High Sierra Topix

Those marmots at Mineral King really gonna eat the hoses and lines under my car?

I like marmots. However, I would imagine that the forest service may frown upon slaughtering piles of car eating marmots.

Any alternatives?

Some people bring rolls of that orange landscaping fence and surround their cars with it. You can get it inexpensively at home depot or lowes. I'm thinking they sell it at the MK ranger station too, but I may have made that up.

I've heard it's strictly an early season thing--the marmots come out of hibernation and need salt or whatever. Probably best to be safe, though.

I left the hood open (marmots like dark), and put a few drops of ammonia on a tissue in a baggie (w/rock to hold it down), and also used a few moth ball crystals in another baggie. Not sure which works, but they didn't bother my 4Runner. I didn't use tarps or wire fences. A friend did the tarp diaper on his 4Runner and they still chewed on one of the hoses ($500 damage)

Also, don't know where we read it, haven't tried it yet cause we've not been back there in the spring since, but I've heard that those Bounce fabric anti static things you throw in the dryer work as well...in addition to a slug of other non intended uses. Like I've heard they're good to stick in a shirt pocket and keep mosquitos away..again, untested but wife plans on giving that one a try in about 4 weeks. Will advise. But I do like Snowy's advice...
Perry

I was up there early July 2007. The ranger said to park across from the ranger station for safety from marmots. DON'T DO IT! The marmots all know the vehicles are at the ranger station, so they hang out there. The ranger(s) do not go over there very often to check. We walked an extra mile each way to the trailhead. I saw NO marmots at the trailhead, but I saw several near the ranger station and observed one jump up into the engine of a small pickup. We banged on the hood until it came out, but the ranger was totally unconcerned and never left the building.

I used the orange plastic fence weighted down with rocks. I also brought up a piece of livestock mineral block and placed it a short distance away. (The marmots want salt and minerals, so why not bring it for them?) I had no problems. But then again, it's kind of like running faster than a bear - you don't have to make your vehicle 100% marmot-proof, just make it harder to access than the ones around you!

Moondust

we tried the bounce sheets years ago. We bought a box of 40 at the start of a trip (3 of us), and the odor was so strong we ended up burning it all just to get rid of it. That was pretty nasty too!

OT, Perry, for mosquito bites, use Prep H as soon as you get bit. Don't scratch, and it won't bother you the rest of the trip. It stops swelling and itching like it advertises, but DON'T scratch! I took a group of 12 on a trip and they didn't believe it worked, but the most used phrase at camp was 'pass the PrepH, please!'

Good replies, thanks. I have also heard that the car eating is an early season thing. However, the last thing I want to worry about is my car when I'm out in the backcountry.

Ammonia or maybe the moth balls- Sounds good, but I wonder how long the ammonia would last. I would imagine that the ammonia would dissipate pretty quickly.

Salt Lick/ Mineral Block: I like this one.

Fences: Maybe

PrepH: Good one, forgot about that

Will probably use a combination of this stuff.

Good stuff