Hey Hey,

I just finished a short, solo (my first - woot!), section hike from Woody Gap to Unicoi Gap in GA. Whilst camping at Low Gap Shelter mice ate through my food bag EVEN.THOUGH it was correctly hung up on the bear cables. Funnily enough, there are 2 sets of cables and I noticed there was a piece missing from one of them (one of the spinny-noodle-things between the tree and the metal disk on the highest cable) and moved my bag to the other set that looked intact. And still there was a hole in the morning, and gnawings through my ziploc bag and into my breakfast cereal. The cheek!

So, 2 questions:
1) Fortunately it was my last day and it didn't matter if I didn't eat what I had planned for b'fast as I had plenty of other food to choose from. But it made me think: if this was day 1 of a 5 day hike, could I still eat the food that a mouse had nibbled at? Or does the whole lot need throwing away? What mousey-diseases would I be risking if I did eat the food? Or maybe I'm overthinking this?

2) What are we supposed to do when the mini-bears learn to outsmart the cables? Are bear canisters and kevlar bags (like Ursack Minor) our only option?