Scared of Bears

A few months ago my sister convinced me that a Yosemite camping trip would be an awesome experience. She got me so excited I woke up at 6:00am on the designated reservation day just to reserve a site at the Upper Pines campground; months in advance. It is very hard to get a spot at this campground and because of my fantastic organizational skills and early morning wake-up call to my sister we got two sites right next to each other. YES!

We were going to hike and bike, see the falls and majestic beauty of the land. Ahhhhhhh, so peaceful and calming to be one with nature. Until the middle of the night you hear BAM BAM BAM; the clanging of pots and pans to scare away the bears!!!!

That's right, you heard me...apparently, there is a HUGE bear problem in Yosemite. I had seen the shows on the travel channel warning travelers to be cautious and not leave out food(bear bait). That didn't seem to be a problem; I could put our food in the bear locker. But, it's not just food; fragrant soap, detergent, cooking utensils, dirty clothes...anything that has a scent and could attract a bear. Now we are talking a little more work.

I began having visions of my 2 year old nephew stashed away in the bear locker at night. Second thoughts started creeping in....


Someone from my office just came back from Yosemite and told me he could hear the bears breathing outside of his tent at night. OK, I have heard ENOUGH! I definitely can not see myself sleeping in a tent surrounded by bears. I could barely sleep at my last campout and we only had squirrels surrounding us.

I called my sister and explained the bear phobia and we agreed to find a new location for our camping adventure. We have decided on Lake San Antonio...no bears, just lots of fun in the sun and time on the lake.

Ahhhhhh, peace and calm, once again.