We slept in the car on Saturday night 07/31 in the overflow parking lot. Woke up at 2 am, got the pre packed food out of the bear locker and put it in our packs. I was at the back of the car with my pack, my son with his in the passenger seat. He walked away for a second and then shouted "Dad, there`s a bear in the car"! She was sitting on his pack, trying to get the food out. I made some noise and banged my poles together trying to get her out, she lunged at me so I slammed the door shut and she jumped into the back, and out of the tailgate, grabbing my backpack as she went. She ran up the hill with my pack containing everything for the hike, including my wallet! We watched in disbelief as a year of planning, permits etc. vanished before our eyes.
She didn`t go too far, and we could just see her emptying the pack, and sharing it with baby bear! About 20 mins. later she came back down and tried to get into a pickup with a camper shell on the back. ( i think there were people sleeping inside). We took the opportunity to retrieve the backpack, and fortunately it was still useable, and my wallet was still there. We had some more food in the bear locker, water and a filter, so we packed up again, moved the car up to the top car park and set off. As we were leaving we heard breaking glass as another car across from the trailhead was broken into.
We made it to the top, It was an epic day we will never forget!
Please be extra vigilant, a buddy of mine had a 2am. ' visit' when he hiked 2 weeks ago, so we were aware there could be problems, though didn`t expect the bear to be quite so fearless.
