Pop-ups and bears

A couple of weeks ago we stopped at several campgrounds between Cody, WY and the East Entrance to Yellowstone and were turned away with our Outfitter Apex 8 because no pop ups with any type of soft side were allowed because of bear activity in the area. Each campground, managed by the NFS, was signed posted at the entrance prohibiting pop ups. I thought that applied only to pop up tent trailers and that our Outfitter with the Weblon soft wall 8 feet up in the air would be acceptable. I was wrong. No soft walls of any kind - apparently bears can climb... We could have stayed if we did not raise the roof. So we simply went another 15 miles down the canyon and found another great NFS campground that had had no bear activity, so pop ups were allowed. However, we were told that any food had to be either sealed (even in the Fridge) or put in the bear box food storage lockers.

These were the only campgrounds we ran into on our Yellowstone / Cody / Red Lodge / Beartooth Pass / Cooke City loop that did not allow pop ups. The pop up restriction apparently comes and goes depending on bear activity. However, we have seen grizzly bears many times over the years in the Cooke City area where we camped at Island Lake Campground, but apparently not enough activity this year to ban pop ups. Terry