Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board bear box theft

I was wondering how prevalent theft is from the bear boxes. I day hiked Whitney on the 21st of August and left some food/toiletries in a box at the portal, which was gone when I returned. I checked all the containers nearby thoroughly to make sure someone hadn't just moved it somewhere. I'm going to be hiking Whitney again in a week (Cottonwood Lakes trail) and I'm a little wary about using the boxes along the way though I'm guessing this was more of an isolated incident. Do I need to worry?

I had some Girl Scout cookies taken from the Onion Valley bear box. My own fault - they were right up front and they were the GOOD ones - chocolate, carmel and coconut - I forget what they call them this year - but they are like crack - soooo good. I ate 1/2 the box before I left and a few were gone when I returned. No biggie, but it kinda sux. At least my cooler wasn't touched. I try to clean out everything I won't need from the truck before I go to the trail head. The less you store, the less chance something will go missing. Still, overall it's pretty rare to have things taken. Moved - yes - all the time. Usually not taken.................................DUG

People end up leaving stuff in the boxes all the time. probably, they forget it is there. As such, the boxes tend to repeatedly fill up. Someone, I don't know who, empties stuff out from time to time.

You can avoid having your stuff removed due to this, by using boxes with labels that state the dates of use. Boxes are MUCH better, as they can stack and used a smaller footprint. You can't really do this labeling with a bag/sack.