Forum Index > Trip Reports > ~*Oval, Star, Courtney & the mouse mobile 8/3-8/4*~
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~*CutebutChossy69*~
bluebagprincess



Joined: 08 Jul 2019
Posts: 58 | TRs | Pics
Location: Seattle
~*CutebutChossy69*~
bluebagprincess
PostThu Sep 05, 2019 6:41 pm 
This is a ketchup TR from back in August, it has been a whirlwind of a month so I am bit behind... Oval, Star, Courtney- Wish Slam Set out with my pal Andre to do some chill bulger bagging, after a fairly burly July I was ready for some chill scrambles with a light pack- what a treat! We headed out of the city Friday afternoon and made the long drive over to the West Fork Buttermilk TH. The TH had a few cars in it but it was quiet and dark when we arrived. Andre opted to open bivy sleep on the ground in the parking lot and I opted to sleep in my CRV. About 15 minutes after saying goodnight, Andre sprang up and yelled, "Something just ran across my f*cking face!!!!" I couldn't help but cackle laugh at the thought of a snafflehound running over his face in the middle of the night while he tried to sleep. HAHAHA. "WOW so glad I am safe and sound in my car!" Well... hah... Sat 8/3: Mouse stress, Oval & Courtney About 2 hours later, around midnight, I woke up to the sound of tiny claws scritch scratching and scurrying all over my car. "WTF!?" I pictured hordes of rats or snafflehounds or whatever doing laps on car roof, windshield, and hood. WTF WTF WTF. I thought I was lucid nightmaring and was stunned for a few minutes. Nope, definitely some kind of creatures (yes multiple) scampering across my car. I shuddered. DIH-SGUST-TANG! I banged on the roof of the car in an effort to scare them off but that had no effect. Then I tried the "just ignore it and go back to sleep approach." *scritching intensifies* *gnawing on plastic begins* WTF!? I am starting to feel a little insane at this point. "OMG THEY"RE CHEWING THEIR WAY INTO MY CAR?!? OH F*CK NO!" I shot up, started my car, drove it around the parking lot (I pictured hundreds of rats flying off the roof of my car), and re parked it, in an effort to scare them off. Andre was probably wondering wtf I was doing- was I driving off and abandoning him at the TH? Even more maddening was the fact that I got out of my car several times with my headlight to try and get an eye on whatever kind of rodent this was. I didn't see any, so of course had the worst image of an ugly snafflehound in my mind. I tried to sleep as I listened to tiny teeth gnawing on plastic on the inside of my doors and trunk. Multiple things were trying to get into my car at once, they were attacking from all angles!
Actual photo of me that night The time is 4:30a. I am exhausted, only having slept two hours, and spent the last 4.5 hours in a cortisol induced frenzy, and I am realizing that we are supposed to set out for our trip in an hour and a half. I try to tell myself, "Well nothing is actually IN the car, sooooo maybe it's ok and I should just calm down." 5 minutes into some meditation at an attempt to self regulate my heightened arousal... "OH F*CK I SEE IT IT"S IN THE CAR NOOOOOO!" I yell as I see this ridiculously cute mouse running out of one of my tote bags next to my head. I try to chase it out of the car with no luck. I say f*ck it and just put my head down anyway, "Ok bet you better not bite me." Then I think about hantavirus. "F*CK ok, actually you have to leave." More efforts towards chasing it out. None successful. Finally my 5:30a alarm goes off and Andre is up. "UHM WTF are you doing????" He asks. "WHAT AM I DOING, WHAT AM I DOING?!?!?" I give him the low down of my sleepless night. Lots of laughter on his end this time. HAHHAHA. We eat breakfast and set out for the trail, I forget what time we ended up leaving, maybe 7 or 7:30 by the time all was said and done? I tried, unsuccessfully, to have the mouse vacate before leaving the car all weekend... "Maybe the hot car will kill it, or it will chew its way out?" I was hopeful. I was tired AF but we were determined to summit all three peaks on Day 1 so we kept a nice pace. The trail to cut over to Oval was a little tricky at the start. There was an orange piece of flagging on a tree with a faint trail that we took, but that trail quickly disappeared. We looked at the GPS which said we needed to be a bit higher so we did some cross country travel to meet back up with the old faint trail leading to Oval lake.
It was hot, and the bugs were already fierce. "Wow that's Oval??" "Not a looker!"
We scoped out which way we wanted to go up the ugly pile of rocks, up and to the left, gain the ridge, then run the ridge to the summit is what we opted for.
Suns out sunscreens on I hit my head on a boulder like an idiot, just ran straight into a slightly overhanging boulder without seeing it (my helmet in my pack) "Guess I should put this thing on eh??" Woops. Always wear a helmet kids!
