Of Mice and Men

One of the things you will hear if you talk to anyone who has spent some time on the AT is that you need to worry about mice more than you need to worry about run-ins with bears.  Up until a few days ago, this didn't really ring true for me.  I had no real experience with mice - if they were around, I wasn't aware of it.   I have heard tons of stories of peoples' food being eaten, their tents knawed-through and their backpacks ripped open, but to me these were just stories.

As I mentioned in my last post, i've been having knee issues - so, the other day, I decided to take a "zero" day, a day in which I hike no miles.  The first night, the shelter was full.  Five other hikers and I, vs the mice community beneath the floorboards.  I didn't hear anything - perhaps it was bc we had a strength in numbers.  But the second night, I had the shelter all to myself.

Just as the sun was setting and my eyelids were getting ready to close up shop for the day, I see a streak of white fly down the wall a couple feet from my head.  What was that!?  I turned my headlamp on and I see the white flash a couple more times before it slows and I can see that it is a tiny mouse.  Where'd you come from and what do you want?  All my my food is tied up and hanging.  There's nothing for you here.  But, apparently, there was.  One of the hikers from the previous night had dropped a marshmello and this guy had found it, along with some other miscellaneous scraps of food which had been dropped.

Despite my knowledge that all of my food was safely tucked away and that there were no scraps to be found on my person, I never felt fully comfortable with this critter sneaking around my temporary home.  Everytime I was about to drift off, I would hear something scurrying nearby and bolt upright to see what it was.  At least once during the night, I felt something crawling on my sleeping bag and my involuntary reflex was to kick and send this inquisitive little fellow flying accross the shelter.

It was a night of little sleep, and it gave me another good reason to sleep in my hammock instead of the shelter.