Camp Kitchen for Bears in Yellowstone

[Safaribabe]

I am re-organizing my PUP's kitchen and looking for any tips to make 13 days easier at GT and Yellowstone. I am removing a lot of stuff as we need to get our weight down as we are driving further than we have before and I am always worried about the TV. Repacking the PUP with bears in mind is also playing into what I take out.

I am having a hard time visualizing what it means to share a bear box at Grant and I am worried we might not have space but I don't want to pile everything inside of our car. I have pretty much decided to ditch all of our dishes and go for paper plates (Chinet) and paper cups for drinking and thicker cups for hot stuff. And disposable utensils. It's not my ideal as we never have camped with all throw away stuff, but I don't want to worry about cleaning everything on top of repacking everything for the day/night against bears. I am even now rethinking bringing my kitchen table (the GCI tier table) if it is not recommended to leave tables out, either.

We have no choic but to bring our 2 dogs. We have camped with our dogs before and gone on road trips, so we are no strangers to the complications of traveling with dogs in parks. We have a German Wirehaired hunting dog who would have a complete personality breakdown were we to kennel him somewhere for two weeks. Because of the dogs, we need the trunk of our Subarun free for them. So this is my dilema with how to plan for days away from the camp site.

Without commenting on the dogs (leaving them is not an option), is the bear box situation really difficult? Will we be guaranteed space for our Yeti 45 cooler at least? Should we get an air tag for it? Is theft from shared boxes a thing there? We are going to eat at the restaurants a few nights but plan on breakfasts and lunches at camp. Can you leave kitchen tables out, with no food or cookware on them, of course? My understanding is even keeping cans of drinks in the refrigerator is a big no. So pretty much use the refrigerator for a closet? lol

We had a bear rip into our stuff on the east side of the Sierra's where there were no bear boxes and it was sure a mess to clean up.

Any tips for the area would be greatly appreciated!

 

[Anthony Hitchings]

we changed nothing, we were in Canyon Campground at Yellowstone. Our Aliner is conisderd "hard-sided"

We cook inside, and clean our dishes promptly. Garbage is taken out very regularly (daily at least).

I do not remmebr using bear boxes at Yellowstone, but we have used them elsewhere. Never had to share one in decades of camping (mostly tent camping, until the last 4 years)..

 

[jmkay1]

Personally I would keep your camp kitchen easy to set up and take down. I can’t comment about where you’re going but I camped where anything that handles food and yes even camp tables and water bottles had to be removed put away When you leave camp. My camp stove was in the bearbox and my cooler in my SUV. Too heavy to be moved around constantly and my dogs were still able to move around In the back. my camp table I collapsed and put underneath my popup. Utilize the given picnic tables if you need to spread out and keep your setup simple. bring A ton of those plastic grocery bags to use as trash bags that Way trash can be brought to the trash place as your meal is over And no storing trash At camp unless someone is there. keep your meals simple so you don’t need all the fancy stuff to cook with. personally if you can’t utilize it for nearly every meal don’t bring it. I didn’t have to share the bearbox though and it was more than big enough for a cooler and campstove and a smaller box. If I camp for two weeks I plan and bring only a week worth of food and then find a grocery store to buy the second weeks. That way I didn’t have to worry about food going bad sitting in either the hot car or bearbox Or having to find a place to keep all the food For two weeks.

 

[gladecreekwy]

Never camped at Grant but it’s surprising that each site doesn’t have its own box. They are pretty big but so is a yeti. Good chance your neighbor won’t use is as most folks choose to keep stuff in their vehicle. Tables are not an issue. Beverages in a fridge are fine. Bears breaking into vehicles and campers is very rare around here. Bears are very quickly hazed away from campgrounds and generally avoid them. Ravens are a much bigger problem and will get into any food left out. There’s no theft issues but as true everywhere don’t leave valuables in plain sight in your car especially at trailheads and attractions.

 

[MNTCamper]

Just clean up after each meal and put all the food away. It's really just an issue of keeping a clean camp and food put away when not eating. I think you will find that you are packing lunch nearly every day and not eating at your site.