headin up to the summit Summited and had some snax. The summit beta for Oval is- it is missing a register pen/pencil so bring your own if you want to sign it!
cowabunga Headed down the same way we went, found a slightly different way back to the end of the oval lake trail that met back up with the W Fork Buttermilk trail. On the way heard a very large animal in the bushes which we promptly scared off with some loud sounds of our own. "Maybe it was sasquatch?"
artsy insects
tried to have a nice snack break after meeting back up with the trail but we were giving the mossies a snack so it was short lived Got to Fisher Pass, and eyed that pretty lookin ridge that goes up Star from the pass. "Dude we should do that route sometime!" Walked up Courtney and had some more snax.
Star is a pretty one from this angle
100% sass
pretty views When we got back to the pass we made the call to forgo summiting Star today, and just going to camp. It was really hot and we had been in the sun just about all day. Got to Star Lake and set up camp. I tried to go for a swim in Star Lake but got deterred by these freaky looking things that were crawling around the lake floor. They looked like aquatic creatures made of pine needles. They did not look friendly. Some post climb research revealed they were caddisfly larvae, and were indeed made of pine needles!!! Caddisfly larvae create protective outer shells from found materials, usually very small pebbles, but these ones found pine needles. Little did I know they were harmless, if not still very creepy looking. Oh well, I waded up to my waist, good enough.
Star Lake Andre and I ate dinner while the mossies ate us. I had packed this tasty red Thai curry meal that I made, complete with rice noodles, powdered coconut cream, real red curry paste, fresh cut up veggies... including raw oyster mushrooms... woops. PSA: Raw oyster mushrooms can cause GI distress. Can attest. I dug out the petrified roll of tums (4 yrs old) from the bottom of my first aid kit and chewed the rest of them up.
pretty sunset meadow feels
my first time seeing one of these beauts
Sun 8/4: Star & drive the mouse mobile back to Seattle Went up Star peak the next morning, with a GI distress stop along the way. My stomach was still not feeling great. Found a faint scree trail leading up to the saddle, and then a climber's trail exists up until the boulders near the summit. Made the summit, ate some breaky and headed back down.
Makin our way up Star
a wild woman in her natural habitat, fishin a summit register out of a nalgene. "There's a pencil!" Packed up camp and headed out for the TH... did I mention the mossies were bad?
mossie armor Made it back to the car in the early afternoon. I was curious what kind of damage the mouse and presumably his friends had done to my car... I've heard horror stories about rodents chewing wires and cars not starting... Well the mouse ate some of the food in my trunk, no surprise there... but the car started and I didn't see or hear the mouse anywhere when I looked around so I figured it had gone its own way. My GI distress was still a thing, so as soon as we passed the first gas station I purchased a shiny new bottle of Pepto Bismol and took a few shots. "Shot shot shot shot shot shot shot shots errrrryyyboddaaaaay!" Remember that hit? I also purchased a new roll of tums and set them on my center console. Well after getting back into Seattle and putting all my gear into a heaping pile, showering, etc. I went back out to my car to go get some Ezell's chicken strips cuz hunger... Apparently the mouse was NOT gone, and had a bellyache because it gnawed on my new roll of tums.. "F*CK!" The mouse stress was coming back. My google history shows, "how to get a mouse out of your car," "how to get mouse out of car without killing it" "sticky traps for mice." I found a nice youtube video.. but honestly just felt like the guy in the video was judging me, "Well how'd you get a mouse in there in the first place huh?!"
The mouse eventually left on it's own accord after another day, as evidenced by my french fry test. I left a fry out on the center console overnight, ok mouse: "One gnaw for still here" "Zero gnaws for I'm gone." Next morning- zero gnaws. Sweet. But then a few days later my passenger window fell down while a friend was rolling it down. "Uhm, woops" he said looking at me surprised. I have a sneaky suspicion the mouse sharpened his teeth on the wires of the power window regulator before dipping out. I rolled around town with hello kitty duct tape holding my window sort of shut for a few days. Thankfully a friend installed a new power window regulator for me! Thankful for the low cost car repair homie hookup.
they see me rollin, they hatin... TLDR; the wish slam is easy, everything is a walk up and is straight forward, just watch out for the mice at the TH!

