Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board Whitney in 2-days Any Ideas Where To Camp

Hi All,

I am 1 of 2 guys making the trek to Whitney on 8/22. Last weekend I hiked San Gorgonio (11,600'- 10 hours) and for the 1st time ever felt the effects of altitude. To minimize the effects of altitude on Whitney I was planning on hiking to Trail Camp at 12,000, overnight it and summit the next day. Since I must now bring a bear canister, sleeping bag, food and a tent (original plan was a 1-day summit) I was thinking about stashing my frame-pack at Trail Camp and using a Day Pack for the trip to the Summit. Any suggestions about stashing a pack? Is Trail Camp a good place to acclimate & camp? Suggestions appreciated Email: genevacapital@socal.rr.com

Suggest staying at Whitney Portal the night before to help acclimate. After camping the next night at Trail Camp, leave your tent up and stash your stuff in the tent when you go to summit.

Bob K. Thanks for the reply. To be more specific I was wondering if my stuff would be safe STASHING it at or around Trail Camp. I wonder about mischievous hikers and animals. In 1996 I had a Marmot run off with a pair of my boots when I went swimming. It took me many hours to find my boots & when I did the Varmot-Kong-Kreature had already eaten 20% of the boot (they like the salt in my sweat I am told) . It was a difficult walk down to say the least.

Boot Jerky?

I forgot to mention, keep your food outside your tent in your bear cannister when you go to summit or the marmots etc might chew through your tent to try to get it. I don't know about stashing without a tent set up, if that's what you mean. If there's some food in your stuff, you've gotta assume it will attract marmots. So if you want to stash your stuff in a secret place, stash your food separately so your pack doesn't get chewed into. Not sure why you don't want to stash your stuff in your tent while you summit. I think it's safe from people in the tent, probably outside too but not as safe. Maybe I haven't had to worry because my stuff isn't that desirable. You might have some expensive ultralight frame-pack? Whatever. Also, I recall a message where someone just left stuff by a tent site without setting up a tent and someone else moved it where it wasn't obvious to find and took over their tent site.

While there are probably exceptions, most people up that high and that far will not take your gear while you are up hiking to the summit. Don't leave any food stuff in the tent/pack/etc and the varmints should not ruin anything either.

You first mentioned just a day hike. Do you have a permit for overnight - you need a different permit to camp up at Trail Camp.

I probably get up there as often as anyone, and have been doing it for a long time. Saturday will be my fifth ascent this summer—third with an overnight at Trail Camp. The gear I stash is always in plain sight and has never been bothered.

I leave my overnight gear laid out. The main reason: I never know when something might happen and I have to spend another night there. Throw the loose things inside my sleeping bag. Fold the bottom of sleeping bag/bivy sack/pad/ground cloth over to the top, and add a couple of rocks to keep wind problems at bay and deter the critters. Add my overnight pack. Put a rock on top of the pot and stove.

Many of us have heard you should leave zippers open on packs and tents: that marmots and squirrels are curious creatures and just want to snoop around. I don't necessarily believe that. It might be yet another one of those things that has no foundation in fact, but sounds sensible and so gets passed along as gospel from one person to another. I never unzip, and I've never had a problem.

So I'm not convinced that animals gnawing into closed packs and tents is at all common. It may happen, but it's never happened to me in a lot of climbs over the years. But you have to use your head. For example, I wouldn't dump a handful of nuts or a slab of bacon into an outside pocket.

Last summer, I was with a group. One of the others left his sleeping bag and bivy laid out and unzipped. Another left his tent unzipped. Something—marmots undoubtedly—got inside both and peed while we were gone, making quite a mess.

i have not meet anyone in the back country woh would steal your stuff everyone works togather for the most part last year i droped a pair of oakley's on the way up from the back i got to summit on the way back down i meet a guy who found the left the on the sign at trail camp and they were still there so i trust all the great people i meet by the way thanks mystry guy i would leave my stuff with out a second thought it is hard to get used to trusting people when every day in the city you dont but different breed with backpackers have a good trip be up there sep 4

Thanks for everyones input. I feel better about stashing my stuff somewhere near Trail Camp while I summit. And YES I do have a multi-day pass so the overnite thing has been taken care of. Thanks To All. Be Safe! Tracy

Definitely keep your food in the bear cannister and i recommend you keep your tent up and closed. A friend on my trip was told to leave his tent open so the marmots would not chew through (there is no reason for that if you don't have something in there they'd want.) Well... he came back to find that not only had the marmots rooted around inside his tent they left behind a very unpleasent gift. Marmots don't Wag Bag it!