Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board whitney

if you do not have a bear canister on the mountaineers route on whitney and a ranger stops you will he tell you to turn around?

Yes ... Most Likely.

Bear Canisters have never been required on the Mountaineers route. It would be a good idea to counterbalance your food at Lower Boy Scout Lake. I have never seen a bear there, but others have.

Although some have been told they are required in the North Fork, my new 2004 permit lists only 5 areas in which bear canisters are required...Onion Valley/Kearsarge Pass area ...Biship Pass area...Mammoth Lakes/Rush creek area...Little Lakes Valley and the Main Mt. Whitney trail. There is also a not they are "recommended" in all areas.

Depends...are you dayhiking? Then definitely no, they're not required.

If you're overnighting, then yes...

The "Why Do I Need a Bear Canister?" section on:

http://www.fs.fed.us/r5/inyo/recreation/wild/faq.html

says nothing about the MR, but does mention by name the Main Whitney Trail.

While it appears from reading that section that bear canisters may not specifically be required on the MR, I'm gonna bet that the same "smart" Whitney bears that have learned how to overcome the counterbalancing method at campsites on the Main Whitney Trail probably don't lose that knowledge when they wander a few hundred yards to the north in search of food at similar MR campsites. But if you're willing to risk your entire food supply....

I went up the MR route a few months ago and was informed by the ranger when I picked up my permits that bear canisters are required. Since you are entering the MR route from the Main Whitney trail, you are required to have a bear canister.

Stated at this Forest Service website...

http://www.fs.fed.us/r5/inyo/1059771616491.html

If a bear canister is required on the North Fork of Lone Pine Creek because you spend 20 minutes on the regular Mt. Whitney trail, that is really stretching it.

If that were true, you could backpack up the old trail (which leaves from the west side of the portal behind the picnic area and comes out on the south side of the bottom of the North Fork). That way you would not be on the main Mt. Whitney trail at all, except for stepping across it.

WE did the North Fork of Lone Pine Creek to do Mt Russell last Sept. No bear canisters were required, spent 2 days at UBL. Ill bet no one has seen a bear in the drainage in years.

Be smart, though: don't give the bears an open invitation.

Yogi, Bo Bo and the Marmots are always a concern, be creative and bag properly.