Yosemite (Bearfest 2009)

On August 13-18 we went camping in Yosemite in the valley floor. These coveted campsites are very hard to come by and the only way were were able to camp here was with Reed's Scout Troop.We were technically "park volunteers" and were allowed to stay in one of the volunteer campgrounds. In exchange for our volunteer status we had to help with an Eagle Project and put up some signs in some of the campground. (This "volunteering" took about 3 hours for 2 days.) One of the drawbacks to the campground was the lack of showers and the modern convenience of a port-a-potty. The campground was the farthest west campground in the park, and we were the farthest west campsite in the campground. Every night bears came through the campground and on the 3rd night Reed, Ashley and 3 others saw a bear. That night, we accidentially left out the trash and it was dragged into the woods by bears. The next night we had a great dinner of BBQ pork sandwiches, baked beans and corn. We had alot left over and one of the dads suggested pouring it in the port-a-potty to get rid of it. About 2 hours later, Reed decided to go to the bathroom. He got 5 yards from the bathroom and heard scratching on the port-a-potty. He shined his flashlight at the port-a-potty and a bear stuck her head out from the back of it. He ran to get us (probably shouldn't have run from the bear). We chased off the Mama bear and 2 cubs. The dad who suggested putting the food in the toilet, now suggested stiring it up so the bears couldnt smell it. (Dan said he should have gotten a merit badge for that act of bravery!) We then settled in at the campfire and I turned to see the bear on top of the picnic table behind me (no more than 8 feet away). We chased her off again. Then we went to bed and around midnight heard the bear locker clanking. The bear had opened the bear locker (or we hadn't closed it) Dan and Bjoern (German) got up to chase the bear. The funniest memory I will have is of Bjoern, dressed only in his underwear and a t-shirt with a sweater wrapped around his neck (to keep warm at night), running through the woods chasing a bear away!

We had no showers so everyone took baths in the river. And quite frankly, I think they all enjoyed basking in natures bathroom. We did a few small hikes and had a great time.