While we are planning on being out “in nature” a lot, we really weren’t planning on having a lot of run-ins with wildlife. We have enjoyed the antics of the red squirrels and chipmunks that run around our sites, yelling at each other and eating any scraps we may drop.
We haven’t enjoyed the hitchhikers that we have picked up nearly as much. We noticed some mouse droppings in the trailer and soon learned that mice really like nibbling on rubber spatulas. Our food was safe in upper cabinets, but we had to clean up our countertop often.
We got a couple of traps and in Duluth and quickly dispatched the mouse that had been riding with us for a couple of days. We thought we were in the clear, but the Oxbow campground taught us differently. These mice were wiley! I baited the traps with peanut butter, cheese, and crackers, and they were able to clean them out, only springing the traps once and getting away that time. Mike decided we should super glue a bit of pretzel in the trap and then we had success. Too much success! We kept hearing the trap snap and each time there was a mouse in it. As of August 8th, we’ve caught 7 mice and lost two spatulas. On the list of things to do is find and patch any holes a mouse might fit into.
Also not so entertaining was my alarm the other morning. Mike and I finally made it into the hammocks on our last night at the Oxbow. I was woken by loud scratching sounds and popped my head up to see what the chipmunks could possibly be doing to make that much noise. About 20 feet away a small black bear was trying to make its way up a tree, quite unsuccessfully. I called to Mike, asking what we should do, being pretty well contained in our hammocks and bug nets. That was enough to scare off the bear so that Mike didn’t even get a peek at it.