Keeping bears away in Yellowstone

Muddydogs wrote:

--In general cooking inside or outside the trailer is fine as well as storing food in your trailer. What they don't want is food left outside the trailer or in vehicle's in coolers and bags. Keep a clean camp, keep the dishes done and store any food that is not in the trailer in the bear box.

--Bears may wonder through camp and smell the odor from cooking but generally won't be a problem. What causes problems is when an easy meal is left out for the bear to get and they come back looking for another easy meal.

--Keep the trash and cans out of the back of your pickup as well, park rangers have been know to give guys grief over soda cans and bottles left in the back of a pickup.

All of the above. I like to cook outside as much as I can, just because I don't like having the odors inside the TT, and I cooked outside at YNP. I did not use a bear box to store my food and did not experience any problems with bears. However, I also did not leave ANYTHING that looked or smelled like food or drink outside my TT.

In fact, one time we were finishing up our dinner and were moving in and out of the TT putting things away, when a ranger drove up. I guess he didn't see what we were doing and assumed that we had just left stuff on the table. He kinda fussed at us for a minute until he understood that we were not intending to leave food on the table unattended. But I'm glad he was doing his job.

You really can't leave anything outside your TT--not empty Coke cans, water bottles, ice chests, coolers, lip gloss, toothpaste, mouthwash, gum, candy wrappers, or sunscreen. In short, nothing that smells remotely like something good to eat. Inside the TT, I wouldn't worry too much about it. I don't know how often a bear attacks an RV, but I'm betting it's not a regular occurrence.