Trevor writes....................
Spanish foxes – at least in the Sierra Nevada – are not like English foxes. If you are camping out, they will come at night to take your food. They put their heads under the side of your tent and grab anything they can find. If it is not food, it will be discarded nearby. If it is, you will not see it again.
My small, fox-friendly tent
I spent four nights camping in and near Cerro de Caballo. I received a visit each night, usually three or four visits. I had been forewarned; so I put almost everything into my pack. I closed the flap securely and attached a cord to the pack and the few items left out – my boots, blow-up pillow and a trekking pole – and tied the other end of the cord to the zip of my sleeping bag. When the fox tried to take anything, I would wake up and chase him off with the trekking pole. Often we had a tug of war over the pack.
On one occasion, I tried to be too clever. I left my pen knife out (open) so I could defend myself if the fox turned nasty. Then I thought he might run away with it. So I took the cord attached to the knife and looped it round the other trekking pole, which served as a tent pole. The fox came, saw the knife and ran off with it: he pulled the pole down, the tent collapsed and the rain came in. Not one of my best moves.
Below Cerro del Caballo
In the end, however, I came out on top. Although he ripped the outside pocket of my worn and frayed light-weight pack, I never lost anything. In fact, I became quite fond of him. On my last night, he did not come until about 5 a.m. and I began to worry that something might have happened to him.
Unless you stay in a fox-proof hut, you have to accept fox raids as a natural part of the Sierra Nevada. You must learn to live with them. Don’t try zipping up your tent to keep him out. He will just claw his way in and leave your tent in tatters. Let him come in and see there is nothing to take. Tie your pack to yourself so he can’t pull it out of the tent. Accept that you will be woken up and don’t let it worry you. He is unlikely to hurt you. Be grateful you are not camping in bear country. If you are careful, you will not lose anything of value.
Trevor Hartley - June 2011