[pct-l] Re: Mice Trouble (was Bear Cannisters in the North Cascades)

[chelin at teleport.com (Sharon & Chuck Chelin)]

Good evening, Steady,

One of the few times I've been troubled by overly-aggressive wildlife --- 
other than mosquitoes, of course --- was in camp on a bare ridge north of
Soda Mountain, about 12 PCT-miles east of Oregon's I-5 Siskiyou Summit.  I
was in my bag on a Space-Blanket ground cloth, and I had just fallen asleep
when I heard the unmistakable Skritch-Skritch-Skritch of a marauding
varmint, apparently trying to loot my food.  I tried the easy things first:
I shook the food sacks and slapped the pack trying to scare him off.  That
worked, too, for just as long as it took me to get back to sleep, and then
once again I heard the same Skritch-Skritch-Skritch.  Once again I did the
shake-'n-slap routine, only this time I lay awake afterward waiting for him
to return.  And yes, I know what they say about people who repeat an
unsuccessful action expecting different results.  I wasn't disappointed:
Skritch-Skritch-Skritch.

This time I'd had enough.  He was in my gear somewhere, and I was going to
find him.  I sat on the bag, dumped everything out, and frisked it
sack-by-sack: every item, every pocket, every fold, every Ziploc --- 
everything.  I didn't find him but I was sure I had scared the daylights out
of him and sent him on his way.  Repacked, and back in the sleeping bag, I
tried to get to sleep.  Skritch-Skritch-Skritch.

To this day, I don't know what it was.  It could have been a mouse, a vole,
a shrew, or even a lizard, but it got the best of me and I had to de-camp
and move about 50 yards to a different spot.  As I moved my bed I became
convinced that the miscreant was probably auguring around under my ground
cloth rather than trying to get into my pack.  By then it was about midnight
and I couldn't sleep so I read my maps and trail guide, and caught-up my
logbook.

The only thing mildly interesting about this nocturnal buffoonery, other
than the fact that a varmint bested a man, was the fact that everything
described happened without me once having used a flashlight.  The night was
so clear, and the moon was so bright that I simply didn't need to use it.
It's strange what we remember sometimes.

Steel-Eye

"Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not
sure about the former."
- Albert Einstein

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Brian Bowlsby" <go4ahike@pacifier.com>
To: "Sharon & Chuck Chelin" <chelin@teleport.com>; "pct-l"
<pct-l@mailman.backcountry.net>
Sent: Monday, June 13, 2005 9:47 PM
Subject: Mice Trouble (was Bear Cannisters in the North Cascades)


> Nice story Steel-eye. I have a similar story which involves a hiking shoe,
> frayed nerves and a trapped mouse inside my tarptent at Pear Lake in
Glacier
> Peak Wilderness. Unfortunately, the story doesn't have a happy ending for
> the mouse!
>
> Steady
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Sharon & Chuck Chelin [mailto:chelin@teleport.com]
> Sent: Sunday, June 12, 2005 6:23 PM
> To: Brian Bowlsby; pct-l
> Subject: Re: [pct-l] Bear Cannisters in the North Cascades
>
> ...Then finally I had my arm in exactly the
> right position, and my timing must have been perfect, because when I
whapped
> the inside of the bag right under him I heard an immediate thwack on the
> underside of the tarp.  I am reasonably convinced that if the tarp hadn't
> been in the way I would have sent his fuzzy-butt into low earth orbit.
> Anyway, that was the last I heard from him and he didn't get in the food
> sack.
>
> Steel-eye
>
>