Food handling in National Parks

There's absolutely nothing to worry about if you keep food stored properly inside your RV. Seal it and put it away after use. Don't leave a pile of cooked bacon on a plate at the open window! :)

Good idea to take your garbage to the dumpster and clean up your dishes. Don't leave ANYTHING outside - no coolers, no food boxes, put the grill away after it is cooled and yes, not even water. It's really not a big deal to keep a clean campsite and we have seen what happened to others when you don't.

Above all - don't clean fish at the campsite. This will really get you in trouble with not only the bears but with the rangers.

We've been in bear country constantly, included in Alaska and never saw a bear around our campsite.

By the way - it's not just in national parks that problems can occur. It's anywhere in bear country. They know no boundaries.

Generally I think you will be OK as long as you don't leave food or related items outside of the RV. I've never been busted but have seen neighbors coolers, etc. confiscated. These regulations have done a remarkable job of keeping bears out of campgrounds and picnic areas.

Keep in mind, some of those critters consider YOU to be food :)

I would keep food inside camper and in fridge. If there's room a small but not too inexpensive fridge/freezer in one of the bays.
Bears and every other critter can smell food inside an rv. Bears might tear the skin off to get inside. Have only heard of a few cases though. Inside a refrigerator or freezer will keep most food smells inside it.
Don't leave dirty dishes or garbage,from kitchen etc in the Camper. Get rid of it every day.

Lockers are for tenters. Inside your RV is acceptable.

If in doubt.. ask the camp host.

The "Plan Your Visit" page on NP websites has a link for this information. Thanks, DownTheAvenue, for the initial link. Also, I believe OutdoorPhotographer was just a little confused as Sequoia NP has food locker at all times rule. Yosemite and Sequoia are 2 of the parks we're planning for. BTW: We should be there in mid to late May. Good timing? Bad timing?

We was TENT camping at COSBY CAMP in the Smokys one year and the local ranger came around greeting everyone like they love to do ... He said you really have to keep the coolers out of site... The bears there know whats inside the coolers... He also said they like to find the red coca-cola cans and will bite into them and hold up their heads to drink... He said he feels like they like the PEPSI over the COKE drinks taste wise as I guess the PEPSI has more of a sugar taste... I submitted those comments to the Coke commercials with the Alaska Bears that was popular back then but never heard back haha...

We was Tent camping and the only closed door was our 99 JEEP Wrangler with fabric sides pulling an open utility trailer. We was told to use the closed food lockers they had at a couple of places around the camp site for any food items we was keeping...

Never saw any bears but did get the attention of a neighbor camper dog haha... He was really wanting to get some leftovers from our outside cooking... Hamburger patties from local WALMART broken up and stirred into pork-n-beans was too much for him haha...

Roy Ken

We will keep our food in our rig, and put our briquettes and BBQ in the handy bear box.

OutdoorPhotographer wrote:
Yosemite requires all food in bear boxes.

This is not true.

http://www.nps.gov/yose/planyourvisit/bears.htm

To quote from the link above:
"Food may be stored out of sight in hard-sided trailers and RVs, as long as windows, doors, and vents are closed when you're not there."

Great Smokey Mountain NP requires food storage in a hard-side LOCKED vehicle. If you are tent camping, in a pop-up, or hybrid with soft tent ends, all food must be in your locked vehicle or in a bear box.

This is also a requirement in state parks & national forests in East TN, as far west as Cookeville, TN.

Same rule applies in Glacier NP.

I always cover food and coolers in a vehicle, too, just so the bears don't get tempted too badly.