Originally Posted by
Tourist in MSN
But rodents, chipmunks, squirrels, raccoons are more likely to be a problem.
Heh. Cutie. On my first ever tour I made the mistake of leaving a oaf of bread in my tent on a day off while I went to visit a historical site. The state park was full of squirrels gathering nuts for the upcoming winter. Some sort of rodent chewed a hole through my tent mesh and had a feast.
And don't forget birds. In the early days of the trip we camped at Colonial Creek on the North Cascades Highway. Our group leader had removed a bag of cereal from its box and had strapped it to the outside of his B.O.B. trailer bag for easy of carry to the campground. During the group meeting that afternoon we looked over to see a Stellar Jay picking at the bag.
When I did a week backcountry backpack trip in Glacier N.P. I marveled at the intelligence of the ground squirrels. They would build tunnel openings close to the seats in the food prep/eating areas to scavenge for scraps dropped by careless humans.