Mt Whitney Zone Forums General Discussion Leave gear at camp on Langley overnighter

Howdy you wonderful people,

This may be a more general question and not unique to Langley. Curious--do you consider it a bad idea, on a Langley overnighter, to leave my tent, sleeping bag, etc at our Cottonwood Lakes camp site on summit day?

I'd of course prefer to travel light for the day hike to the summit. I'm just not sure whether the lighter load is worth the risk of having bears, marmots, or other critters rummaging through my tent while I'm gone. (Or random hikers for that matter.)

Thanks for any guidance you might provide!

Leave your gear but make damn sure there is zero food or smelly items, other than socks and undies, are in your tent. Also, make sure all you backpack zippers are left open...if you are using a summit pack. If you left some GORP in there the marmots and chippies will chew through the pack cloth to get to those M&Ms.

I've left stuff, and the stuff of my party at the lakes many many times. Never had a problem.

As stated, put ALL the food in a bear cannister, close up your tent with your stuff inside, except cannister. Mice are actually the biggest problem.
(or carry your food with you. You won't have a whole lot left. Not stove, etc.)

We did exactly that last weekend. We also put our bear cans ~50' away from the tents while we were gone and at night. Didn't have any problem at all with our gear left at the campsite.

We didnt have a problem whatsoever either. Bear canisters are bulky and a pain to carry, but they sure serve a great purpose! In addition to a bear can, we also use an Ursack. It's not approved at all NPs, but the Inyo allows it, as do most NFs. Since I have a small pack, the Ursack allows me to carry the toiletries, garbage, snacks etc while my hubby carries our food items that we don't want crushed. After several backpacks into bear country...knock on wood, we've never had a problem. The trick is correctly sealing the bag.
At Langley, make lake #4 your base camp. Lots of great spots and you can easily watch and talk with hikers coming down OAP. It's a short hike up to lake #4 from the TH. If you fish, don't forget your rod!

Thanks for the advice--and peace of mind. We heeded it this past weekend, leaving our gear behind without incident.

Ursacks sound pretty cool. I'll hafta look into them.

Cheers!
Patrick