Bears at Shelf Road

How about these:

bearvault.com/

or this:

ursack.com/

Hopefully they are BPA-free so the bears don't get sick. :)

It would be nice if they were tent-sized.

Larry Rossi wrote:It would be nice if they were tent-sized.

I was camped at the Bank last weekend and had to deal with the bear on a couple of occasions. It was really easy to scare off--especially with dogs. No spray, evil eye, etc. needed. The problem is when you are out like totally bagging some sick 13s in the afternoon and nobody is around in the campground. Many people's camps were raided then. That bear doesn't seem to sleep (I guess because it just finished doing so. For several months.). At any rate, we can sit here and say that it isn't a bear problem but a people problem blah blah blah but the sad fact is that the bear is going to associate people with food and some bro/bra, who took all the right precautions, will get hurt.

John --

When we got there on Saturday a.m. to climb, both campgrounds were completely full. We were hoping that maybe the large crowds had driven the bears out -- but the stories continued throughout the weekend. Apparently one of the bears was in the bank parking lot just after we left it to hike to the Vault at about 10:30 this a.m. The women that we were climbing next to later in the day said that the night before 3 more tents were shredded, and one other climber indicated that the bear was in his truck bed the night before. The only evidence we saw of any response from BLM was two signs posted at the entrance to both the Bank and Sand Gulch campgrounds saying "Bears active in area" and to follow all precautions. But I agree -- 10 years+ at Shelf and never even saw a bear -- experience has taught us, if wrongly, that bears were not a problem in this area. So now what?? I agree that trees aren't tall enough for hang bags -- but NOBODY wants to stop climbing at Shelf. Don't blame you guys at all for leaving (we stayed in a house!) but sure missed your excellent company. . .

There were several bear encounters in the Bank this weekend. Most incidents happened mid-day while the climbers were away. Yesterday afternoon there was a very nice BLM ranger handing out surveys in the parking lot. And then two armed CDOW rangers came walking up the trail. I assume they weren't hunting wabbits. I don't suppose relocation is an option. It will be very sad the next time we go to Shelf and there are no bear stories.

Dave -- Thought you guys were going to Penitente? I hope there are no bears there!

DOW was there yesterday but they did bring a bear trap so hopefully they are thinking relocation. Only saw one trap and there were 2 if not 3 bears up at the bank c.g.

If you are heading down, please be smart and not leave food out. There were some not so smart people down there this weekend.

How did the bear break into the van? Did it tear a window out like they do in Yosemite? It just seems unlikely these bears are agressive enough to be physically tearing vehicles apart. Of course it does happen there so I guess it is possible.

If the bear entered the van via an open door that would be an entirely different deal. It would be instructive to know more details on the van break in if anyone has any. Thanks.

My buddy was at the dark side on sunday and ran into a big o'l bear!

His daughter thought it was winnie the pooh :)

Not so much.
Anyways. They are still out there so remember.
Dont bring food to shelf road. Your only adding to the problem.
:)

Kirra,
Any sign of BLM officials ??

SAL wrote:Kirra, Any sign of BLM officials ??

We did see a very large rattle snake slithering across the road in this weekend. It was really quite pretty.

How about a huge laundry line that we all clip our food too between the dark side and cactus cliffs... I know reed can hook it up, and in the AM, we don't have to hike just take the tyrollian across the ditch.

Bears at Cactus Cliffs. We own property just north of Cactus Cliffs. We have always had bears and they have always been curious, hungry and aggressive if you let them. We leave them alone, don't leave food where they are tempted to try and get at it and take nothing from them but their pictures from time to time. There is one, a large male (mostly black with some white on his chest) who can be particularly stubborn and tends to get into a lot of trouble. He has raided two camps at Cliffside Heights (where our property is) and has been seen this year with two "buddies". He has a den just west of our property and I usually see him at least once every time I go down there. He seems less and less fearful of humans and may be the culprit at Cactus Cliffs. I have contacted the DOW and suggested that they post Cactus Cliffs and put in bear boxes. Don't take chances with this guy, he is big and powerful. Last fall was a lean year and he and his cohorts probably woke up really hungry.

Gary,

So do you leave food in a vehicle? Has that worked or do you leave food in a building. Just wondering if we can be comfortable leaving food in the car or not.

To answer that question we need more info on the van break in. It depends on the aggressiveness of the bear. (Bear break ins used to be a huge problem at Yellowstone, so food in vehicles was prohibited. But, now due to the education of the people and therefore the reconditioning of the bear population, the official literature at the parks advises storing food in vehicles.) Perhaps the person who knows the involved DOW folks could contact them and get a read on how aggressive the non-collared bears have been. (Unfortunately, our ignorance has signed a death warrant for the collared bear.)
Bottom line, vehicle storage is adequate if we are dealing with uncontaminated natural bears. Personal or corporate bear boxes are the only solution if we have managed to turn them into garbage bears.

Yes I occasionally leave food in my pickup. Never outside but we have a travel trailer on our property and we leave most of the food in the fridge or in the cupboards there. Bears often walk around the trailer (prints, spoor etc) and once I saw one in the bed of my pickup in the middle of the night. Touched off a round into a dirt bank and he hauled. Big guy often sits on a ridge just west of us and watches the goings on. He tips over my bbq and sucks on the lava rocks. I think this is like bear candy. He hasn't tried to break into anything yet but he did scratch the sides of my shed and left pretty deep gashes. We usually just ignore him and he ignores us. Don't know what he would do with a tent or people outside when he's on the roam. Don't think I want to find out. Be careful out there.

No bears to be seen at Shelf last weekend but I did see these. Bugs are so cool!

Adding to an old topic - we were camping on a friends property over Memorial Day. One of the people in our group actually had their Prius broken into by a bear while they were climbing over in The Bank.

We also ran into the ranger that same day as we were leaving The Bank. They had trapped one of the Bears that was running around over by the Dark Side. After speaking with her, my impression was that this bear was a multiple offender, so relocation was not going to be an option. Very sad.

You just need one of those sweet electric bear fences from rei and some bear mace like the dawg has.

Holy ancient threadosaurus batman!