Rookie Mistake – Trekking Pole Placement

“Ouh ouh ouh!” The noise was loud; it sounded like a caw, but more like a monkey. It was 2:15 am. It was right by my head outside of our tent 10 miles into the Teton backcountry.

It was night one of our three-night, four day trek around the backside of the Tetons. So far we had made it down death canyon, a very fitting name for this never ending valley. Just when you thought you were “there” you realized it kept going.

There’s an element of risk when it comes to backpacking, but with good preparation the likelihood of an adverse event is minimal. The fear I felt at 2:15 that morning was like nothing I have ever felt before. Did I think I was going to die? No, I was safe in my tent. But the element of not knowing is far more paralyzing in the backcountry. What was outside our tent?

My husband assured me it was probably just a raccoon. This was not calming because I know raccoons don’t live at 10,000 feet. I believe my exact response in the dark was, “You’re saying that to make me feel better. It’s a bear and you just won’t admit it.”

Every backpackers worst nightmare is a bear, especially a grizzly. Thankfully the Tetons don’t have as many as Glacier National park but it’s something I personally never want to experience while backpacking. Human vs Bear… yeah it never ends well.

Despite my running mind, I somehow managed to fall asleep. My husband did not and listened to whatever it was run around our tent “ouh ouh ouhing..” and then the clang of our trekking poles.

Morning greeted us with sun, a moose sighting across the way and as we took account of our campsite we noticed our trekking poles, or what was left of them. They were still usable but a few were lacking in the cork/strap area. I unfortunately had to agree with my husband at this point that whatever it was, it probably wasn’t a bear. We made the mistake in leaving our poles out thinking, “there’s no edible part of a trekking pole.”

So, what animal was responsible for our trekking pole casualty? It didn’t take too long to find out as we ran into some hikers having lunch in the Alaska Basin. I explained our encounter. A Teton back country regular, a lady in her 50’s, smiles at me and asks, “Where you in death canyon?” Surprised I responded, “Yeah that’s exactly where we stayed last night.”

She started laughing, “Well that’s the porcupine! He loves visitors! In fact he ate my shoes last season!”

We missed that the cork on our trekking poles holds a yummy substance all animals like, salt. In retrospect the fact that he stayed outside the tent and we avoided any quills made it an accepting battle.

Porcupine: 1 Me: 0

Rookie Lesson learned: keep everything in your tent in the backcountry (or if it’s food far away from your tent). Even trekking poles!