Day 58

Origin: Campbell Shelter

Destination: Daleville, VA

Today's miles: 15.4

Total miles: 724.5

A sheltermate woke us up in the middle of the night to tell us he heard a mouse in one of our backpacks, which were hanging on the wall.  We hung our food outside, so I thought he must have been mistaken.  Still, I stayed awake for a while to listen for a mouse chewing through my bag.  I didn't hear it so I eventually fell back asleep.  Magge had a hard time falling back asleep, and as the sun started to rise, she decided to check her bag out.  When she opened it, a mouse indeed popped out.  After she shooed it away, she heard some more mouse chatter, so she flipped her bag upside down and four baby mice fell out, along with a chewed up bag liner that had been turned into a nest.  Magge felt guilty about separating the mice from their mom and tried to collect them to return them to the shelter.  I am a much less compassionate human being and I was against returning them just so they could pester future hikers.  I told her to let nature take care of them.  If they managed to make it make it back, then they deserved to chew through someone's pocket to get to the trail mix someday.  However, with the help of some weekend hikers, she managed to find three of the four and return them, and the mother shuttled them into a hole in the wall.  At least the mother mouse did not damage to anything of Magge's except for the trash compactor bag she used as a liner.

The rest of the day was calm in comparison.  We had a beautiful walk on the Tinker Cliffs, from which I already posted a picture and have included another one below.  We pulled into Daleville in the late afternoon and got an early dinner at Three Lil Pigs, a very solid BBQ restaurant where I ate a disgusting amount of food.  After a night of sleep without the potential for mice building nests in our backpacks, we'll be ready to tackle the trail again.