or the stove?    if theres a fire ban?   Jan

we need a "Mr. Fusion"   (c) back to the future, 1985

Jan

Two active bear threads in QJ at once! What fun!

All areas of the boreal forest that call themselves "wilderness" have bears in them. Most bears will take off into the bush as soon as they are aware of you, that's why we hardly ever see them.

But bears need to eat, and will follow their noses to anything that smells like an easy meal: grubs, moose calves, double ziplock bags full of shrink-wrapped Nanaimo bars, foamies previously used to insulate frozen steak, Tupperware containers impregnated with the smell of last month's baloney-and-cheese sandwiches, anything. Some people even bring fajitas and ghee into the backcountry. Wtf!

Whether any given bear's food instinct will override his (her) human aversion instinct is a crap shoot. If you think you have enough to gain from rolling the dice, go ahead. Me, I pack everything that even remotely smells like food into barrels and stash (or into a dedicated pack and hang if backpacking) well away from camp. Of course that includes toiletries, first aid kit, etc.

Even the tea bags go into the food barrels. It's probably safe to assume a bear will know tea bags have no caloric content, but they are so small, why even bother thinking about it?