The Bear Locker

Photo of Marlon :) 

The Bear Locker

Bear lockers are large metal boxes with locking swinging doors that are meant to protect your food from hungry critters in addition to protecting Yosemite's black bears! In the case where a bear gains access to improperly stored food from a campsite or a vehicle, the bear will be put down by national park rangers; This is because the bear may return for food in the future increasing the likelihood of potentially harming park visitors. So please store your food properly! Each campsite has one bear locker. Hiking trailheads also provide bear lockers to prevent park visitors from leaving food in their vehicles. This post will focus on the optimal way of organizing a bear lockers to maximize space. No one enjoys the typical "I can't find my toothbrush" moment at 2AM in a poorly organized bear locker filled with coolers, grocery bags, and miscellaneous personal items. To start, bear lockers come in a couple of different dimensions as shown in the images below. If you are staying in a certain campsite within the park it is important to be aware of what bear locker your site will have. 

I am still learning and experimenting with what may be the best way of organizing a bear locker. It is important to consider individual/group needs when it comes to organizing a bear locker. For camping trips with smaller groups (6 people or less) for a span of 4 days 3 nights I would recommend one large sized Coleman cooler (33in x 18in x 17in) and one regular storage box (I steal mine from my parents garage) (24in x 16in x 14in) good for accommodating non-perishable food. The main obstacle faced with the bear locker arises with small personal items. If there is not a designated storage space for miscellaneous scented personal items such as sunscreen, chapsticks, toothpaste, deodorant, etc. then the bear locker can easily become a chaotic cluttered space! The solution I have come up with is providing your campers with stackable storage boxes. For bigger groups (12+ campers) booking two campsites is the norm. For trips with 6 campers I would recommend bringing 3 of the stackable boxes; Assigning 2 people per box allows for 1 regular sized toiletry bag per person and scented extras. For 12-14 campers I would recommend bringing 6 of the stackable boxes with the same structure of assigning 2-3 people per box. Below I have created an illustration of how I would organize the bear locker depending on the size of the group! 

In conclusion there are several ways to get creative with storage during camping. Remembering to pack light and just the essentials is always the best way to go. Yosemite also has a few different grocery style stores that are located throughout the park (The Village Store in Yosemite Village) in case you need extra ice, snacks, or groceries! Utilizing the bear locker properly can make all the difference in time efficiency and can also keep our wildlife safe, especially the majestic Yosemite black bear! Thank you for reading, more coming soon :)

Strange fact, bear lockers happen to be bullet proof. Why? I know right, why!?