[pct-l] mini-bears

Regarding food in tents:
Interesting posts....
If you hike in desert destinations of the southwest you already know that
the biggest threat to your stuff is mice.  In well-used backcountry camps
they are as brazen as those notorious Yosemite bears....
On a recent trip with 3 friends into Grand Canyon they chewed into all
kinds of un-hung gear, like a sunscreen bottle, an eyeglass case, even into
a mylar blanket, either out of pure spite or maybe because, I suppose,
because they thought it was a wrapper.  Most frighteningly, they ate the
Slim Jims I forgot in the top of my pack.....
Once in Zion Narrows they jumped all over our feet and legs as we relaxed
in our backcountry camp in the evening.  If you've hiked in ZNP you
probably had the same experience. Not having planned to hang food, we opted
to stash our groceries inside the tent. When we got up the next morning, I
lifted the sack the groceries were in, and found a neat little hole chewed
thru the bottom of my tent, aligned perfectly with an adjacent hole thru
the sack, and talk about precision, the little bastard had located, chewed
into and carted off every honey-roasted peanut in an unopened
factory-sealed foil package! He left the dried fruit and other stuff.
Lifting the tent revealed that it burrowed in underneath from the side of
the tent and evidently it had keen enough sense of smell to find exactly
the food it wanted.  I was impressed....

Has anyone on this list had similar rodent experiences in the Sierras / on
the PCT?  Once they know where the food is, they don't have fear....

Kevin Corcoran
Palmdale CA


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