[pct-l] safety on the pct

[Slyatpct at aol.com]

That's a keeper!  
 
Jana,  You'll want to print out the recent posts and show your  mom.  It's 
also time to start putting your foot down, but in a respectful  way, of course.  
I suggest you have her watch some DVD's or journals.   Well, maybe not...  ; )
 
Get out there, you'll have a great time.  Best of luck.
 
Sly
 
 
In a message dated 1/11/2008 7:01:37 PM Eastern Standard Time,  
dsaufley at sprynet.com writes:

I am  both a woman who likes to hike alone and a mother of a  20-something
son.  I hate to tell you this, but there is probably  nothing you can say to
your mother that will make her feel that it is safe  out on the trail.  This
is especially true in light of the recent and  horrific news regarding a
female hiker's death at the hands of someone who  looked like another hiker.
The usual reassurances of how wonderful and  supportive other hikers and
hosts are probably won't appease her fears  right now.  

Most of us fear that which we don't know. I'm going  to guess from your
question that your mother does not have much, if any,  backcountry hiking
experience, so her fear of all the things that might  happen are playing bit
in her mind. It doesn't matter that tens of  thousands of women hike every
year with great success and enjoyment; if  you've never done it, you fear
every remote and infinitesimally small  possibility ranging from bear and
snake attacks to falling off cliffs, to  criminals hiding behind every tree. 

The truth is more women are  abducted, raped, and murdered from grocery store
and mall parking lots than  killed on hiking trails. Driving our cars is
probably the most dangerous  thing we do, yet most of us drive every day.
Absolutely no where is safe  from peril -- not schools, our workplaces, or
the public places and  businesses we frequent. The very food we eat is
suspect and kills people  every day (some slowly, some quickly).  Our lives
are full of risk;  you can either wall yourself in and live in fear, or take
the risks head on  and live a personally fulfilling life.

A true story that illustrates  this well is that my mother's best childhood
friend was killed while she  and her baby son were napping at home one
afternoon.  A small  passenger plane crashed into her house, killing her and
the pilot. It is a  story that has stayed with me and shaped my life, and I
think of it every  time I confront something I fear and put an end to the
fearfulness.   There is nothing more empowering than conquering the demon  of
fear.

In this country we only believe that we're safe, but our  sense of safety is
false. In many other countries they live with the  knowledge that they are
not safe.  We usually feel the things we know  best are the safest -- like
going to school or church.  But you only  have to read the news to know that
the possibility of someone going berserk  on a murderous rampage is possible
anywhere, in the places we feel safest.  

Not one of us gets out of here alive, and none of us know with  certainty
where we will be or when the hour will come.  So, if your  mom let you drive
a car, fly in a plane, or go off to college, she has  already accepted many
possible risks with regard to your perceived safety.  Hiking on the PCT or
any trail is no different than any of those events.  Maybe you can invite her
along with you, so that she herself can see that  in many ways we are safer
on the trail than anywhere in  civilization.

I wish you luck in convincing her.

L-Rod 


 



**************Start the year off right.  Easy ways to stay in shape.     
http://body.aol.com/fitness/winter-exercise?NCID=aolcmp00300000002489
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://mailman.backcountry.net/pipermail/pct-l/attachments/20080111/08d4a043/attachment.html