mice in shelters

[t28w]

im a noobie to staying in shelters and have yet to stay in one but wondered if the mice ever try or succeed in chewing on bags or sleeping pad. i could see this being a prob if you have a pad that requires air for support. i ask bc i have a ba air core pad and relatively nice down bag(read i would be pissed if i woke up with a mouse hole in the foot of it). thanks in advance.

[RED-DOG]

Every shelter has mice except for some of the newer ones, and they will chew on everything if they can get to it, my advice to you is take a tent and use it instead.

[Sailing_Faith]

Yes, there are mice. They have never chewed on my pad or bag, but I have had them try to eat their way into my pack. Some people leave their packs open thinking they will be ok, others hang their pack from strings in the shelters with tin cans on top,,,,

Some avoid shelters all together to avoid them!

[Des]

Unless you manage to drop food on or in your pad/bag I wouldn't worry. Of course if you drop gloppy food on your down bag you will have other things to worry about (always fun to clean one of those things). I've seen many a pack and jacket ruined because folks left food in them, but have never seen it happen to a sleeping bag. YMMV

[Lone Wolf]

im a noobie to staying in shelters and have yet to stay in one but wondered if the mice ever try or succeed in chewing on bags or sleeping pad. i could see this being a prob if you have a pad that requires air for support. i ask bc i have a ba air core pad and relatively nice down bag(read i would be pissed if i woke up with a mouse hole in the foot of it). thanks in advance.

do yourself a big favor and just avoid staying in shelters. they're mice-ridden and dirty. not a good place for a good nights rest

[squeezebox]

Camp how far away from the shelter for mice to not be a problem?

[lush242000]

Camp how far away from the shelter for mice to not be a problem?

I have tented many times around 100yds or so of a shelter and never had a problem.


Sent from somewhere.

[Special K]

True story. This year, a guy sleeping in a shelter, woke up and found a mouse had had babies in his pack.

[Sugarfoot]

True story. This year, a guy sleeping in a shelter, woke up and found a mouse had had babies in his pack.

A woman I hiked with in 1996 had this happen to her at the first shelter north of Damascus. She got the trailname Midwife as a result.

[Hill Ape]

mice own the shelters, and everything in them. if there are no mice in a shelter, it is only because its a new shelter and they haven't moved in yet. try to find the silver lining, the average mouse has thirty calories

[SCRUB HIKER]

Stayed in shelters all the time on my almost-thru-hike in 2011, never had an issue with mice chewing through any of my stuff. Sometimes I could hear them scampering around at night but that was as bad as it got. I would stay in shelters just as often if I did it again.

Everyone has their preferences (meaning I'm not going to tell you one way or another where you would want to sleep) but in my opinion, you hear a much louder chorus of anti-shelter sentiment on WhiteBlaze than you do in real life.

[VTATHiker]

I laid out my sleeping bag on a top bunk of the shelter at Stratton Pond, VT last year before I started to cook. After cooking, cleaning, and getting ready for bed I climbed up there again and found a quarter-sized hole in my bag and a trail of insulation...

Only happened once in 2,000 miles, but then again I never left my sleeping bag unattended in an empty shelter again.

[evyck da fleet]

I spent about a day a week in shelters on my '12 thru and would have preferred that to be zero. But because of heavy rain or being too lazy to set up my tent once the rain stopped I chose to stay in the shelter. Mice will chew through anything if you leave food on the outside or inside of it. In most of the shelters, hikers hung their packs from nails in the roof and would find a hole in their hipbelt if they left a snack wrapper opened or not in it. Never had a problem with mice tented near a shelter. If there's no mice in the shelter its either new or probably has a resident snake or cat.

[Sarcasm the elf]

I wish i had gotten a photo of the brown rat that I saw at Blood mountain shelter last week. He was as big as a large squirrel and well fed.

The next day at neels gap we learned from other hikers that the rat is well known and may well be on his way tk becoming the shelter's unofficial mascot.

[max patch]

Everyone has their preferences (meaning I'm not going to tell you one way or another where you would want to sleep) but in my opinion, you hear a much louder chorus of anti-shelter sentiment on WhiteBlaze than you do in real life.

I sleep in a tent but I agree totally with your observation.

[aficion]

I sleep in a tent but I agree totally with your observation.

Slept in a tarp on my last section with no probs. When I got home I threw my pack in the attic without getting all the leftover oatmeal out. Got holes in my pack to prove it. Point is mice like shelter and food too.

[MuddyWaters]

Hit or miss.
Maybe the mice mess with your stuff, maybe they dont.
They do like food, and salt, and anything that makes good nest material
Including wool, down, and human hair.

Some people think if you put some TP in a far off corner of the shelter they will busy themselves with that and leave you alone.

Sleep in shelters as little as possible and you will sleep better.

Well used camping areas around shelters have just as many mice as the shelter in the springtime. You can be 50 yds from the shelter, and mice will find you.

[nu2hike]

On my hike this past Sept. I hung my hammock approximately 75 yards from the shelter. At some point in the night I looked up to see a mouse running along the ridge line of my hammock suspension!
the next morning I ask those that had stayed in the shelter about their night! They said it was awfull! The mice were running around every where all night long! One had a small hole in their pack but no damage to sleeping bags or pads!
Mice are the main reason you will not find me sleeping in a shelter! I wouldn't sleep a wink! I'm even considering bypassing the GSMNP section of the AT because of their policy which requires you to sleep in shelters!

[aficion]

On my hike this plastic Sept. I hung my hammock approximately 75 yards from the shelter. At some point in the night I looked up to see a mouse running along the ridge line of my hammock suspension!
the next morning I ask those that had stayed in the shelter about their night! They said it was awfull! The mice were running around every where all night long! One had a small hole in their pack but no damage to sleeping bags or pads!


Mice are the main reason you will not find me sleeping in a shelter! I wouldn't sleep a wink! I'm even considering bypassing the GSMNP section of the AT because of their policy which requires you to sleep in shelters!

Not sure about plastic September, but I totally get where you are coming from. Only reason to hang around a shelter....the mice can be very entertaining to watch.

[MuddyWaters]

Not sure about plastic September, but I totally get where you are coming from. Only reason to hang around a shelter....the mice can be very entertaining to watch.

Fun to watch them have a go at other peoples stuff.