[pct-l] Animal attacks

[Pea Hicks]

thought i'd chime in on this subject...

one of the dumb jokes i tell the pct hikers i host here at my house in 
san diego, when they ask about rattlesnakes/scorpions/cougars/etc, is 
that the REAL ravenous beast that must be feared is the Dreaded 
Water-gone-a-mus!! it sneaks up on your just as you're gulping down your 
last drop of water on a 100 degree day, 6 miles till the next water 
source... BEWARE! :)

coyotes are not a realistic threat. although i do have a coyote story 
from my pct thru-hike. i was cowboy camped camped on a saddle about a 
day or so south of big bear, and in the middle of the night i started to 
hear a pack of coyotes yapping away in the distance. the sound kept 
getting closer and closer until they had surrounded me very closely, and 
were just making all kinds of racket. i shined my headlamp at them and 
saw little sets of eyes light up all around me. they were *really* loud! 
i had a package of salami with me and i figured that's what they were 
after. but once they saw me they never came closer than about 30 feet or 
so. eventually they just moved along. it was definitely unnerving, but 
at no time did i fear for my safety.

as far as rattlesnakes go, you'll see alot of them, but as long as 
you're attentive to where you're stepping, it's very unlikely that 
you'll have a problem. i've never heard of any pct hiker getting bit by 
a rattler.

scorpions are way over-rated. you MAY see one, but i think most pct 
hikers never do. i've never heard of a pct hiker getting stung by one, 
but my understanding is that with the kinds we have out here, it's 
likely to be little worse than a bee sting.

i really enjoy night-hiking in the desert, especially when there's 
enough moon to not have to use your headlamp. even just a quarter moon 
is often all you need to see the landscape quite clearly. that being 
said, if you're sobo, and not hitting the desert until oct/nov, the 
desert temps will be much more reasonable then, so you really won't have 
to night-hike as much as in the late spring.

hope this helps

girlscout