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Sierra Nevada Bear Boxes
Details for YV05

Updated 21 Jun 2008, see revision history for details.
CORRECTIONS WOULD BE APPRECIATED! contact Steve Eckert.
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For bear box data, including maps and location instructions, you can jump to:
  • the main Bear Box Page or a clickable Bear Boxes Map
  • click on a sorted list of 141 bear boxes or short list of 25 box regions

    Bear box 'YV05'
    (Merced Lake)

    Detail Map: (scroll down for directions, waypoints, and area map)

    1. YV05 is 4 standard plus 4 large boxes, at about 7200 feet, in the Yosemite Valley and Merced River region.

    2. Note: The Merced Lake Backpacker Campground is about 200 yards east of the northeast corner of Merced Lake, where the trail turns south around a shoulder. The High Sierra Camp, with it's tourist crowd and horses and dinner bells, is partially visible from the campground, but the backpacker camp is in tall trees and has a spigot supplying potable water and a flush toilet in a brick building (so it feels like car camping). Some people get water and store their food here, but camp to the west so they can avoid crowds and campfires.

    3. Directions from Steve Eckert, verified GPS waypoint, Sep 2002:
      Four large boxes and four standard boxes are on the north side of the trail just as you reach the backpacker campsites. The provided GPS waypoint is near the water spigot, and is closer to the trail than either set of boxes. The standard size boxes are about 30 yards northeast of the trail, beyond the water spigot. The larger boxes are about 30 yards west of the standard boxes (NW from the spigot).

    4. Directions from Kalon Kelley, with GPS waypoint, Sep 1999:
      Four bear boxes in the middle of the backpackers campground to the north of the High Sierra Camp.

    5. Find waypoint YV05 in region waypoints or all waypoints file.
      (NAD83 decimal degrees or NAD27 UTM data suitable for TOPO! software or Waypoint+ software)
        (lat,lon) = (37.7406100, -119.4073600) in decimal degrees, NAD83.
  (zone,east,north) = (11S, 287964.0, 4179565.0) in decimal meters, NAD27.
    6. Previous box is YV04: Little Yosemite Valley.

    7. Scroll down for a regional map of the entire Yosemite Valley and Merced River region.

    8. Use Google Maps or Google Earth to view this region overlaid with roads and trails on satellite images or maps.
      (Click on any icon to get details in a popup, double-left-click to zoom in, double-right-click to zoom out.)


    Map exported from TOPO! software, used with permission.