I wanted to share some of the more ridiculous stories I have seen or heard involving our furry friends.
Early on during one of the rain storms a fellow hiker had a skunk try to get into his tent during the night. The result of him trying to get away was a bite and a series of rabies shots.
Joules had a battle to the depths with a mouse early on who was also seeking shelter in a storm. I woke up early one morning (4 am) and set out my snacks for the day while cooking breakfast. I heard a water bottle move and (with my headlamp on) I spotted a mouse, no longer than my thumb, mustering all he had to drag a full size snickers bar across the shelter floor.
Though food is hung to protect from bears, there are plenty of other threats to your nourishment. Blazeberry ( a fellow hiker) was the victim of an early morning raccoon raid, in which the bandits climbed a tree, jumped on his food bag, slashed a hole in it and feasted! I was the first to notice when I peered out of the shelter and saw a raccoon chomping down on a poptart.
Many of us including myself, carry a Ursack, which is a Kevlar bear “proof” food bag. However, they are not pony proof, as a fellow hiker discovered in the Grayson Highland when a pony chewed a hole in her bear proof food sack. This is not the only havoc they can raise as one only needs to google “pony kickers hiker in the balls” to find out.
