Getting Comfortable in Bear Country: A Park Service Guide

Your next park hike is planned: the 10 essentials are packed and you're checking the park website before you go — when you read that the trail is in bear country. Before you panic, take a breath. Here is how to feel confident and stay safe.

Did you know?

National parks are home to three bear species: black, brown and polar bears. Different species behave differently, and the same species may act differently in different places — so this is general advice. Always check the park's website or ask park staff how to respond to bears where you are going.

Seeing a bear in the wild can bring awe, wonder, excitement — and fear. Don't let fear keep you home; caution and the right precautions will help keep you safe.

A brown bear feeding in a meadow. Image from the NPS's page.

Getting ready

Know before you go. Checking park websites and talking with park staff about bear safety and regulations is your first step.

Bring a friend — not a furry one. In bear country, noise is good. Groups are noisier and smellier than one person, so bears notice them from farther away, and groups are more intimidating to bears. (And no, the friend is not there so you can push a slower one down — the Park Service never recommends using friends as bear bait.) Leave pets at home if you can — they are often not allowed anyway. Barking adds stress to a bear encounter, and an off-leash dog can lead a bear back to you. More on hiking with pets.

"Friends don't use friends as bear bait!" NPS.

Bring bear spray, and know how to use it.

• It is a deterrent for aggressive bears — pepper spray with a higher concentration of capsaicin and a longer range.
• It is your last line of defense, never a substitute for the other precautions.
• It isn't allowed or recommended in every park: check before your trip.
• Learn how to use it and practice before you set out. Carry it on your body, within reach — not in your pack.
• It is not insect repellent: never spray it on yourself or your gear.

How to use bear spray, with Bear Management Biologist Kerry Gunther. NPS film.

Respect a bear's space

In bear country you are a guest in the bear's home. One of the best ways to prevent a bad encounter is to give bears space.

Watching wildlife from a distance. NPS photo by Neal Herbert.

• Be bear aware. Watch for scat and tracks, and for places a bear might be feeding — bears love a ripe huckleberry patch too. Never approach or linger near a carcass.
• Never approach, crowd, pursue or displace a bear. If a bear changes its behavior because of you, you are too close. Distance rules vary: Yellowstone requires at least 100 yards (300 feet); Shenandoah recommends 200 feet or more.
• Use your zoom, binoculars or a spotting scope.
• Make noise. Talk, sing now and then, call "hey bear," or clap, especially near loud rivers and streams, on windy days, and before blind corners or the crest of a trail. Bear bells don't work: bears hear them only when you're too close. The human voice is best.
• In a few parks — such as Yosemite, Sequoia and Kings Canyon — rangers ask you to scare off any bear in a developed area or approaching you: group together and yell loudly and aggressively until it leaves, but don't chase it. See a Yosemite ranger do it. This can be dangerous elsewhere — follow each park's advice.

Keep your food to yourself

How you store food and garbage can mean life or death for a bear. Bears learn fast and return where they found food, which is dangerous for people and harmful to bears. Keep food and garbage within arm's reach or store it properly — including anything that smells like food to a bear, such as tropical-scented sunscreen or cherry lip balm.

Use bear-resistant food lockers where they are provided. NPS photo by Jacob W. Frank.

If you see a bear

Stay calm. If you are at a safe distance and the bear isn't reacting to you, enjoy the moment — zoom in for a photo. If the bear has noticed you and is paying attention, learn how to keep the situation from escalating.

The tips on one card, to save and share. NPS.

Staying safe in bear country is everyone's job, and nobody is an expert in everything — so pass it on. More from the Park Service's I Didn't Know That! series.

Sources

Based on "I Didn't Know That! Getting Comfortable in Bear Country," National Park Service, with a video in which Bear Management Biologist Kerry Gunther demonstrates bear spray; a work of the United States government in the public domain. The source's title banner is not reproduced. The Park Service's film, lost when the page was imported, is restored from its page (2026-09-27).