What are your fears while hiking?

[WILLIAM HAYES]

nothing really scares me on the trail but the big city that is a whole different thing

[Snowleopard]

"widow makers"

good tent site selection skills help this. but sometimes **** happens. falling anything is generally bad. there have been a few people killed in the past few years by falling trees, logs, boulders.....

Lots of widow makers from the December ice storm. Be very careful in your hammock/tent/tarp site selection. Central and Western Mass and southern NH and VT have some patches where all trees are broken. Look up!

[max patch]

I have this image of coming across a hiker in VA laughing like a hyena with both hands deep into cow piles as he smears them on every rock in sight. Very disturbing.

[ShelterLeopard]

I think there's a hiker like that inside of all of us... You see a pile of cow manure and what can you do but cackle and make cave paintings with it?

[toegem]

I think there's a hiker like that inside of all of us... You see a pile of cow manure and what can you do but cackle and make cave paintings with it?

Years back I would have sat and watched it to see what sprouts YMMV.

[mudhead]

Anyone have a good idea how to clean oily vinaigrette off the gaps of a keyboard?

[mudhead]

I still don't like leeches. Medical or not.

[saimyoji]

a little ginger-soy marinade and grilled.....hmmmmmm....leaches

[CowHead]

Warraghiyagey and

My only fears of the trail

[BR360]

Depending on the intensity and proximity of the impending doom, I have either a distant awareness of, a healthy respect for, some anxiety about, actual fear of, or perhaps mortal panic about:

• lightning
• bees and bee sting
• widowmakers at night
• psychos and aggressive drunks
• corrupt LEO's
• ticks & the diseases they carry
• large omnivores and carnivores full of fang and claw
• food poisoning
• snakes

Most of the time there's nothing to worry about. Why worry?! Be happy!

[Homer&Marje]

After reading the thread about the hiker who died in the Grand Canyon, I reflected on my greatest concerns while hiking. I concluded that there are really only three:

Dehydration -- A lot of the places I hike are hot and dry. Making sure I have enough water is always near the top of my list of concerns.

Falling -- Perhaps it is because I took a nasty fall a few years ago, but I often think about how long it will take to be found if I take a fall off the edge of the trail.

Hypothermia -- I don't hike a lot in the winter, but start early in the spring and into the fall. I pay attention to staying warm and dry.

What are your fears when hiking?

Not hiking. All other risks considered, and obliged.

[Egads]

Depending on the intensity and proximity of the impending doom, I have either a distant awareness of, a healthy respect for, some anxiety about, actual fear of, or perhaps mortal panic about:

• lightning
• bees and bee sting
• widowmakers at night
• psychos and aggressive drunks
• corrupt LEO's
• ticks & the diseases they carry
• large omnivores and carnivores full of fang and claw
• food poisoning
• snakes

Most of the time there's nothing to worry about. Why worry?! Be happy!

Sums it up. Thread is done.

[Chaco Taco]

Have you had your pack stolen before?

No but have known people to get their pack stolen and it sucks

[Jonnycat]

My biggest fear is getting captured by a bigfoot and dragged off to some remote cave to be entertainment for their family.

Also, insomnia. I hate waking up tired in a tent.

[birdog]

Fear is the mind killer. There are lots of ways to become sick or injured on the trail; even little weekend bunny hops are potentially life threatening. Fortune favors the prepared mind. Do your homework, stay in shape, dont take foolish risks, and remember to have fun.

[Tipi Walter]

I know this doesn't happen all too often, but venemous snake bites. Typically I spend most of the time watching my footing to avoid injury and not watching what might be laying on the trail ahead. What do you do if you get bitten, there's no cell reception, no one is around to help you, and you are not within a mile of a town? What do you do? What DO you DO?

I almost stepped on one last year. He was hard to see. Fortunately, I heard his rattle and jumped back just as he struck.

Over the years I've made up a list of "Things That Can Kill You In The Woods", and it's a short list: Lightning, falling trees and rattlesnake bites(oh, and natural causes like heart attack--stroke, etc). It's good to have a healthy set of eyeballs when backpacking thru rattlesnake country.

One of my biggest fears...completing a hike and arriving back at my vehicle to find it vandalized. Oh yeah...and it's getting dark, the parking area is empty, and you have to walk 6 more miles down a forest service road to arrive at a lonely country road. Then you have to hitch 10 more miles into a town.

This is a common fear for me when I pull my 10-14 day trips, and I hate worrying about my car sitting somewhere the whole time, so I usually have my GF drop me off and we plan an evac date.

"widow makers"


good tent site selection skills help this. but sometimes **** happens. falling anything is generally bad. there have been a few people killed in the past few years by falling trees, logs, boulders.....

Widow makers. Limbs and sometimes trees that come down without warning. I've seen and given aid to someone that was hit by a tree that fell for no apparent reason. He died, chest "flailed" was the ER's description. I've been hit by a dead limb falling and rotten wood and a hard head were all that saved me.

ATV's are letting people who wouldn't have gotten to more remote places 10 or 20 years ago show up in places they couldn't possibly get to on foot. That's probably the most dangerous thing in the woods, a drunk dude on a 4 wheeler.

I gotta second the "widow-maker" thing. I remember one night, back in the 70s, spent up on Mt. Sterling in the GSMNP, with the wind howling and deadfalls all around. I've done some tree work, living in the middle of acres of trees, but the the worst I've been hurt was cutting down a half-rotten tree for a friend. The top broke off and slid down the remaining trunk, slamming into my jaw. It knocked me backwards several feet and cut my gum tissue down to the bone. I have a lot of respect for trees...

I was in a North Face dome tent on Marys Rock on the AT in Shenandoah when a dead snag fell onto the tent at night in a howling March windstorm. Luckily, I just stepped out to do some yoga. The thing crushed a side of the tent, broke a pole and ripped the fly. Praise Buddha, yoga saved my life. Another time I was in Pisgah when a massive old limb fell right next to my tent and it spooked me.

Lightning is definitely it for me. Worked on too many rooftops in storms. Gives you a healthy respect for the strength of Mother Nature.

I always worry about sudden lightning storms when I set up on open balds. And I usually go thru the whole litany of pleadings to just let me live thru the night w/o getting fried and if I do I'll give away everything I own and wander as a monk, etc.

Lots of widow makers from the December ice storm. Be very careful in your hammock/tent/tarp site selection. Central and Western Mass and southern NH and VT have some patches where all trees are broken. Look up!

Backpacking thru NC and TN in the upcoming years will be a challenge as all the towering old hemlocks are now dead and soon they will begin to fall, especially during winter ice and wind storms.

[superman]

I think y'all think too much.

[Frick Frack]

I think y'all think too much.

I think you are right Superman......

[Homer&Marje]

I know I don't think enough

[10-K]

Speaking of widowmakers, when I was hiking through PA last month a huge branch fell out of a tree and hit the trail about 10 feet in front of me. Scared the crap out of me.... If I had been just a few steps ahead of where I was I might very well have been seriously injured.

Not much you can do to prevent things like that.....