[pct-l] your experiences with fear on the trail

[Jim & Jane Moody]

What a coincidence!  Shroomer's exper iences sound just like mine.  ...  Oh, wait a mi nute.  I was there, part of the Team.  He described it much better than I ever could, anyway. 



Mango 



----- Original Message -----


From: "Scott Williams" <baidarker at gmail.com> 
To: "Sir Mixalot" <atetuna at gmail.com> 
Cc: pct-l at backcountry.net, p-gottschalk at comcast.net 
Sent: Thursday, December 29, 2011 10:47:13 AM 
Subject: Re: [pct-l] your experiences with fear on the trail 

Stream crossing in the High Sierra in a heavy melt off was consistently the 
scariest in 2010.  Some of those were the deciding moment for a number of 
folks who jumped forward rather than risk another.  We had a committed 
group of 5 who stayed together over the High Sierra and helped each other 
across, sometimes making human chains anchored to a tree or rock on the far 
shore.  Frightening, and in fact plenty dangerous, we did our best to hunt 
up relatively safe crossings, and attempted the worst crossings in the 
morning when the water level was much lower than later in the day. 

The other was following Smiles as she stomped new track up the face of 
Mather Pass (so scary I got no pictures of this ascent) and then we hoisted 
her over the rim of the cornice where she anchored herself back a ways with 
an ice axe and hauled me over.  We then anchored the axe back even further, 
lay on the cornice, again making a human chain out to the edge, and then 
hauled the rest of the bunch over the edge.  It was imperative that we 
spread our weight and move it back from the edge as a cornice collapse 
might have killed us. 

We got to know folks in the desert and were able to choose those we trusted 
due to experience and displays of good judgement, and banded together at 
Lone Pine, and promised to stay together until Sonora Pass.  For us, 
banding together was one of the best decisions any of us made all summer, 
and turned the hardest and most dangerous stretch of trail into the most 
fun, most rewarding of the entire hike. 

Shroomer 

On Thu, Dec 29, 2011 at 12:57 AM, Sir Mixalot <atetuna at gmail.com> wrote: 

> Near the end of Section A I had a young cougar visit within 15 feet 
> frequently while I cowboy camped solo.  I was plenty scared, but by 2 AM I 
> said "eff it" and went to sleep.  I walked out very quickly the next 
> morning. 
> 
> I learned not to put my food bag on a boulder less than 15 feet from where 
> I'm sleeping.  Fortunately I was using an Ursack.  Now I always put it MUCH 
> further away and tie it to something. 
> 
> I also got scared at Warner Springs during the Easter Earthquake.  I wasn't 
> if the cabin was adobe.  Adobe doesn't work well in a strong quake.  I'm 
> from California, so I was already moving towards the door while I was 
> thinking about the construction of the cabin....and yelling at my hiking 
> buddy that was trying to get dressed! 
> 
> On Tue, Dec 27, 2011 at 6:53 PM, <p-gottschalk at comcast.net> wrote: 
> 
> > Would you share with us where and how you felt fear on the trail? 
> > As a newbie I'm very appreciative of this forum. Thank you so much. 
> > Paul 
> > 
> > 
> > 
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