Campsites that receive heavy usage are the ones that will have bear problems. The bear problems you described in the BWCA all took place on popular lakes.

There are far less people visiting Quetico than BWCA each year. So there should be fewer problems with bears. However, even though there are less people in Quetico, bear problem still accure in popular lakes, usually lakes that are easy for people to get to such as the lakes boardering the park.

I have been to Quetico for 110 days over the past 10 years and have only seen two bears. Both bears were walking along the shore.

One thing we do before choosing a campsite is to check it out. Look for bear scratches on the tree, bear droppings, check behind the campsite for food wrappings, make sure the site is clean, if the site doesn't look good we will move on. In the BWCA, you may not be able to move on because you have to camp at designated sites.

Posted by HeavyKevy on March 02, 2001 at 13:56