 

[Arruba]

For what it’s worth, I think you’ve received some decent advice. With that I’ll share a little:

Unless your Yetti is different, any Yetti cooler they sell around here is Interagency Grizzly Bear Certified as bear resistant. Point is they shouldn’t need to go in the box If used properly. I’ve camped repeatedly in bear country with no box available and the coolers like that haven’t been a problem. Though if campgrounding I’d put it in my car and cover it with a blanket or something. Yogi‘s familiar with campgrounds know what coolers look like.
Your table and such will be fine. What I learned is wiping stuff like that down with bleach solution will help a lot. I’ve been on several rafting trips through bear villa and we even wiped down the boats with bleach solution and haven’t had a problem yet.
I usually use the box for things I regularly use and/or just can’t get really clean. In addition any foodstuffs that by nature of packaging isn’t smell proof, like bread. For example I’ll box up my Coleman stove and cast iron stuff. Trash I’ll toss every evening, or box or car it if I can’t. In closing, while the post concerns kitchen stuff, don’t forget a LOT of things smell like food to a bear. Point is don‘t forget about stuff like your toiletries, that stuff can take a little management too.

Good luck and enjoy your trip.

 

[Safaribabe]

For what it’s worth, I think you’ve received some decent advice. With that I’ll share a little:

Unless your Yetti is different, any Yetti cooler they sell around here is Interagency Grizzly Bear Certified as bear resistant. Point is they shouldn’t need to go in the box If used properly. I’ve camped repeatedly in bear country with no box available and the coolers like that haven’t been a problem. Though if campgrounding I’d put it in my car and cover it with a blanket or something. Yogi‘s familiar with campgrounds know what coolers look like.
Your table and such will be fine. What I learned is wiping stuff like that down with bleach solution will help a lot. I’ve been on several rafting trips through bear villa and we even wiped down the boats with bleach solution and haven’t had a problem yet.
I usually use the box for things I regularly use and/or just can’t get really clean. In addition any foodstuffs that by nature of packaging isn’t smell proof, like bread. For example I’ll box up my Coleman stove and cast iron stuff. Trash I’ll toss every evening, or box or car it if I can’t. In closing, while the post concerns kitchen stuff, don’t forget a LOT of things smell like food to a bear. Point is don‘t forget about stuff like your toiletries, that stuff can take a little management too.

Good luck and enjoy your trip.

yes, our Yeti is bear certified. I scored on a used Yeti Tundra 45 for $150 and I have the manual. It was used but once or twice. Would rangers know it's certified though?

I asked a similar question elsewhere and the response was due to huge snow pack, there are more bears than ever at lower elevations. And it appears a single bear box might be shared among three sites. There are some assigned per site, but I won't know what we end up with until we get there.

i am going to drastically cut down on my kitchen. The more I read, the more I understand we will want to spend more time driving around the park to see the animals than spending time cooking. As a backup, I made reservations at three different restaurants for each night. I can always cancel them. This way, focus will only be on breakfast, lunch and snacks.

 

[Safaribabe]

Never camped at Grant but it’s surprising that each site doesn’t have its own box. They are pretty big but so is a yeti. Good chance your neighbor won’t use is as most folks choose to keep stuff in their vehicle. Tables are not an issue. Beverages in a fridge are fine. Bears breaking into vehicles and campers is very rare around here. Bears are very quickly hazed away from campgrounds and generally avoid them. Ravens are a much bigger problem and will get into any food left out. There’s no theft issues but as true everywhere don’t leave valuables in plain sight in your car especially at trailheads and attractions.

The park's goal is to get a box for every site in the park, but they aren't quite there yet. So Grant is shared according to someone I found who worked there, although I think there are some sites that have their own. So you think beverages are ok? I read even those are iffy...

 

[PopUpSteve]

I did a lot of Bear Country camping last year. Food and cookware would always be put in a bear box or in the TV. I would not eat in or really even around the camper. I bought a couple ammo crates for storage of my cookware and some canned goods. That made it very easy to put things away after use. And I did that every time, back in the TV or bear box.

I don’t recall the bear box situation at Yellowstone (2017) but Glacier NP had one box for every 5 to 6 campsites. I thought this was very bad as people are generally lazy and if they don’t see one on their campsite, they’re likely to not go looking for one and leave food where bears can get to it.

I’m very lucky that my Honda Ridgeline has a trunk in the bed. I call it my mobile bear box.