Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board Careless Hiker left Bear Box OPEN & Bear ate FOOD!

My friend, Tracie, and I did a day hike yesterday, August 19th. We parked in the "overflow hiker parking-lot." We put all our food, toiletries, etc. in the Bear Box. When we woke up at 1 am to pack our food for the day, the Bear Box was open and, of course, ALL our food was gone, complete with trash everywhere. We drove down to LonePine and bought "gas station" food, drove back up to the Portal and started an hour later than we had planned. We had a great day and the weather was perfect.
I don't know who would leave a Bear Box open(we are CERTAIN it was locked when we went to bed).
PLEASE make sure when you are looking for room to place your items that you you LOCK it back up.
It made for a great story and we laughed about it during the hike but the reality is, the Bear is the one who is really affected. Makes them want "people food" even more.
We all need to be vigilant about locking those boxes.
Just and FYI: The bear did NOT get into any of our toiletries. Sunscreen, Toothpaste, Make-Up, Deodorant, etc. etc. Was definitely more interested in actual "food."