Mt Whitney Zone Forums General Discussion How safe is leaving food in bear boxes at TH?

I'm planning a 9-day hike starting at Horseshoe meadows and I'll be at Chicken Spring lake after a couple of days. In theory I could leave some food in the HM bear boxes, and run back from Chicken Spring Lake to collect this (I'm perfectly comfortable with a 9 mile run at altitude). It would mean I could get food for the whole trip (2 people x 9 days) into 1 bearvault by reloading partway*.

However... do the trailhead bear lockers get emptied out by rangers, other hikers or similar? I'd plan on leaving a note, and the food would only be there for about 36 hrs. I'm not expecting a definitive answer but has anybody lost stuff in this situation?

Cheers


*in case anyone is wondering: night after CSLake I'd be at rock creek and could use the bear box so plan would be: day 1 carry/eat, day 2 in bearvault for overnight at CSLake, day 3-9 at HM trailhead of which day 3 eat on day, day 4 in bear box at rock creek, so only days 5-9 in bearvault

I believe you're supposed to put your last name and expected date of return on anything you leave in the bear boxes. Your food should be safe for 36 hrs.

I have never had a problem with food in bear boxes. Just put a return date on your cooler etc.

Britonwhit: Sounds like you are planning an excellent trip. I can't quite understand the food supply plans though.

I am curious about this:
> I'm perfectly comfortable with a 9 mile run at altitude

At what altitudes have you run? Have you actually tried that at 10,000' ( >3000M)? The thin air makes a big difference.

Hi,
> At what altitudes have you run?
I ran Horseshoe Meadows to WP last year. 8 hrs day 1 to upper crabtree, 7 hours day 2 to WP via the summit - total elapsed times so include lunch breaks, summit photos etc. I live at sea level, but have experience trail running so whilst I'm rarely acclimatised I am used to how my body performs at altitude - I think 10k ft takes 40% off my performance. [can post a TR is there's any interest - I'd figured it was a bit short to be interesting!]

I have 3 food supply options:
1) Take 2 bear vaults (2 people x 9 days). Heavy and bulky, but not impossible.
2) Take an ursack for the first 4 days, bearbox @ rock creek (on night 3) to get round SEKI Ursack ban. Bear canister then only required for last 5 days. I had previously ruled this out, but now have an email from Inyo confirming Ursacks are legal (after 4 phone calls/face-face discussions stating they were not!). However, I recognise that Ursacks are an imperfect solution.
3) As in my original post - leave what won't fit in the bearvault at the trailhead, run back after a couple of days to collect that excess food and carry it to the bearbox @ rock creek & replenish what's in the bearvault.

Thanks for the suggestions/comments,
Brit

Brit, you are in great shape to be able to run like that!

I think I would just pack in all the supplies in one trip, and figure out a way to hang the supplies, counter-balanced, so nothing could get to it. SEKI instructions. If you do it right, your food will be perfectly safe.

It takes time and patience to find the right tree with the ideal branch, and then getting the twine over the branch is difficult (tie a little rock in the string and throw it). I can imagine the failures occur due to not using the right branch, or tangling the rope and giving up.

Thanks - unfortunately I'm going to be in Inyo's mandatory canister zone so I don't think I can go the hanging route. I'm wavering between the Ursack and the run back (where I was worried about leaving the food, but you guys have put my mind at rest). In total there's 4 of us, so me running back to save carrying 2 ursack hybrids for the rest of the hike and also removing volume constraints on food (so I can bring beer and potato chips) has its upsides as well as its issues.

Decisions!

Thanks for your help.

PS when I got my permit for the run last year, 2 guys had picked up a permit the previous day for a single day 42 mile run on the same route. Apparently the Inyo computer doesn't allow entry date and trail crest exit date to be the same which caused a few problems...

> PS when I got my permit for the run last year, 2 guys had picked up a permit the previous day for a single day 42 mile run on the same route. Apparently the Inyo computer doesn't allow entry date and trail crest exit date to be the same which caused a few problems...

Ultrarunners are truly animals! Actually, since they were day hiking, all they needed was the Whitney day use permit. No permit required to day hike (or run) in from Horseshoe Meadows. Only permit required is for the Whitney main trail exit. Those Trail Crest Exit permits are for overnighters, so the day-use permit would be good -- doesn't matter that they started their day on a different trail head; once in the Whitney Zone, they were the same as day hikers.