Here was Chip as I found him: curled up, cold, appearing to be dead, in the middle of a trail in the Olympics.

Over the next hour, as I held him in my hand, he warmed up and started to move. Here he is nestled in my fleece hat. He’s just a few weeks old ... eyes still closed, very immature.

What to do with a chipmunk on a 15 mile hike? Especially a chipmunk that, now warmed up, is hungry and trying to nurse.

I smashed up some nuts and dried fruit from my trail mix, mixed it with water, and fed it to the eager baby with a syringe from my first aid kit.

Needing my hands free for the hike, I found the perfect spot for Chip ... I emptied the water from my Nalgene bottle, put the fleece hat in the bottom to make a nice bed, and snuggled him inside. He had a good view of the rest of the hike, though it was a bit tinted ...

Back home, he gets his first real meal of chipmunk-appropriate formula.

In less than a week, his eyes are open!

As the days go by, he gets more and more mature.

He’s eating a variety of foods now, in addition to his formula. He’s also graduated to a bigger cage, and loves running back and forth from one compartment to the other.

He loves pockets.

A few weeks later .... it’s time to expand his cage.

This is a triple decker cage, with three nest-boxes, and it’s connected via plastic tubes to more cages. Lots of room to explore!

Based on where I found him (approx. 6000 ft elevation in the Olympics), I’m guessing he’s an Olympic chipmunk (a subspecies of the yellow pine chipmunk (Tamias amoenus caurinus).

Sitting on my shoulder, enjoying a blueberry.

He doesn’t care for the skin, so he carefully peels the skin off and just eats the pulp inside.

Sometimes he hides treasures inside my pockets ....

.... to enjoy later