Bear Box While Camping: What to Know

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I grew up camping at the beach and in the desert, so when I first headed to camp in the mountains and had to use a bear box, I was a little worried about it. Would it be big enough to hold my belongings? What would need to be put in it?

We’ve camped with bear boxes at campgrounds in June Lake, Lake Tahoe and Bass Lake. While the bear locker information will vary from campground to campground, this post will cover what to know about visiting bear country and handling food storage before your first bear box camping adventure.

How Big is a Bear Box or Bear Canisters?

You can usually find the exact bear box specs online. And some parks or agencies note whether bear boxes or other bear resistant containers are required in certain areas. I can’t find them when I look at recreation.gov (where you make the reservation). But I can usually find them on the National Park or Forest Service websites. It’s smart to check the National Park Service page or official list for required storage rules in different wilderness or backcountry areas.

In my experience, bear boxes are usually large enough to store at least an ice chest or two, a storage container of food and a small grill.

What Food Storage Goes In a Bear Storage Locker?

Anything that has food in it or the scent of food should definitely be stored in a bear box. The very first time we camped where there were bear boxes, we were told to put anything with a scent inside there. This included Chapstick, toiletries, baby wipes, deodorant, shampoo, lotions and medicines. Since we use tubs for our camping kitchen supplies, we place the entire tubs in there.

Different places might suggest different things, especially if they have been having a lot of bears in the campground. The big thing is not to store any food items in your vehicle (unless it’s a trailer or RV) or in your tent, where a bear can find a bag or items left within reach. You don’t want to have any bears nosing around in there. Plus, storing things properly reduces the threat to people, bears, and other wildlife.

We have been to campgrounds that are very strict about bear box usage and will ticket you if you leave any food out or your locker open for longer than a few minutes. Yosemite is one of those places. You need to pull your cooler out, grab what you need out of it, and put it back immediately. This is an effective way to reduce the chance of animals having learned your campsite has food. We were making sandwiches once with our cooler out, and the rangers came by to tell us to put it back in while we made the sandwiches. Again, different places will have different rules and will enforce them differently.

Tips for Using a Bear Proof Box

Check the size of the bear locker before you go, and plan ahead in order to know how many coolers or tubs to bring, especially if you have more than one cooler (or if you’re sharing with multiple families). You might need to condense to just one cooler or both bring smaller coolers to fit in the box.

Be strategic with how you load the bear box. Using a bear box can be a little bit annoying when you have to dig to the back to find what you’re looking for. Organize your stuff in a way that you won’t have to take everything out every time you open your box. When we have room, we try to put dry food in a storage container so it can briefly sit on the ground while we reorganize, then everything goes right back in the box when we need to pull the cooler out.

Don’t stress. Now that we know what to expect, bear boxes don’t phase us at all. In some ways, it’s nice to have a spot to put all the food. At other campgrounds there have been many times we’ve had birds, squirrels and raccoons go through our food and trash. So having the bear box is effective at keeping food safe from all critters. And it’s a more effective alternative to a bear bag or trying to hang food from trees with rope. At camp, it’s often easier than trying to tie and hang a bag from trees, especially where suitable trees are limited or bears might break into poorly hung food.

Interested in more? Check out:

• Kid-friendly Hikes in Yosemite Valley
• Meeks Bay on Lake Tahoe, CA
• Campgrounds in Big Bear, Ca
• Nevada Beach Campground in Lake Tahoe
• Best Fall Camping Spots in SoCal

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