While we haven’t seen the bear activity this year we did last, there are still bears in the area and to be safe, you need to be wise about how you police your campsite or cabin. Any food — any food however small, distasteful, unappetizing, etc., — is a magnet for bears. They can smell food a mile away (literally) and will come to get it.
So if you’re in a cabin, please refrain from even the most basic sources of food, including dog food, cat food, or even bird feeders. If you’re RV camping, take your food inside at night. If you’re in a tent, tie your food in a tree high enough a bear can’t get to it. If you can jump as high as you can and touch it, a bear can too. Make sure it’s up there high enough to truly be safe. That includes food in coolers. Don’t think bears can’t smell food in a cooler, or that they can’t get in. They will smell it and they will destroy it to get what’s inside.
We want your independence day weekend in Island Park to be the highlight of your summer. A large part of that enjoyment comes from being bear aware and avoiding any potential problems. You don’t want to be out there in the middle of the night in your underwear with no shoes on running from an angry grizz just because you forgot to hang up your food. A few simple precautions will make this the best weekend of the year. See you soon!
I have been watching to see if the public campgrounds will be open in time for the Memorial Holiday Weekend. As of today, Riverside campground (south of Pinehaven) still has a drift 3 feet tall on the road going in and the gate is closed. Pond’s Lodge campground the same. They have a sign in the road (which has been plowed out, but still has considerable snow on the sides of the road and in the trees) which says road closed. Macks Inn public campground is likewise impassable.
Tragedy was averted last night when two snowmobilers from New Hampshire walked out of the wilderness. The two, a father and son, were snowmobiling with four other friends on the Black Canyon Loop trail when one by one their sleds quit and they were left stranded. The father and son’s sleds went the farthest and from there they started walking.
A Minnesota man was killed in a tragic snowmobile vs. van accident earlier this week south of Pond’s lodge. According to witnesses, he failed to stop at the intersection where the trail he was riding crossed highway 20. The collision occurred when the driver of the van was unable to stop and the snowmobile was struck broadside, killing the driver of the snowmobile instantly.
