High Sierra Topix

Anyone else had this issue?
After the first night of our first trip with our brand new tent, I was packing up the tent when I noticed that one of the guy lines for the tent looked odd—frayed, frazzled, and worn.
The only explanation was a rodent chewing away on it, hoping to capture some of the fibers for a nest?
Wild.
We’re just happy that the little guy (yuck yuck) didn’t eat all the way through and send the tent collapsing around our ears. Stands up to gale force winds, rain, hail…
Brought down by a chipmunk.

A couple of people had odd holes appearing in backpacks and one in a mesh panel on a Tarptent last weekend - when camping in established and popular places (Hamilton Lake, for example, in Sequoia NP) just turn on a headlamp after dark and watch the zillion mice scurry around, and you can see how that happens....

I understand if they were going after food.

But I think this was all about the material...

Sometimes they are also after salty things, which explains the pack nibbling. I lost one half of my sternum strap to some nibbling (I think it was a marmot, though). It does sound like they were after the material in your case!

I've had them nibble on the side of my munchie bag while I was setting up the rain fly, but haven't had them go after material otherwise. It's funny what things rodents will go after. I keep my tractor in the third bay of our garage; I once had mice chew most of the insulation off the wiring harness. Had to replace the whole thing.

balzaccom wrote:The only explanation was a rodent chewing away on it, hoping to capture some of the fibers for a nest?

Are you sure that's the only possible explanation? I mean, is it conceivable that it could have been abraded some other way?

I once had a marmot trying to chew a sling on a cam that was part of my anchor at my feet. I think it was probably salty. The marmot wouldn't go away. Those guys will eat boots sometimes. I finally peed on the marmot and it left.

Last weekend I noticed a Belding's squirrel standing tall on its hind legs and watching me quite intently as I took a leak. As soon I was turned and left the squirrel zoomed in to enjoy its prize.

There are a lot of reasons critters do stuff - there was no food in the pack pockets or the tent, but there were the holes... We were surrounded by marmots and a deer made it all the way within three feet of a tent before the person inside moved and it took off. That doe circled the camp and eyeballed everything and us, as we stood there watching, round and round. I started throwing things and she took off but did not return. Had to do the same to the marmots.

One of the group members thought we were being cruel, right up until the mice were running around. He was sleeping under a tarp and really did not like the idea of the mice getting on him. About then he was receptive to the idea that "cute animals" really should not be getting that close to people.

In the Marble Mountains one of my scouts asked why I hung up my hiking sticks on a tree each night. I pointed out that there were a lot of creatures in the woods that enjoyed salty things; porcupines, squirrels, mice, rats. He didn't believe me and left is poles, which were identical to to mine on the ground, and sure enough, next morning they were well chewed. I love it when teenagers learn the hard way immediately after the lecture.

The deer in Lassen seem to be particulary salt-starved. They hung around the camp and as soon as anyone took a whiz they were on it. You would think they would be less salt-starved in a lava area.

Given the diseases that mice carry, having hordes of them crawling around the camp, particulary when you are under a tarp or cowboy camping, is a bit unnerving.

I always arrange hiking poles so that the grips are not easily accessible by a rodent. I've seen too many chewed. It's hilarious (when they're not yours).

So what precautions does everybody take to protect their gear?