[pct-l] Fear of the dark

[Scott Williams]

Great post Eric.  I love the night sounds.  After a long time on trail,
they are supremely reassuring.  Ah, it's night and I'm safe in the woods.
 I never felt that way in cities.

Shroomer

On Thu, Feb 7, 2013 at 1:59 PM, Eric Lee <saintgimp at hotmail.com> wrote:

> C wrote:
> >
> I'm seriously scared to death of the dark and the fact that there are
> animals that could rock my world...I hear a lot about protecting the bears
> but anyone have a fool proof way of not having bear encounters...so i got
> get messed with...i havent really been camping so where do i hide...how
> much
> smell is too much...i heard some people bring firecrackers?  Really??
> >
>
> You could remind yourself that the statistics are very much on your side.
> The continental US averages less than one (!) fatality per year due to
> bears.  Compare that to the ~20 per year due to domestic dogs, ~30 due to
> lightning, ~50 per year due to bees, or the ~32,000 fatalities per year due
> to automobiles.  In terms of objective risk, bears are way, way, *WAY* down
> on the list of bad things that could happen to you.  Black bears in the
> continental US are usually very shy animals and prefer to avoid
> confrontation.  You have to go seriously out of your way to provoke a black
> bear enough to be dangerous.  (There are extremely rare exceptions, like
> there are with everything, but they're so rare they don't matter in any
> practical way.  Grizzly bears are a separate issue, but you don't have to
> deal with them on the PCT.)
>
> But numbers don't really matter when you're lying there in the dark, do
> they?  We humans are notoriously poor judges of absolute risk.  We'll
> cheerfully hurdle down a two-lane highway at 70 miles an hour, missing
> oncoming traffic by mere feet, implicitly trusting that the other guy isn't
> going to sneeze at the wrong moment . . . then twitch at every little sound
> when we're safely on the trail and away from those death-trap machines.
> We're way too comfortable with familiar risks (even if they're actually
> quite dangerous) and way too terrified of unfamiliar risks (even if they're
> really quite benign).
>
> So knowing that, the best thing you can do is practice.  I'm not naturally
> comfortable with the dark myself, but living in Seattle and having a
> full-time job and family, most of my training hikes this time of year occur
> in the dark.  Over time I've slowly gotten more accustomed to the dark and
> these days, while I can't say that I really enjoy the night, I'm ok with
> it.
>
> Try going out to a trail (or park, or whatever is practical for you) around
> dusk, find a comfortable place to sit, and just let the darkness fall
> around
> you.  Listen to the natural nighttime noises, enjoy the smells, and
> discover
> how much you can actually see once your eyes adjust.  If you practice that
> awhile you'll be more familiar with the dark and your fear will subside.
>  If
> we can't conquer our stupid irrational risk assessment circuitry, at least
> we can make it work in our favor.  :-)
>
> Eric
>
>
>
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