[pct-l] Safety on the trail

[Diane Soini of Santa Barbara Hikes]

I hiked solo pretty much the entire way, nobody to talk to. Sometimes  
I didn't even see other hikers for days because I was way out in  
front of the pack for half my adventure.

I got used to living out there. It became normal to me and things  
like walls and cars became strange and foreign to me.

I felt comfortable sitting right on the ground in the dirt. The water  
in the streams and creeks was better and cleaner to drink than from  
faucets.

I felt like cars made short distances seem far and long distances  
seem short and they went WAY too fast. I'd be holding on to the arm  
rest with dear life and we'd be going 35 mph or something ridiculous.

The hardest thing to get used to when I returned to ordinary life was  
not talking to people you passed on the street. They'd think I was  
weird. We wouldn't know the same people. On the trail, everybody  
always knew someone I knew if they didn't already know who I was and  
we'd stop and talk for a long time. It seemed so unfriendly to just  
walk by without even looking at the other person. It was a strange  
adjustment.

Out there is not like anything your "you gotta have protection"  
friends and family think it is. It's not like what you read in books  
where people are conquering nature, climbing mountains, conquering  
their fears, dominating, winning, striving, being eaten alive, dying  
of starvation in buses. You are walking. It's quiet. Everything is  
really pretty. You only hear birds and wind and creeks, sometimes  
scary thundering ones, sometimes ones that sing with voices at night.  
You conquer a lot of fears but most of them are in your head and you  
have to conquer them with acceptance not force.

I became like a little secret wood nymph, my place was the forest, I  
peered behind trees at this strange world of cars and machines and  
people who talked really loud to each other and smelled horrible and  
never gave me food as often as I hoped. I'd look at it all like an  
outsider, then fade back into the trees where I belonged and felt at  
home again.

I had a personal rule: Try never to camp within 5 miles of a road. 10  
miles was better if it was a popular backpacking location. You'd see  
absolutely nobody except other thru hikers after the first 5-10  
miles. I broke this rule on the night before town though. I always  
liked to be able to into town in time for a big breakfast. A big  
breakfast was a joy of civilization that had the strongest hold on me.

On Feb 6, 2013, at 10:00 AM, pct-l-request at backcountry.net wrote:

> From: Dan Jacobs <youroldpaldan at gmail.com>
> Subject: Re: [pct-l] Safety on the trail
>
> Head outside away from civilization and leave fear at home. Embrace
> the difference that is unique to an experience in the wild and learn
> how to live peacefully with the natural world that is no more a threat
> to you than you are to yourself. Just keep your wits about you, and
> learn from experience. There is no need for fear in the wild. You'll
> miss the difference when you get back home.
>
> Dan Jacobs
> Washougal