Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board Bears at Portal

We want to sleep in our vehicle at the Portal before the hike this weekend. Is a bear less likely to mess with the vehicle (and possibly us) because we human beings will be present (assuming our vehicle is completely clean and free of food smells), or will the bear not care that people are present?

As you know, bears are naturally shy and tend to stay away from people, if they know you are there. If you hear anything shine a flashlight at them and make noise. Don't have smores for dinner.

You might have visitors, but they will most likely run away when they sense you are there. I had a 10 pound dog scare away a bear that was trying to break into our car once, all she had to do was bark once and he was off like a shot.

I slept in my suburban this time last year and had no bear problems - they said there had been bear activity 2 weeks prior though... my car was brand new and had no scent of food/perfurme/soap...and everything I had was put in the bear boxes provided at the camp. I plan to do the same thing this weekend.
~Maureen

Thank you all. I was getting kinda worried but you've put my fears to rest. I know the bears we have in Calif. are not aggressive but I can't help but be scared of them. I will keep a flashlight close by my side and hope I can get a good night's sleep. Oh, yeah....I won't have s'mores for dinner but I'll be sure to keep them close by my side too, for breakfast! :-)