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I'm headed to Redcloud/Sunshine TH to camp a couple nights and have heard reports of marmots/rodents chewing on car cables. Any helpful ideas on how to deter them? Preferably not having to stink bomb my car. Not a great area to be stranded. Thanks everyone!

Chicken wire.

Not the marmots you have to worry about there. There's a porcupine that's been getting under some vehicles. One of the guys I met during my hike of RC/SS last weekend had a porcupine visit the underside of his truck the night before. That afternoon, after getting back from the hike, he didnt find any damage to the underside of his car but did find some quills on the ground. This is at the Silver Creek TH parking.

STIBungy wrote:Not the marmots you have to worry about there. There's a porcupine that's been getting under some vehicles. One of the guys I met during my hike of RC/SS last weekend had a porcupine visit the underside of his truck the night before. That afternoon, after getting back from the hike, he didnt find any damage to the underside of his car but did find some quills on the ground. This is at the Silver Creek TH parking.

I was there 2 years ago, and a vehicle camped just above the TH had porcupines chew the brake lines. When they were making the quick drive to the Silver Creek TH, the brakes were out, and spilled fluid all over the road. Don't have a solution, but it is a problem.

Define stinkbomb - ? Coyote urine around the vehicle is supposed to work. We've parked in some allegedly high-risk areas thus, without incident. Of course there's no way of knowing if it was effective, or the area wasn't as high-risk as alleged, or we were just lucky.

Dex wrote:Try mothballs tied in a socks underneath your car. You need to pick them up and take them with you. You could tie them underneath your car before going to the mts. so you don't forget to use them or take them with you.

Mothballs do work well. I would recommend the hangers so you don't have to mess with socks or worry about spilling them. Make sure you have an airtight storage for the drive, otherwise they will stink up your car.

Last August I was at the American Basis and spent a night car camping. I hung up a bag of 4 mothballs on each of the tire wheels. It worked like a magic. Some campers use coyote/fox urine to keep the critters away. So I think that having a fence or a screen around a vehicle may be an overkill.

I use a fabric softener or a dryer sheet which beats a sock. I have no problem with storing mothballs in a freezer bag and leave them inside my vehicle for a long trip. No odor at all.

I bought a box of mothballs at Home Depot last night ($10, garden section). Inside the sealed package are the mothballs in 4 perforated bags. I plan to just place each perf. bag on the top of each tire. That should keep them dry and reusable, but still stink up the place. I also have some coyote urine that I plan to sprinkle around the truck.

I really don't want to go the chicken wire or tarp route, at least at this point.

BTW, the NPS in isn't too keen on chicken wire, at least in CA.

https://www.nps.gov/seki/planyourvisit/marmots.htm

The California method

jcman01 wrote:BTW, the NPS in isn't too keen on chicken wire, at least in CA.
https://www.nps.gov/seki/planyourvisit/marmots.htm

"-Wash the outside, undercarriage, and engine compartment of your vehicle before visiting.
-Physically black marmots by driving over a tarp and then wrapping it around your entire vehicle. Cover the wheel wells and leave your hood up. Wrapping chicken wire around the vehicle is no longer advised, as marmots have learned to get around the wire."

Guess they like the salt, but I've never tried to "black" a marmot. Wonder if rain water retention is every an issue with the diaper tarp method.

Kent McLemore wrote:The California method

That's exactly what my dad and I did for a trip a couple years ago in the Weminuche. It was kind of a pain to toss paracord lines across and get the tensions correct but no animal issues so that's the end goal.

Also I'm sure we looked like idiots