Mt Whitney Zone Forums General Discussion Do you keep the tent open or closed for Marmot

Yup. Happens all the time.

The bears are quite good at ripping doors open and breaking windows. Your car should look empty. When I had an SUV with no trunk, I put spare gear under a large black sheet (cheap Walmart). So the bear looks in and only sees a flat black surface. And I don't leave anything smelly in the vehicle (like air fresheners). No soda / coffee cups either. I have seen rangers write up a few vehicles that have had a large amount of what looks like food items in the vehicles. There some older photos on this site that show the aftermath of bears entering and exiting vehicles.

There are large bear boxes associated with parking lots. Stuff your food and smelly stuff in a bag with your name and return date on it. Then put it in the bear box. Remember to close and latch the bear box. The bears frequently check the boxes to see if someone didn't latch it properly.