This article is for all the newbie campers out there (and those who know better but who are just lazy). We support you experiencing and loving the outdoors, but you need to learn proper bathroom habits when there is no bathroom available. There is nothing worse than showing up to a dispersed camp site and realizing the last four groups of campers did not do their due diligence when relieving themselves.

Seeing a bear in its native habitat can be an exhilarating experience – it can also be terrifying. Bears are prevalent throughout the mountains and forests of Montana including our highly visited National Parks. The chances of being injured by a bear in Yellowstone National Park are extremely low:  1 in 2.7 million. The risk of bear injury is about as high as being killed by a falling tree, being hit by lightning, or dying in an avalanche. While this risk is not high there are some very simple and easy practices you can adopt to stay safe while recreating in bear country.

Bears in Montana

​There are two species of bears in Montana: black bears (Ursus americanus) and grizzly bears (Ursus arctos), also known as brown bears. Both species of bears are omnivores and eat many different plants and animals. They also can get a taste for human food, garbage and pet foods which lead to many negative bear-human interactions.