Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board Bear Canister Requirement

Thanks, Lambertiana. Sounds like a nice spot...We'll look for it! Back to the bear
discussion: We've had bear problems at Outpost perhaps 3 times over the years, but none since the debut of the bear cannisters. I think the bears have pretty well figured out they can't get into them, so they don't bother trying anymore. The marmots on the other hand...! Last year, we left the corner of our tent door open, as advised, at Trail Camp, so they could come in & check things out. They did. We not only had "landmines" all over the tent, but puddles as well. Mostly on my new sleeping bag. Nasty mess!! I think next time, we'll zip the tent tight.

This is a very unfortunate report. I don't dispute the accuracy of it, but it goes very far to reinforce a myth: Grizzly Bear behavior is the same as Black Bear behavior. By lumping all the encounters together, then talking about repelling attacks, it implies that Black Bears were attacking, which I can't believe.

This reinforces the mistaken belief that BB's are predominantly predators (they are not), like their cousins (which are).

I find it interesting that some of the reasons for the misinformation is similar to the reasons for the Giardia misinformation

for those in the audience who have not seen some of the education material on BB's:

http://www.bear.org/website/Articles/Why-Do-We-Fear-Bears.html

http://www.bear.org/website/Bear-Facts/Quick-Black-Bear-Facts.html