Regardless of your destination in the Sierra, where there are bears there are common-sense guidelines that, if followed, will allow your visit to be a safe one for you and the resident black bears - please follow them!

Federal land managers have worked hard to make sure food storage container you use will keep food safe from bears. Check with each national park and forest for their list of allowed containers. Whether you are backpacking or horse-packing into the Sierra, packing your canister or pannier efficiently will give you the maximum amount of food and allow you to make sure all your food and smellables are safely stored. Learn some tips about efficient canister packing by following this link.

Calder Reid, wilderness manager in the Mount Whitney region of the Inyo National Forest, encourages visitors to the Sierra to marvel at bears abilities instead of disparaging bears for being cunning. "Preparation and adequate planning is the best way to respect the bears you'll encounter in the wilderness. Bears are amazing, especially in their diligence to get your food. I respect them enough to not even try to outsmart them - instead I carry a bear-proof canister whenever I'm on a wilderness patrol."

The "Bear" Essentials

• Keep a clean camp and never leave trash or food in the open and unattended.
• Learn about area-specific food storage instructions and/or regulations (check out allowed bear containers here).
• Ask other campers or local employees about recent bear activity.
• Learn all you can about black bears and your safety before heading into the Sierra for vacation.

Food Storage Information by Activity

• Frontcountry: Car Camping, Trailheads, and Parking Lots
  
• Backpacking
  
• Travelling with Stock
  

Food Storage Information by Area
To use this table find the park or forest you will be visiting and follow the row across until you are under the to the type of area you will be spending time in. Click on the icon to find the food storage regulations and/or recommendations for that area.

Download a map of the Sierra Nevada showing where bear canisters are required (4.4 MB PDF).

Clever Tricks Black Bears Will Perform To Get YOUR Food
When traveling to the Sierra Nevada Mountains, expect black bears to attempt amazing acts to obtain your food. Sierra bears have gained the well-earned reputation of being "geniuses." Most bears will exhibit incredible strength, persistence and surprising ingenuity to find and get at food that was thought to be well hidden. Consider the following "bag of tricks" that bears in the Sierra have mastered:

• Car clouting - every year, hundreds of visitors to the Sierra have their vehicles' window glass broken out, window frames bent down, camper shells popped open, trailer siding clawed through, and wooden trailers clawed open by bears seeking food inside.
• Trunk Entry - many more have their vehicles broken into by methods mentioned above and have their back seat clawed apart so that food left in the trunk can be removed.
• Building entry - Some who have left their residences, kitchens or cabins unoccupied in bear country have come home to find that a bear has entered through an open door, a torn screen, or through an open window, and obtained food inside.
• Campsite Intrusion - Now that bear boxes exist widely throughout Sierra campsites, trailheads and wilderness camps, some bears have had to resort to entering campsites during mealtime hours to grab food from picnic tables, open vehicles, and even from open bear boxes!
• Garbage bins - Bears quickly learn how to claw open can or dumpster lids and pull trash out or crawl inside; others slide down trash chutes to access dumpsters and trash. Sometimes bears get stuck inside dumpsters and are collected with the trash, compacted by trash truck machinery, or injured when escaping the collection truck.
• Chewing through limbs - In the wilderness, some bears gnaw through ropes or limbs, or break dead limbs in order to drop food bags to the ground where they can eat it.
• Tree Climbing - Other bears risk injury and climb to limbs above a suspended food bag to "kamikaze" jump onto food, dislodging food bags en route to the ground.
• Swimming - At least one bear in the Sierra is known to utilize swimming skills to reach rafts where food was being stored, bite onto items, and swim food ashore to eat its reward.
• Cliff Suspension - Rock climbers occasionally report that bears have pulled up food bags they had suspended over sheer rock cliffs; others have had bears pull down bags of food not suspended high enough from the bases of climbs.