This weekend I went backpacking in Yosemite at the Hetch Hetchy reservoir. We put all our food into bear cannisters (short metal cylinders with flat tops you need a screwdriver to open) but we didn't have enough room for our trash and our toiletries. We hoisted them up a tree in a stuff sack, but shortly after midnight a mama bear and her three cubs showed up. The mama bear sent one of her cubs up the tree and it managed to chew through the bag before Dave and Torsten chased off the mother bear and the other cubs, leaving the cub stuck and crying in the tree for a while. I found a link to a black bear cub making distress sounds, a bit similar to what we heard.

They dragged the bag away from camp and in the morning Dave retrieved what was left, such as my toothpaste and sunscreen. But they ate my deoderant. Now was that really necessary?

After they left, another bear showed up and climbed the tree right above our tent. He must have missed the training session where the mother bear explained you should only climb the trees with food. Dave and Torsten chased him away as well (I stayed in my tent, thank you) but in the morning as we left camp we saw the mother bear and her cubs nearby. The cubs were cute and tiny, but we decided not to bring one home as a pet because it would make our packs too heavy.