Rangers at the Mineral King area of Sequoia National Park in the central California Sierra range are advising hikers and other visitors to wrap their vehicles with a tarp when they are away. If not, the local marmots may feast on their vehicles.
The marmots are attracted by the smell of engine components and fluids and they regularly crawl into undercarriages for exploratory nibbles and that causes damage to radiator hoses and car wiring. Other rodents, squirrels and mice, will do the same. But marmots can work a lot faster.
On several occasions, marmots have not escaped the engine compartment quickly enough and unsuspecting drivers have unknowingly transported them to other locations, even hundreds of miles away.
How can you protect your vehicle from marmots? Here’s advice from rangers:
• Wash the outside, undercarriage, and engine compartment of your vehicle before visiting.
• Physically block marmots by driving over a tarp and then wrapping it around your entire vehicle. Cover the wheel wells. Wrapping chicken wire around the vehicle is no longer advised: the Marmots are not only big, but smart. They figured out how to bypass the wire.
If you visit Mineral King, especially before August, check for possible damage when you return to your vehicle. Before starting your car, look under the hood for marmots or signs of chewing. Check hoses, belts, electrical wiring, insulation, and radiator fluid level. Inspect under the vehicle for signs of coolant or brake fluid leakage.
Turn key to “on”, but do not start your vehicle. Check that all indicator lights come on. If lights don’t come on, wiring may have been damaged.
Start the engine and listen for unusual sounds.
Report any damage to your vehicle.
If you’re visiting with an RV, wrapping it may be a little too big of a problem. Best to find a way to visit the area with a smaller vehicle.
##RVT1166b
Maybe just crawling inside in the hopes of catching a ride and escaping California and it’s high gas prices ?🤔😃
Some people actually wrapped their vehicles in chicken wire??? Bet that makes a mess of the paint job!
Especially if the chickens are still inside the package.
Thank you, RV Trave! 🙂 Wow! Thanks for the warning! We will avoid this area. Thanks again, have a great weekend, safe travels, and safe stays! 🙂
Oh my goodness, something else to worry about. This is ridiculous. Carrying a huge tarp big enough to enclose the average size SUV, that alone is annoying.
Mineral King is one of my favorite destinations but the two campgrounds up there are Tent Only. No Motor Homes allowed on that 20 mile very windy road. Camp in Three Rivers or Sequoia NP and take your Toad up.
‘If you want to hike up there , the Ranger Station issues you a Tarp, no charge.
‘Make sure you stop at Silver City Lodge for at least a piece of phenomenal Pie.
Thanks to ESG mandates the auto manufactures made peanut and corn oil plastic coated wiring starting in early 2000’s. Vermin, rats, mice, squirrels and now marmots find automobile wiring very tasty, one of our RV’s spent $10,000 for rewiring his truck in Texas.
Exactly. Can’t have the insulation made out of petroleum based products now can we!!
Just wondering how long one should wait to allow the ‘hot’ vehicle to cool prior to wrapping in a plastic…??
Exhaust system and engine components get rather warm….
Mike
What’s to keep the marmots from chewing thru the tarps?
Hi, Kent. Maybe they can’t smell the “engine components and fluids” that would otherwise attract them? Whatever works, I guess. My son lives next door to me and his renter’s not-quite-paid-for fairly new car was totaled by rats eating the soy-based wiring in the engine. Needless to say, we have lots of rat traps around our two houses now. Have a good night. 😀 –Diane at RVtravel.com
“If you’re visiting with an RV, wrapping it may be a little too big of a problem. Best to find a way to visit the area with a smaller vehicle.” Huh? Smaller vehicles don’t have wiring, hoses, and fluids? That’s news to me. Wow, technology has really progressed!
Hi, Eric. Maybe it’s just because covering a smaller vehicle would be easier to do and require less material? Have a great day. 😀 –Diane at RVtravel.com