Choss is a girl's best friend
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Brushbuffalo
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PostThu Sep 05, 2019 9:50 pm 
~*CutebutChossy69*~ wrote:
just watch out for the mice at the TH!
Mice are at all the trailheads. At least you didn't have porcupines like at the Bugaboos trailhead!

Passing rocks and trees like they were standing still
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joker
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PostThu Sep 05, 2019 10:14 pm 
Nice bug hieroglyphs. And yeah, mice in your vehicle while camping is such a blast. It's happened a few times now so I keep a couple of traps in my van now, ready to deploy. It's war.

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Sculpin
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PostFri Sep 06, 2019 9:00 am 
Really fun TR, as usual! lol.gif Once on the side of Mt. Rainier, we had rodents climbing up the tent fly, and then - I swear - sliding down. Over and over again. It couldn't be for any reason except fun! vent.gif
~*CutebutChossy69*~ wrote:
PSA: Raw oyster mushrooms can cause GI distress.
Errr...I don't really find oyster mushrooms up high in the mountains. huh.gif They only grow on cottonwood, alder, and a few other closely related deciduous trees. Never seen them on slide alder. Is it possible you mis-identified them? What kind of tree were they growing on?

Between every two pines is a doorway to the new world. - John Muir
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Gimpilator
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PostFri Sep 06, 2019 9:42 am 
Mice have done a lot of damage to my cars over the years. Sometimes they build a nest and become road trip companions. Now I keep all food in hard plastic totes. I always travel with mouse traps, because of haunta. Unfortunately the traps get used a lot. I recently killed 3 mice inside my car in 10 minutes. When I hear a mouse, I grab nut butter as a lure, and it's always dead within 5 minutes.

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~*CutebutChossy69*~
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~*CutebutChossy69*~
bluebagprincess
PostFri Sep 06, 2019 11:39 am 
Yea we had one surprise us in the middle of the night while sleeping at the TH for Lil T earlier this summer... it was running around on the inside of the car roof- some kind of spider man mouse! Def thankful to not have to worry about porcupines at all the THs in WA.

Choss is a girl's best friend
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~*CutebutChossy69*~
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Location: Seattle
~*CutebutChossy69*~
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PostFri Sep 06, 2019 11:40 am 
Sculpin wrote:
Errr...I don't really find oyster mushrooms up high in the mountains. huh.gif
I brought them from home (well from the store if we are being technical) ! Perhaps even a sillier mistake on my end...

Choss is a girl's best friend
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Nancyann
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PostFri Sep 06, 2019 12:22 pm 
Fun trip report to read! Battling mice all night was a tough way to start your trip, but you prevailed! I brought a mouse back from Stevens Pass after leaving my car there for several days. That little bugger was so hard to get rid of, but eventually it moved into my wilderness student’s SUV where it had oh so many more choices. Eventually a mouse trap with peanut butter did it in.

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olderthanIusedtobe
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PostFri Sep 06, 2019 12:39 pm 
Oh yeah, I've definitely had rodents running laps underneath and inside my car in the middle of the night before. Annoying as hell. I've been keeping food in hardsided plastic container for years so they can't get at it. They still come to visit. Several times I've started up the car, driven a mile or two on a bumpy dirt road and parked at a different locale. The bumps seem to shake them loose and I manage to find a mouse free place to spend the night. I'm not sure that I've ever brought one home with me. Yeah, didn't encounter porcupines in the Bugaboos, but I did battle with a pair of them in the middle of the night at a trailhead in Kokanee Glacier Provincial Park. The chicken wire fences didn't stop them, they got underneath my car and another car next to me. I finally chased them off but they were in no hurry to leave.

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Foist
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PostFri Sep 06, 2019 2:23 pm 
Ha, this was way more fun to read than it likely was for you to experience. Also, YOU MUST READ MY TRIP REPORT FROM 2012 ON THE SAME TRAIL. Read the end of the trip report, after the photos. I'll wait. ... I have to say your mouse experience was overall both more damaging and more freaky, but ours wins for most bizarre. More recently I have begun wondering whether cracking windows was to blame. I have had 2 more mouse infiltrations into my car, both at the Boulder Creek Campground near Baker Lake but a full year apart. Both times the mouse (or mice) appeared to be gone but in the meantime had pooped everywhere and torn up things here and there. Not sure what there is to do about it. As a father of small children, bits of food in the car is basically unavoidable.

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olderthanIusedtobe
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PostFri Sep 06, 2019 3:39 pm 
Mice are tiny. Cars aren't airtight. I think it's pretty easy for them to find a way in without having to chew a hole thru anything, don't need an open window.

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Redwic
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PostSat Sep 07, 2019 6:35 pm 
Mouse-vehicle thing happened to me several weeks back, when I was trying to sleep in my vehicle prior to climbing Oval Peak. It was driving me crazy, to the point that I would start the car, drive to the other side of the parking area, take a nap, and then 15-20 minutes later the mice would start clawing around under my vehicle again and restart the cycle. After a while, I ended up just leaving for my hike in the dark, with enough power naps under my belt and timing it just right to hit the abandoned trail around sunrise. Thinking of all the lovely presents the mouse might be bringing to the vehicle, I nicknamed him Hanta Claws. The last time I got annoyed with a mouse crawling around in my vehicle at a trailhead, it was Hidden Lakes Trailhead several years back. After getting back from that trip, apparently the mouse had fallen asleep in the engine compartment, and then by the time I got back to civilization it kept poking its head out the small opening near the windshield. It freaked me out.

60 pounds lighter but not 60 points brighter.
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Brushbuffalo
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PostSat Sep 07, 2019 7:29 pm 
Since we are now recounting our mouse-in- car stories, the most gruesome I have had was when unknown to me a pregnant mouse had built a nest in my heater. When I unknowingly flipped the fan on High, that was the end of the mouse and mouselings.. I will leave the details to your imagination . It was really gross. hurl.gif

Passing rocks and trees like they were standing still
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Downhill
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PostSat Sep 07, 2019 8:14 pm 
Grats on the Bulger bags! I've killed 21 mice in my truck this summer. I won't bore you with the damage reports. I'm currently 2 weeks mouse-free and keeping my fingers crossed that my hunting season is over.

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Michael Lewis
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PostSun Sep 08, 2019 9:41 am 
Quote:
Sweating is better than getting eaten alive. #Relatable

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