Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board Truck Broken Into / Gear Stolen

Kurt, I'm terribly sorry and also shocked. I've never known of anyone in a Sierra parking lot ever have stuff stolen from inside their vehicle, in 25 years of hiking there. This is saddening and infuriating.

This sums up my feelings as well. What a pisser. Hope the thieves are found and justly punished.

Ben,

Were you all parked at the portal, or near the road closed sign? I'm trying to get a beat on road conditions for a trip next week...

Thanks everybody for all your comments, suggestions, and kind words. The police have been notified. For those who asked my truck was parked at the Road Closed sign, not up higher.

I was a little brief on some of the details in my original post. There were actually two trucks broken into; mine and one of my guide's. A wallet was stolen out of my truck (not my wallet) and the climbing gear was stolen out of my guide's truck.

Like others have posted I've never had a problem at Sierra road heads. I also don't traditionally leave anything tempting in my car. One of my "take aways" from this incident is to make sure I continue my practice of not leaving anything in my vehicle. I'd suggest you all think about doing the same thing.

I live in SoCal where trailhead car burglaries are more common. I never leave anything visible in my car. Furthermore, I even empty my glove box and leave the door open.

Also, I don't use a suction cup on the windshield for my GPS mount (illegal in Cali. anyway). When the crooks see the ring left on the glass when it is removed, they will assume there is a car GPS or radar detector inside.

If you leave your car relatively "sterile" with no targets of opportunity visible, the scumbags will move on to the next one.

One of the things you may want to leave in your truck next time is an Akita (or Rottweiler)!

In "The Book of Akita's", the author tells of a story of when he used to drive an 18 wheeler. One day, he left his Akita in the cab of the truck. When he came back he saw the door open with blood on it as well as blood trailing out the door. The Akita was sitting calmly on the front seat waiting for the owner. They never did find out what happened to the person who tried to break in to the truck.