August 26th, 2006

3 Mouseketeers At Russet Lake / Photographs

I was gonna do a 3 day trip at Russet Lake but ended up leaving early, defeated by the local gang of 3. More on that later. 8am, started hiking the Singing Pass Trail (Fitzsimmons Creek), hardly any view, just trees and more trees…Then 3 hours later, it finally dawned on me, the meaning of life… Wait, what’s this? The trees gone and I can see meadows.

Another hour passed and I was at the ass according to the sign post. (some joker scratched off the p) Some nice views on the way up Cowboy Ridge.

1pm I arrived at the camp site. I can see 2 tents. Later the place would be full with people setting their tents on any flat areas around the lake.

After setting up my tent, I decided to go up Cowboy Ridge for some photos. Tomorrow, Fissile Peak would be my objective, the main reason for this trip.

It’s dark. Something woke me up. I looked at my watch, 2am. Then I heard the scratchy sounds of a moving mouse and I felt something on my sleeping bag! What the hell!? I turned on the headlamp. 2 or 3 mice were inside my tent snarfing on trail mix. I shooed them away and they scurried through a hole in the tent mesh. Crap! Now what? I decided there’s not much I could do so I threw the food bag outside the tent and went back to sleep.

The aftermath, mouse poo and pee everywhere, 3 holes in the tent mesh. Hmm they ate the all the nuts, left some fruits but didn’t touch the garlic roast corn…I still had several ziplock bags of trailmix untouched. Aw well, lesson learned, when there’s no tree to hang food, put them in a animal-proof container outside the tent. So the mice won this battle but I’ll be back next year.