Touring - smarter than your average bear

Well, I guess using a bag and a rope to keep food in a tree is now out per this article. Not only that, even bear proof containers can be defeated.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/25/nyregion/25bear.html?ref=nyregion

When I was camping in the Sequia and Yellowstone NPs there were signs everywhere about
bears. Each campsite had a "bear box" - a steel box anchored in concrete into which you were
to place your food, coolers, and anything with an aroma. The idea was to keep the bears out
of your vehicle. The bear box had a complex latching mechanism that bears are not supposed to
be able to open.

It did leave a small feeling of anxiety at night knowing that there might be a bear roaming
around the campsite with nothing between me and it except the thin fabric of a tent wall.
But, I never saw or heard any bears around the campsites - just on the trails while hiking,
and I kept a very respectful distance.

good post, interesting article, thanks :)

Its nice to know they aren't planning to destroy yellow-yellow; instead they are using her to improve their products. I wonder how those new bear resistant coolers would work with her?

interesting read.

a few observations:

the NYtimes might not be the best source for backcountry camping information, that was a bear character study;

you don't leave bear canisters sitting on a picnic table at night unless you are stupid and don't know how to safely store food in the backcountry;

bears in yosemite have been observed teaching other bears how to break into cars.