Smoky Mountain mice

For the Smokies I’d say only hang your food bag, preferably DCF with smelly items inside a Mylar ziplock. The mice know where to find food something about your shirt got their attention. Never had any trouble keeping pack with me, either in tent or hanging from hammock suspension.

Sorry you lost your Philmont shirt.

Perhaps the mice were after cozy nesting material not food.  Was your shirt 100% cotton?

how salty was your shirt? Might have been delicious.

Yes!  Nice *clean* cotton nesting material!  The shirt is a Columbia XCO with collar and two large front pockets like the typical “fishing shirt”.  The exterior is all cotton with separate polyester lining.  It was clean and had not been worn on this trip.. not sure why I even bother to pack this shirt but I did. Duh!

Surfing eBay for another one, but it is the only Philmont Columbia shirt I have ever seen; not like what Philmont sells now.

Wondering if something like a safer, modern-day “moth ball” chemical could keep the mice out of my pack?????

Best to All!

Many, many times a Smokies hiker here. I read this post several times and  conluded that the only way a mouse could get in your pack with the cable system is if it hitchhiked in your pack prior to being hoisted. In other words, when you were unpacking and/or cooking, Mickey took his big chance.

I leave my food bag and all in the pack, and cover the entire pack with a very light denier clear plastic leaf bag. Hoist it up by the pack grab loop and have never had a single problem with bears, mice, rain, freezing rain, or snow. It’s a great system and should be used by some other parks, i.e., Glacier.

I’ve had buddies food bags adjacent to mine get nibbled on while hanging overnight on the cables. Somehow they made it around the guards.

Thanks All!

RE: hang pack.. I’m open to better way to protect my pack from rain when hung.. I use the HMG Southwest and add a rain cover that wraps around about 85% of the pack body but leaves the shoulder straps and some of the hip belt exposed.  I hang the pack using the hand loop on the top of the Southwest (not the ice ax loop) which exposes some of the pack in that area.  So far, I haven’t figured out a way to hang without “something” being exposed.  I guess if I had a cover big and strong enough, I could run the hook system over/under the upper hand loop so it is under the added cover material??  Open for ideas!

THANKS!

Denys- I’ll never forget the 4 hours I walked in the rain with a Smokies backcountry ranger by the name of Steve Harvey. He actually had an extra plastic bag that he gifted me…. think of the thinnest mil translucent plastic bag you can imagine. That’s what I covered my entire pack with prior to hoisting, straps and all. It weighs next to nothing. I generally use a dcf pack without a cover anyway, so no duplication. For the Smokies application it really works well.