In mid Oktober, it was time for our annual autumn hike with Emmi, Henrik and Lisa. This time we headed for Nuuksio National Park, not far from home, simply for not having to sit in the car for so long. Our plan was to stay for two nights. The focus was on good food and enjoyment. Besides the usual breakfast we had packed pork fillet, vegetables, sausages and ingredients for hot sandwiches in our backpacks.

On Friday, we arrived quite late to Nuuksio. We left our car in Solvalla, where we threw our bags on our backs and walked away to the east. We had aimed to hit up camp at Urja or Valkialampi. After an hour of hiking the sun set down, and our walk turned into night orienteering. After wandering through rough bushes and shrubs, hills and valleys we found the first campsites. There was a full house, and we decided to go ahead. At Kattilajärvi we finally found an empty fireplace. In the darkness it was still pretty challenging to find the perfect tent place in the bumpy terrain. The dinner, or rather supper,  was the big program number for the evening. Another program number was the little mouse that ran around our tents, but even at that stage we did not know how much attention the mouse would finally get…

At breakfast the next morning, Emmi claimed that something had chewed on the cheese container. The rest of us were convinced that the chewing marks were not caused by any rodent or any animal in general. The food had been inside a closed backpack for the whole night! Well, this will continue later … Sadly… So read on!

We wandered off against Luukkaa area and took a lunch break at Kaitalampi west side. We went ahead and rounded the lake from the north and camped at a fireplace by the eastern shore. The tents we pitched on a hill with a nice view over the lake. We spent the evening  cooking hot sandwiches and grilled sausages. Then it was time to seek out the sleeping bags for the night.

04:50 a.m. it happened! There was a hard rustling in our vestibule! Drowsy, we tried to find out the origin for the rustle. When we opened the zipper to the vestibule it went quiet, and when we put our heads back on our pillows the mysterious rustle started again. We woke even our tent neighbours when our detective maneuvers became too loud. But in the end we got the culprit in the act! A mouse was standing in the spotlight of the headlamp on my backpack! We started to check our bags, and it was at that moment we noticed the devastation! The mouse had gotten into Lisa’s backpack through an opening with velcro and then chewed through a thick waterproof bag! The mouse had found our breakfast bread and it was like someone had taken a mega bite from each slice of the bread! The whole bread package flew out of the tent, and in the end we managed to sleep undisturbed the rest of the night.

In the morning we ate breakfast without any bread … Only cold cuts and porridge … It had clearly been a mouse also the first night when someone had chewed on the cheese container. What we do not know, is if it had been the same mouse that had traveled around in some of our backpack?  This was the first time I experienced an animal thief on a hike. Maybe I should be more hawk-eyed next time!