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staying late in yosemite

PostPosted: Wed Jun 22, 2011 2:18 pm
by jimbo
I am planning on staying late in yosemite to catch some magic light for photography and also the starry nights. I will do as advised to leave food in food lockers in the parking lot. Since this would be my first visit to Yosemite, I would like to ask a few questions regarding bear safety (and please don't laugh if I sound too paranoid):

1. how close are parking lots from sites? because if parking lots are very far, I may need to bring some food in my backpack, and would it be unsafe to do so?

2. if I leave at late night, I probably need to transport food from the locker back to my car. Will this be a dangerous activity?

3. are there lot of bears on the road at night? I have to commute back and forth from jamestown (yeah, I know...) for at least 2 nights, surely I don't want to have a close encounter with them bears.

Thanks!

Re: staying late in yosemite

PostPosted: Wed Jun 22, 2011 2:45 pm
by dan
There's multiple parking lots in Yosemite. The day use lot just south of Yosemite Village has several bear lockers, and so do the parking lots by Curry Village. The parking at Yosemite Lodge has few, if any bear lockers. The lockers are scattered throughout the parking lots.

Transporting the food is not dangerous. The bears generally stay away from people--they prefer to dine undisturbed :-).

I've rarely seen a bear on the road at night, outside of campgrounds. Mostly I've seen deer, which tend to dart out in front of you, along with other small mammals (chipmunks, squirrels, coyote, etc.).

Re: staying late in yosemite

PostPosted: Wed Jun 22, 2011 2:51 pm
by AlmostThere
jimbo wrote:
1. how close are parking lots from sites? because if parking lots are very far, I may need to bring some food in my backpack, and would it be unsafe to do so?

2. if I leave at late night, I probably need to transport food from the locker back to my car. Will this be a dangerous activity?

3. are there lot of bears on the road at night? I have to commute back and forth from jamestown (yeah, I know...) for at least 2 nights, surely I don't want to have a close encounter with them bears.

Thanks!


1. No.

2. Not a problem. Bears aren't muggers. If you see a bear and it approaches you, stand up, raise your arms and wave them, yell (whatever you like - go away bear, your favorite poem, etc) and don't run, cower, or drop your pack. The bear leaves if you show it a reason to. Do not leave pack or food unattended.

3. There is a problem when people exceed speed limits and kill bears with their car. Anywhere you see a yellow sign with a red bear on it, that's a spot someone killed a bear while driving too fast. There won't be a problem with bears jumping on your car or threatening you in any way - you are more of a threat to them, really. They don't stand in roads waiting to be hit.

Re: staying late in yosemite

PostPosted: Thu Jun 23, 2011 5:56 am
by jimbo
Thanks for the information, Dan and AlmostThere. I feel better now regarding the bears.