1GoldenSun
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- Jun 17, 2017
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Does anyone have any knowledge about bears that they can share?
I'm taking a summer-long road trip around the country with my two teens. My husband will be flying out to be with us when he can, but often it will be just the kids and me. We'll be going to many national parks, a lot of which are populated by bears. We'll be camping in some of them.
I am irrationally afraid of bears. You can cite all the statistics you want; my feelings are my feelings. The best thing I can do to alleviate my worries is to prepare and educate myself as much as I can. However, I'm having a hard time finding the answers to all of my questions, and some of the info I have found is somewhat conflicting.
I read that you shouldn't sleep in the clothes you cooked in. However, if we're cooking hot dogs or hamburgers (or anything) outside over an open fire, or even a camp stove, the cooking smell is going to get in our hair and on our bodies. Are we supposed to shower and change into clean clothes before bed? If so, what about that fresh shampoo scent, since the bear literature says that bears are attracted to flowery smells. I read that bears are attracted to all kinds of personal hygiene products, and even insect repellent. Should we avoid using insect repellent? Should I look for scent-free deodorant, soap, shampoo, etc.? I even read that you should wash your clothes in scent-free detergent. I just don't see how we can become completely scent-free. And even if we can, can't the bear still smell US? Maybe we don't smell as tasty as insect repellent, but still; the bear's gotta know there are humans in that tent even if we showered the cooking smell off ourselves with unscented products and dressed in fragrance-free clothes.
I also read that we should put all food items or anything with a scent (toothpaste, etc)-- and even canned items and bottled water-- in bear boxes. That I can do. But some campsites explicitly state that they don't have bear boxes or that the shared boxes may fill up and that we should lock all such items in our cars. But then I also read that we should never leave food in our car because the bears will sometimes break a window to get at it. This article said that if staying in a hotel you should always bring all food and other scented items inside your room. Do we really have to do that? My comforting thought has been that if we set up our camp and it gets dark and I try to go to sleep in our tent and I just CAN'T relax, I can always go sleep in the car as a last resort. But if we're storing food in our car because there's no bear box, then that's the last place I want to be, if the bears might break in. THAT would pretty much freak me out.
I'm also nervous about hiking but I don't plan on going on any trails where there are't a lot of people. We'll have bear spray where it's legal. I'm not QUITE as worried about when my husband is with us because he's very tall and pretty big; I hope a bear would be more likely to think twice. He's not as big as a grizzly, of course, but the videos tell you to try to look as big and ferocious as possible and he's by far the biggest and most ferocious of the four of us.
I really think that in the end I'm going to be fine. I did an open-water swim a few weeks ago to raise money for cancer, and I HATE the ocean. It's not just a fear of sharks (although I don't love them); I get creeped out by the idea of all the living things that are out there unseen by me. But once I got out in the water and started swimming I didn't even think about it. I think that'll be the way it'll go once I'm at Yellowstone or wherever. But still, the more knowledge I have going in the more reassured I'll be.
Does anyone have "bear knowledge" they can share?
I'm taking a summer-long road trip around the country with my two teens. My husband will be flying out to be with us when he can, but often it will be just the kids and me. We'll be going to many national parks, a lot of which are populated by bears. We'll be camping in some of them.
I am irrationally afraid of bears. You can cite all the statistics you want; my feelings are my feelings. The best thing I can do to alleviate my worries is to prepare and educate myself as much as I can. However, I'm having a hard time finding the answers to all of my questions, and some of the info I have found is somewhat conflicting.
I read that you shouldn't sleep in the clothes you cooked in. However, if we're cooking hot dogs or hamburgers (or anything) outside over an open fire, or even a camp stove, the cooking smell is going to get in our hair and on our bodies. Are we supposed to shower and change into clean clothes before bed? If so, what about that fresh shampoo scent, since the bear literature says that bears are attracted to flowery smells. I read that bears are attracted to all kinds of personal hygiene products, and even insect repellent. Should we avoid using insect repellent? Should I look for scent-free deodorant, soap, shampoo, etc.? I even read that you should wash your clothes in scent-free detergent. I just don't see how we can become completely scent-free. And even if we can, can't the bear still smell US? Maybe we don't smell as tasty as insect repellent, but still; the bear's gotta know there are humans in that tent even if we showered the cooking smell off ourselves with unscented products and dressed in fragrance-free clothes.
I also read that we should put all food items or anything with a scent (toothpaste, etc)-- and even canned items and bottled water-- in bear boxes. That I can do. But some campsites explicitly state that they don't have bear boxes or that the shared boxes may fill up and that we should lock all such items in our cars. But then I also read that we should never leave food in our car because the bears will sometimes break a window to get at it. This article said that if staying in a hotel you should always bring all food and other scented items inside your room. Do we really have to do that? My comforting thought has been that if we set up our camp and it gets dark and I try to go to sleep in our tent and I just CAN'T relax, I can always go sleep in the car as a last resort. But if we're storing food in our car because there's no bear box, then that's the last place I want to be, if the bears might break in. THAT would pretty much freak me out.
I'm also nervous about hiking but I don't plan on going on any trails where there are't a lot of people. We'll have bear spray where it's legal. I'm not QUITE as worried about when my husband is with us because he's very tall and pretty big; I hope a bear would be more likely to think twice. He's not as big as a grizzly, of course, but the videos tell you to try to look as big and ferocious as possible and he's by far the biggest and most ferocious of the four of us.
I really think that in the end I'm going to be fine. I did an open-water swim a few weeks ago to raise money for cancer, and I HATE the ocean. It's not just a fear of sharks (although I don't love them); I get creeped out by the idea of all the living things that are out there unseen by me. But once I got out in the water and started swimming I didn't even think about it. I think that'll be the way it'll go once I'm at Yellowstone or wherever. But still, the more knowledge I have going in the more reassured I'll be.
Does anyone have "bear knowledge" they can share?
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