[pct-l] End of Earth in 2012

[CHUCK CHELIN]

“Our doubts are traitors, and make us lose the good we oft might win by
fearing to attempt.”
-William Shakespeare, Measure for Measure, 1603



On Wed, Nov 4, 2009 at 9:39 PM, Diane at Santa Barbara Hikes dot com <
diane at santabarbarahikes.com> wrote:

> Here's an example of how all the fear mongering ends up being mostly
> hype:
>
> You hear all kinds of dire warnings about the snow on Apache peak.
> Should you carry an ice axe or crampons? People weigh in with all
> kinds of warnings about the dangers of snow travel, they argue back
> and forth about crampons and ice axes, maybe a heated argument flares
> up about how unprepared ultralight hikers are, yadda yadda.
>
> Meanwhile, you're just out there hiking. Snow appears on the trail.
> There's one spot that is a little scary. You carefully place each
> step and use your trekking poles for balance. You breathe a sigh of
> relief on the other side and continue on your merry way. That was it.
>
> Over and over again with every new thing you get the hype and then
> the reality. Sure the log over the Suiattle river is scary. I hiked
> for months with the fear of it in the back of my mind. I met a guy on
> the trail who was driven to complete perseveration and mental illness
> over it. He was coming up with all kinds of crazy schemes for how to
> deal with it. Good old PCT Mom snapped him out of it by telling him
> to stop being a wimp, if a 10 year old girl could do it, he certainly
> could. Knowing that 10 year old girls can do back flips on balance
> beams while I can barely stand up straight, I simply told myself if I
> didn't like it, I could always wimp out and turn back.
>
> When I got there, I stepped out on the log and carefully placed each
> step, using my trekking poles for balance. At the end of the log, I
> leaped to shore and breathed a sigh of relief. Then I continued on my
> merry way. That was it.
>
> All of it is like this.
>
> So yeah, use your head but don't succumb to the fear. It really is
> all hype.
>
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