Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board Is there such a thing as bear-proofing your car?

Obviously a good vacum and search for errant french fries. Any other suggestions?

Pinesol soaked rags in your wheelwells....

I also had my car detailed before we went up there (but it was way overdue for this particular treatment... Whitney was just a good excuse... had to get two kids worth of french fry smell out of the upholstry).

Does that really work? I thought scent attracted 'em.

There's something about the chemical smell of the PineSol that actually repels them... it messes with their noses... worked wonderfully for me!!! Then again... 2 days later we could still smell the pinesol from about 10 feet away from my car!!

You can only say that the pinesol worked for you if every car that didn't have it got attacked by a bear.The fact that your car was clean,had no food present and no visable food,food bags, or ice chest is more likely the reason your car was not attacked.The key is to not store food, have food residue, or food storage containers visable in your vehicle.Bears not only have a keen sense of smell but are smart enough to know that bags and ice chests usually contain food.
There was a thread last year that discussed all the secrets and tricks people use. Bottom line is keep all food and residue out of your car and you have a good chance of being left alone.

I will clarify then... yes.. the pinesol seemed to work for -me-... however.. I also had my car detailed... did not let the kids eat in it for a week before I left... made sure there were no "smelly" things left in it... and put my soft sided bags with spare clothes on my back floorboard and then covered them with my tents footpring and my floor mats...

I wasn't trying to say that pinesol was a 100% sure thing.. was just saying that it seemed to help.

Just my two cents worth... take it for what it's worth...

We'll call it a "mask" not a "repellant"

http://www.dollarpoint.org/dollar-point-bear-alert.htm

"Spray regular scented Pinesol on the outside of kitchen door and window casements. It is oil based and will not stain or damage the wood. It helps to mask the food odors coming from inside and there fore make you kitchen less attractive to a hungry bear. Do this often."

Yep, best advice, clean your car thoroughly––a bear doesn't know an empty candy wrapper from a candy bar, but he can smell it.

The pinesol does seem to work...But only use the regular scented pinesol..not the scented lemon or any other scent they have. Put some in a spray bottle and spritz it on all your car windows on the outside and all door handles, around your trunk. What everyone else says about keeping your car clean with no food smells and itmes showing is also important..you can even hang towels or sheets up over your windows from the inside so if any bears do approuch your car they can't see in it.

We tell people that have second homes here in Tahoe when they leave to shut the curtains so if any bears do come to the home they can't see in it and especially the refrigerator.
Hope that helps some

pepper spray your tires and your trunk lid
just a small amount

Leave a pound of Gatorage powder mix in the back seat. We came back and the car was untouched!

In the rare case I have a little left over food, stored out of sight in an ice chest in the trunk, I hang some moth balls in a sock from the ice chest handle. If a bear can smell a root 6 inches under the ground, he or she will have no trouble picking up the moth ball scent.

I also make sure the visible inside of the car is clean and spotless. No wrappers or phones or toothpaste or anything that could be mistaken for food by an interested bear.

The road rage here in the LA area is bad enough. Now I'm supposed to worry about gator rage. What is this? Florida?

I thought I remember reading somewhere on a past topic more than once that bear spray/pepper spray, once it dries out, is actually a bear attractant (just the opposite of the desired result).

CaT

Ya ever wonder what the guys that live up there (and other bear places that have LOTS of residents elsewhere) use?

Give you three guesses...

As long as you don't give the bears a reason to choose your car, they will head off to a car more inviting. With many people at the portal, there is always some person with a big free food welcome sign on or in their car.

In 1994 (my first Whitney trip) the solution was said to be moth balls. Nasty stuff. Stinks up your car. Even worse, "they" told us to carry it in our packs. It nearly ruined the trip smelling that miserable stuff on the trail.

Can't you take two cars, one of them you do not care too much about, and put all the food in it and use it as a decoy?

Long time ago we used mothballs in our packs when above timberline, while leaving them behind for day hikes to higher places. Mainly for marmots. It was nasty, unpleasant stuff. Not sure it worked as advertised since we didn't have any problems. Gave up doing that a long time ago as well - we were certainly being deterred!. At the places we were then, I'm not sure the vermin population knew what was available anyway. They certainly were not human tolerant and except for the very curious would not even show themselves while we were around.

This was well before canisters and a good tree hang was successful.

ALL of the damage to our gear and food has been from mouths that can't be more than a 1/4" across .. mice and rodents chewing through zippered pockets. Especially when you plop the bag overnight ON TOP of an active access hole. DINNER BELL!!

No bear is going to invest any energy or time on a car that doesn't look or smell of a reward. If you watch films of how a bear traverses a parking lot, they spend no more than a couple seconds looking in a side window then move on to the next presentation on the buffet line. Very much like the kids that would go down the line of pay phones checking for loose change. They are not going to break into a payphone unless it is really worth their while. But they will continue to check because they (or somebody) were successful before. Not sure those composting fries in the folds of your seat would be sniffed out from outside the window of modern cars.

If they are, its probably not a healthy environment in there for humans anyway. You just get a different detailing job than what you are used to.

Bears (and raccoons) certainly don't know that a soft drink can, left on the floor, is empty or a 0 calorie diet. It simply looks like it should be something good. Same with paper ... umm was that a food wrapper? Large brown paper bags are grocery bags. How are they going to know it is full of dirty clothes until they look inside? Back packs and sleeping bags mean food especially if they are covered up with a nice picnic blanket to keep humans from seeing and stealing them. Doesn't stop humans. Doesn't stop bears.

If you put smelly stuff around the place, its not going to take long for a light bulb to come on that indicates humans are surely hiding stuff there or they wouldn't advertise it.

If you are mothballing your car, please park it way over >>>>> there.