As I understand it from talking to the folks at the Portal Store, there are at least two bears hanging around the Store and the family camp ground. We had the larger one come for a visit Thursday night. We'd been on site #11 & #12 since Monday afternoon. Anyway, after out successful one-day summit we drove down to the LP Hostel for a shower and warm dinner at Mt Whitney Restaurant across the street. Within minutes of returning to the campground ~10:30pm the larger bear stopped by for a night cap. He walked by nonchalantly less than 20 ft away... made a turn behind our tents and went up the hill as I followed him w/ a flashlight. I had two goals for the week... summitting Whitney and seeing a bear up close in the wild. I got both!
