October Mtn Porcupine
M:8.8; C=1530.1
Short hike today. The October Mountain shelter register warned of porcupines. Boot-eaters, they are -- after the salt from the dried sweat. I didn't know they could climb trees. If they could climb this, they could get to the loft in the shelter. Bad enough to need to hang food bags, now we're hanging boots, too. The critters had knawed large holes into the picnic table and munched booby traps into the handles of the loft ladder. Amazing.
During dinner, a baby porky eased up a tree next to us and set about to make a meal of the sapling supper he had chosen. Or she. I tented out.
Just after dark, I heard them, squeezing between the tent fly and the shelter, quills raking against the fabric. No rips. Porkies chatter, too. Didn't know that about them. Chattering and chewing. Then the guys in the shelter started tossing boots, wild aim in the dark. Porcupines: 2, Hikers: 0.