This article is kind of an example of bad reporting we have today, as they’re just talking about Yosemite National Park. I seem to remember it being illegal to have guns in the park when I last backpacked there, though I always carried mine in my backpack so I could protect myself overnight, and I had bear spray in my backpack beverage pocket. No matter where you went in the back country of California, you always encountered people as the two legged animals were the worse threat. And some areas are heavily trafficked, and bears don’t last long, especially around the OHV 4×4 trails as a lot of those guys are armed, and drinking. There was a black bear that came through our campsite once, timid and fast, and the following weekend expecting him to return we heard a volley of gunshots from where the OHV guys camp in undeveloped areas, so no more black bear. Even if Grizzlies returned, they wouldn’t last, especially when they let their mismanaged forests burn up all over the place.
While officials admonish hikers to carry bear spray in Wyoming’s Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks, it’s banned in California’s Yosemite National Park. They consider it a weapon and are worried people will spray each other with it.
While officials admonish hikers to carry bear spray in Wyoming’s Yellowstone and Grand Teton national parks, it’s banned in California’s Yosemite National Park.
The National Park Service (NPS) classifies bear spray as a weapon in Yosemite and enforces the ban there.
Given the immense crowds that pile into that park, California officials were worried about tourists misusing bear spray against wildlife in situations where animals weren’t really a threat.
There were also concerns about park visitors getting into fights and using it against each other, according to news reports.
You Can Have A Gun, But Not Bear Spray Or A Spear
According to federal law, people who may legally own firearms can possess them in Yosemite. Firearms are still banned in certain facilities in the park, and it’s illegal to shoot them there.
That mirrors regulations in Yellowstone National Park, where legal firearms owners can have their guns but may not legally shoot them, even to defend themselves against an attacking grizzly.
But “other weapons” are prohibited in Yosemite, and the NPS categorizes bear spray as a “weapon” in that regard.
The agency’s Yosemite regulations website lists it in the same category as “pellet guns, BB guns, bows and arrows, crossbows, blowguns, spearguns, hand-thrown spears, slingshots, explosive devices or any other implements designed to discharge missiles.”
Given the ban on bear spray in Yosemite, it’s probably a good thing that California doesn’t have grizzlies, said an outdoorswoman who has hiked extensively in both Yosemite and Yellowstone.
“In Yellowstone, definitely, I carry it (bear spray) everywhere,” Beth Pratt told Cowboy State Daily.
Doesn’t Really Miss Bear Spray In Yosemite
Pratt lives near the southwest entrance to Yosemite. She previously lived and worked in and around Yellowstone National Park as well as elsewhere in Wyoming and Montana, where grizzlies are plentiful.
Bear spray has been banned for years in national parks in California, although it’s still allowed in state parks and in national forests there.
Pratt said black bears and mountain lions are plentiful in Wyoming. In fact, she’s frequently spotted both species in her backyard.
However, she feels safe while solo hiking in her home state, even without bear spray.
“To me, it’s not that big of a worry,” she said. “It’s certainly not something that’s been on my radar as something I’ve missed here.”
While there’s never “zero risk” with black bears, they tend to be shy and far less aggressive than grizzlies, she said.
She said that mountain lions are good at not being seen. And on the rare occasions they do attack people, they’re “stealth predators,” so it’s likely a person would never see the big cat coming in time to pull out their bear spray.
Grizzlies are another matter, so it’s wise to carry a defense mechanism in grizzly country, Pratt said, and she considers bear spray to be “the best tool” for that.
California Grizzlies A Thing Of The Past
California also once had thousands of grizzly bears and has the image of grizzly on its state flag.
But when settlers started flooding into California during the 1849 Gold Rush, they didn’t take kindly to grizzlies and started killing them every chance they got.
California grizzlies were wiped out by the early 20th century.
There’s been some talk of bringing grizzlies back, including a recent study suggesting that the state could sustain nearly 1,200 grizzlies, but state wildlife managers said that will likely never happen.
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‘Cranky’ Elk
Through her work with the Wildlife Crossing Fun, Pratt promotes wildlife crossings to cut down on the number of animals getting hit by vehicles on highways across the West.
She also worked on the Keep Bears Wild program in Yosemite, which previously had terrible problems with black bears breaking into vehicles to get food.
Like most problems with wildlife, that was actually “a people problem,” so it was a matter of educating park visitors on how to properly store food, she said.
Likewise, she acknowledged how concern over people problems led to the bear spray ban in Yosemite.
“With the city-sized crowds” in Yosemite, “I can see how it could go south” if bear spray was allowed there, she said.
While she was grateful to be allowed to carry bear spray while hiking in Yellowstone, she said it was elk, not grizzlies, that worried her the most.
“The animals that had me most on edge were the elk,” she said. “They were notoriously cranky.”
Those worries aren’t unfounded.
There are frequent run-ins between people and elk in Estes Park, Colorado. There, elk from Rocky Mountain National Park sometimes move in and practically take over the town.
There were two reports of young children being stomped by angry cow elk in Estes Park last year.
In both instances, the children were taken to hospitals, treated and released the same day.