Date: 2005-09-14
From: Shelter, Wilson Valley Lean-to

To: Tent, Chairback Gap lean-to
Miles today: 15.6
Weather: broken clouds

Today was very frustrating. The major causes of frustration were mice, food, and trail condition. Each of these could fully support their own journal entry.   The mice at the Wilson valley shelter were awful. Shortly after we went to bed we heard mice like scampering noises. Troll turned on his head light to discover that both his and my backpack were covered with cute little mice. Simultaneously cute little mice were scampering up poles and leaping onto our food bags. At that point we decided that the cute little brown mice with white bellies were not quite so cute. The headlamp light scared them off. This gave troll a chance to move our backpacks to a mouse hanger and to rehang our food bags.    Mouse hangers are a stick tied to the end of a piece of string. Between the ceiling and the stick there is some sort of mouse deterrent. It is usually an upside down tuna can. Fancy mouse hangers use the tops of plastic soda bottles. If you have ever tried to find a squirrel proof birdfeeder, you have an idea of what a mouse hanger is.   So with food rehung and backpacks moved we tried to sleep. Of course we heard every little scamper and used the headlamp to scare them off. Finally around 0100 we really fell asleep. I dreamed that I heard a gentle rain on the roof. I realized it was not rain but it was a mouse rooftop polka party when the mice swarming our food bags at 0500 woke us up. We discovered holes in the food bag. Fortunately we only lost a bag of sunflower seeds. The consequences could have been dire. If the mice had gotten into more food we would have been screwed. There is only one resupply place in the hundred mile wilderness. That resupply place is at least 35 miles north. If our food had been destroyed, we would have had to hitch back to town. Troll felt extra lucky because the mice pooped and pissed all over the inside of his backpack. I felt extra lucky because I cleaned out his backpack as he was making our morning coffee.   My husband started calling me the trail food nazi today. We were having our 2nd lunch before a big climb. Troll had his lunch and a snack. It was a crummy snack - 1 poptart. He then demanded more snacks. He decided that he wanted his little debbie cherry pie NOW! Well, I ration out the snacks to get big calories where we need them. I try to make sure that we get one high calorie snack per day. Other snacks are lower in calories. Troll just went wild. If he was a dog, I would have put him down due to rabies. If we had been in gold rush yukon days he would have been held off at gunpoint. He wanted his damn cherry pie then. He wanted me to give him his complete share of the snacks so he could decide for himself what and when he wanted. I said no. He pouted and muttered under his breath. Oblivious started yelling "we want a revolution". Obviously they both had a bout of temporary insanity.   Then there was the trail. It was bipolar and has nothing in common with the map. The map was apparently drawn by a 3rd grader. Random scribbles would have been more accurate than the map today. We kept going up and over and were never where we thought we should be. It seemed like there were an additional 3 miles thrown in. The north side of 4th mountain just flat out sucked. It was nothing but a huge nasty rock scramble. Yuck. Tomorrow is another day. Thank God.   Take care and we will see you on the trail.