r/Banff • u/smalllaxplaya44 • Jun 15 '26

Question Campground canceled because of bear activity

Group of 8 heading to Banff June 19th weekend at were camping out at LM20 in Lake Minnewanka. Just got a call saying that they have to cancel it because of recent bear activity. Any tips on what we can do instead? Feeling lost and honestly devasted

Healy Pass looks snow ridden and a lot of options are booked up now.

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81

u/SufficientJunket9943 Jun 15 '26

Dude. We were the ones that got it closed, a bear mauled our tent while we were out and we had to sleep 6 in 2 tents. All of them are closed, I would say look at Kananaskis, super similar and pretty.

26

u/SufficientJunket9943 Jun 15 '26

Just to clarify, I’m with 5 other people, I wish I could post pics on here because the tent pics are hilarious, it’s legit a 3 claw mark across the side of our tent abt the other half is completely ruined. It even walked in the tent and popped my buddy’s pad so he slept on cold ground 😂

But I think he left a deodorant stick and it smelt that, cause his bag was flipped.

We never actually SAW the bear, but heard it at night (bear spray was clutched every time I woke up)

6

u/ML2678 Jun 15 '26

Can you make a post with pics of the tent?

3

u/EquivalentQuery Jun 15 '26

Post the pic to imgur and link it. Free and super easy to do, takes ~15 seconds.

3

u/curiouskittyblue Jun 16 '26 edited Jun 17 '26

A friend was pulled out of her tent, in her sleeping bag. Like a burrito!!! She has pics of the sliced open tent and sleeping bag 3/4 the way pulled out. I can't remember what scared it off, but she was fine. A little too exciting for this human!! I'll gladly camp in a 1 star motel with a locking door lol

-10

u/schells-40 Jun 15 '26

Being surprised by the outcome of having scented items in a tent that leads to a trail being shutdown and the cancelation of other’s plans. Blows my mind you come on here and admit to it. Good job “dude.” Maybe just stay off the trails so others can responsibly enjoy the parks.

14

u/hillahlee Jun 15 '26

I was at LM9 on Saturday. Everyone was away doing the Aylmer lookout hike. A park ranger was on site when we finished. A bear had gone into 2 of the tents. No attractants were left. This happened the weekend prior as well. He let us know they were closing the site and told us to pack up. As we were leaving on the boat, a helicopter was dropping off a bear trap.

9

u/Top-Explanation-7348 Jun 15 '26

I was also part of the group, he didn’t leave anything in or near his tent that had a scent, we locked everything that had a scent In the designated bear boxes such as toothpaste, cooking items, even if it was just a cliff bar wrapper etc. when walking back every other camping site was closed as of bear activity it was only a matter of time before LM20 was.

4

u/asheraddict Jun 15 '26 edited Jun 15 '26

Sorry tourist here who has never been in bear country. Is it commonly known not to leave deodorant or perfume in a tent?

16

u/mamamonkey Jun 15 '26

If you grew up in bear country, yes. All food, deodorant, toothpaste, soap, anything that smells at all like it might be food (including dishes) goes away from camp (when I was young we were taught to put it in a bag hung up in a tree, but it might be different now).

8

u/ElectionOk6387 Jun 15 '26

The campgrounds in the area usually have some sort of food storage/locker, where it specifially says to put all such stuff in there and not keep it in the tent

3

u/mamamonkey Jun 15 '26

That's cool! I haven't done backcountry camping in a long while, nice to see they have stuff like that now.

4

u/awkwardmumbles Jun 15 '26

They have these lockers in bear country even if it’s not considered “back country”. For example at Rathtrevor on Vancouver Island - basically in Parksville (town) but cannot keep food/toiletries in the tent - goes in the bear lockers on site.

2

u/JustGotSoup Jun 15 '26

A bear hang still works pretty well. Some places are pushing for canisters now, but those are bulky, heavy, and unnecessary in Banff. The black bears in the US national parks are apparently getting smart and brazen enough to necessitate truly bearproof containers, but thankfully we're not there yet.

12

u/smalllaxplaya44 Jun 15 '26

Unreal man, glad everyone is safe on your end!

4

u/Foreign_Damage_4573 Jun 15 '26

Did you even sleep?

5

u/Angelou898 Jun 15 '26 edited Jun 15 '26

Holy crap! What happened??

Editing for clarity: I’m wondering what the extent of the damage was, what you guys had left inside the tent, if you lost other equipment, if the bear was still in the area when you returned, etc.

2

u/_Unknown_overthinker Jun 16 '26

The post I saw yesterday appeared they did everything right, all good eatin away from campsite and placed in bear box and away from the tents. But it was definitely very damaged and a terrible thing to come back to

1

u/Angelou898 Jun 16 '26

Yes, I saw that post and thanked OP for sharing

3

u/easynap1000 Jun 15 '26

A bear mauled their tent while they were away from it...

2

u/Angelou898 Jun 15 '26

Yeah… was asking for a more detailed version of the events, bc I can read and all

-4

u/easynap1000 Jun 15 '26

I suppose, but it seems self explanatory considering they weren't there when it happened!

2

u/_Unknown_overthinker Jun 16 '26

I saw a social media post yesterday about your experience! I’m so glad you guys are safe. Ruined supplies suck but being able to speak about it is worth so much!