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

Bear Info- FYI (8/15/2011)

My brother,sister and I had permit to go up Aug 15, 2011. We were planning for a day hike and wanted maximum time. At midnight, we were in parking lot, near the start of Whitney trail. My sister and I had our day packs leaning against the back of my car as we made final prep. We went to side of car to pull blanket over boxes (no food in car at all) and close side door, when she screamed, "Bear's got my pack." I hadn't seen the bear, but her pack was definitely missing. I shouted "Which direction". She pointed up the hill. So, I took off into the woods north of parking area.

With my headlamp on I located the bear and began heaving rocks in hopes of convincing the bear that it wasn't worth it. The bear picked up pack and ran off about 30 yards east. I chased it and continued heaving rocks. The bear and I went through this start stop process about 3-4 times, until I was exhausted. We arrived at a situation where the bear was uphill from me. I decided to wait and figured the bear would run out of food and lose interest. The pack had other items such as car keys, driver's licenses and 'administrative' items of no interest to the bear, but of great interest to us.

Meanwhile my brother came up and I told him to go back and get my pack inside the bearproof enclosures because I had run off and left it out. So, he left and returned several minutes later. After a few more minutes the bear moved away from the pack about 10 feet. I moved in and the bear ambled away. I retrieved the pack.

It was remarkably intact. My sister had put most of the food in the large back pocket and the bear had simply unzipped the pocket and removed the food. The main compartment had 1 or 2 smallish punctures and copious bear slobber.

Inside the main pack was a can of V8 juice, which looked like it had been twisted and ripped in half, spilling V8 all over the interior. How the bear accomplished that without destroying the pack, we have no idea.

We had extra food stored in bear proof locker, so we restocked my sister's pack and while we were restocking I glanced over near the front of our car and lo and behold, a second bear was standing there silently peering at me from about 12 feet away.

I shouted "Bear" and ran to get my camera, by the time I got back, the bear had vanished.

This whole incident took about an hour. We started the hike without further incident at 1AM.

Moral (my interpretation): Bears are very intelligent creatures. They have adapted to (1) the bear proof exclosures, (2) the bear proof trash containers, (3) the general lack of food in cars. Their adapation is to utilize a snatch and run strategy. Even though these creatures weight upwards 400+ pounds, they can move around with extreme stealth. They sneak around and approach people like us when we are preparing to leave. At these times, food may be out and potentially vulnerable, even if only for a few seconds. They seize any momentary lapse when the food is unguarded to grab and run.

In my opinion, they do not wish to attack humans (exception, mama bear and cubs) for food. So, I advise you to never leave food or packs full of food unguarded even for 5 seconds as you get ready to leave for your Whitney day hike.

Amazing! I'm glad no one (you or the bears) got hurt and that all learned something from the encounter.

A friend and I were just up there yesterday, Aug. 19th, for a day hike. Someone got into the Bear Box, forgot to lock it, and when we got up at 1 am ALL our food was gone. It never occurred to me that the bear might have actually BROKE into the box. We just assumed that someone was looking for a place to store their food and didn't lock it properly. If the bears have learned how to open these boxes we are all in BIG trouble.
Wow!

Same thing happened to our group last month. We stored some food and a pair of sneakers (don't ask) in a bear locker at the Portal before heading up the mountain, and we returned 2 days later to find the locker emptied out - all except the sneakers. Doug told us later that one of his problem bears had gotten into the box, presumably after someone didn't lock it properly. Now I wonder . . .

Gary..... you mean you're supposed to shut them after you put your food in them. Crap, what the heck. Briiiiii, Briiiiii, you didn't tell me that :-) At least I got my shoes back. Besides, I am pretty sure I did lock it......after all, nobody screws with my Snickers......not even a bear.

If bears are snagging packs in the parking lot, then how long before they snag one off your back?

When we camped at the Portal last August we noted the bears would hit the bear boxes as they walked by them. Apparently they have figured out that sometimes the boxes are not locked correctly and hitting them will give them access.