[pct-l] rodents and resupply

[David Ellzey]

My daughter works at a pack station each summer and has told stories about how they will open the seal on a 50gal barrel of oats and as they are scooping the oats out into bags the local picas will make a massive "storm the beaches" charge. The little rodents will run right up the body of a packer to attempt a jump into the barrel. Occasionally one will get through their substantial defenses and make it into the oats only to burrow quickly beyond reach. Usually that berserker pica is found the next day laying on top the oats, so bloated with food that it can't even climb out. 

Never underestimate the tenacity of rodents when it comes to food.

BigToe

-----Original Message-----
From: pct-l-bounces at backcountry.net [mailto:pct-l-bounces at backcountry.net] On Behalf Of Marion Davison
Sent: Wednesday, April 21, 2010 9:41 PM
To: Pacific Crest Trail List
Subject: [pct-l] rodents and resupply


Mendorider wrote:
A ranger who was there at Beldon told me that this was the work of 
RODENTS. This was the second time that I learned that rodents are not 
repelled by moth ball smell.

We had a similar rodent experience.  We parked our van and stock trailer 
at Horseshoe Lake (Mammoth) and left it there for a month while we did 
three loops.  We returned to it twice for resupply.  We had lots of 
people food and llama feed stored in the van for the second and third 
loops.  While we were out on the first loop a bunch of mice moved into 
the van and made a thorough mess of the food and the feed--tearing into 
bags, eating and pooping everywhere.  We secured what was left (for the 
third loop) in coolers before leaving.  We took a road trip in the van 
after the llama trek (to hike Eagle Creek in OR) and had mice living 
with us.  We had to set traps at night to catch them.  We trapped one 
every night for a week.  We found five mouse nests concealed in the 
vehicle, and removed one mouse carcass from the heater fan.  Ewwww.  It 
is known forever after as "the summer of the mice".  It was hard to 
sleep knowing they were running around the bed.  We learned from that 
and now we always store resupply in coolers or 5 gallon buckets.

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