a boulder or bushes. I have a theory that if you throw a rock behind a bear, you could spook it towards you, but I have yet to test this theory.

[AlmostThere]

I don't agree at all that you should sleep through a bear wrestling with the canister - giving bears time to play with them will only result in the situation at Marcy Dam, where a black bear has learned how to bite tabs off Bear Vaults. Bear canisters and anything else you do to keep bears out of food are merely bear resistant - nothing is bear proof except maybe those large steel boxes they set into concrete slabs around the campgrounds. It's because of the increase in exposure to people and to hung food (usually improperly hung) that bears have learned to chew through rope, dive onto hung food bags, break or gnaw through large tree branches, and generally made it impossible to hang food in Yosemite.

Letting bears play with canisters will next have us trying to deal with bears that know how to throw them off onto granite slabs to break them. You're also risking a bear rolling it away from camp, into brush, somewhere you won't find it, so even if the bear doesn't get your food you won't either. Driving a bear away will keep canisters usable longer. We drove away bears along the JMT each time we heard them getting at our canisters.

The way to sleep soundly is to go off trail, away from established campsites, off the bear's route. We hiked a mile off the JMT to a small lake and had no bear visits. The inconvenience is that this will leave you without a campfire as Yosemite tends to want you to stick with established fire rings.

[orion]

almost there - yeah, your right about that. i guess what i wrote could be implied to mean sleep through a bear intrusion, though i'd like the meet the person capable of that.

what i meant by a good night sleep is that you won't be listening at full alert every time a pine cone drops from a tree, wondering if there will be anything to eat for breakfast.

of course, any time a bear enters your campsite, you should drive him off as best you can. just don't be a hero once he gets a hold of the food.

and don't be this guy at 1:40 either:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=reySHfzQ6q0

those morons, i mean scouts, have no idea how to deal with a bear, and are lucky no one was hurt.

[Backpackerproject]

Thank you for those valuable advices. We heard about that bear killed by a rock, though we keep in mind that you can most likely kill a bear simply letting him to get your food or speeding while driving around. We´ll try to avoid those brazen bears not setting our tents in the route between Clouds Rest and LYV, perhaps before Clouds Rest is a better place, isn´t it?

Thanks!

[Heybooboo]

Don't rag on the Boy Scouts, please. I was involved with the Boy Scouting program for 40 years. The Scout leader who killed the bear thought he was some kind of mountain man, and yes, he is a moron. But don't lump all Boy Scouts and Scout leaders into one group based on one idiot. He must have used a boulder to kill that bear, whereas I gather rocks about the size of a walnut to toss, not throw, at any bear that gets too close for comfort.

[LVRAY]

Yes - there are plenty of other reasons to not like boy scouts.

[orion]

um. don't throw them at the bear, whatever the size of the rock. pine cones work well too.

no need to get all straw-man defensive about the scouts, there are plenty of non-scouting fools doing dumb things in the wilderness. of course, LVRAY is right, that scouting organization is a bit reactionary and out of date with some of its policies, regardless of the merits of individuals within the group.

[orion]

come to think of it, the scouts' exclusion of athiests could be seen as discriminating against intelligence, which might explain some things. and don't get me started on the trees...