Mammoth Lakes is a ski town with world-class resorts, restaurants, and outdoor activities. Still, it is also surrounded by untouched wilderness where bears and other wildlife roam, which is why you need to know about bear safety before visiting Mammoth Lakes!
Mammoth Bound is built to help people enjoy our hometown, which is why we’re writing about bear safety in Mammoth Lakes today! Keep reading for an introduction to bear safety in Mammoth Lakes, and then use Mammoth Bound for the best deals on lodging, rentals, and activities in Mammoth Lakes!
Practice Bear Safety Year-Round
Ski Season is one of the busiest times of the year in Mammoth Lakes, and if you’re visiting to enjoy the epic skiing and snowboarding at Mammoth Mountain you may assume that bears are hibernating so you don’t need to worry about them.
The truth is that you need to practice bear safety year-round. Although bears aren’t active during winter, Mammoth’s high elevation and snowfall allow for the ski season to stretch deep into spring and even summer when bear activity picks up again.
Plus, leaving food out can attract other animals that don’t hibernate as well as build bad habits.
Don’t Leave Food in Your Car
Leaving camping supplies or leftover food in your car is easy to do, especially if you’ve just finished a long drive to Mammoth Lakes and are ready to collapse into a bed.
However, bears can easily smell food inside a car and will do whatever is necessary to get to it if they’re hungry. That means damage to your car and a dangerous encounter for the bear, so always take food out of your car!
Always Throw Away Trash in Bear Proof Trashcans
The town of Mammoth Lakes has adapted to living in bear country by using bearproof trashcans that make it safe to dispose of trash and food scraps outside. They only work if you use them though, so don’t dump your trash anywhere else other than in a bearproof trashcan!
Most hotels or short-term rentals will either provide bearproof trashcans or take care of your trash for you, but always remember to use a proper trashcan!
Don’t Approach Bears
Even if you do everything right, bear encounters still happen in Mammoth Lakes.
If you see a bear then the most important thing you can do is not approach it. That may sound like common sense, but you may be tempted to move towards a bear in order to get a picture or to scare it away.
That can obviously put you in danger, but the more bears interact with people the more comfortable they become, which leads to more encounters. If a bear continues to approach people or attacks someone then it will need to be euthanized, so never approach a bear for your safety and theirs.
If A Bear Approaches You, Make Noise to Scare Them Off
Although the bears in Mammoth Lakes can have brown and black fur, there are only black bears in the area. The best way to handle a Black Bear approaching you is by making yourself as large and loud as possible in order to scare it away.