[pct-l] Newbie - 'alone in the dark' freak outs on the trail

[CHUCK CHELIN]

Good morning, Anne,

Many of us, myself included, got past most of the fears when first
“camping-out” as an 11-year-old Boy Scout.  Kids have an advantage:  Even
though they have active imaginations, they can’t see very far in the future.
When they wake up alive after a scary night they think that nothing will
ever happen to them.  Adults have the ability to foresee all manner of
potential difficulties, so it’s worse for them at night.

The good thing is, people are likely to worry about only two or three
things at a time.  As a few big worries are encountered, some really inane
crap just drops off the radar.  Why worry about that little scitching sound
out in the dry leaves when there’s a hot-spot developing on my heal that
may turn into a blister at just the wrong time?  Why worry about the
0.0001% chance of seeing a cougar when the water in the ‘platy is low and
it’s still 12 miles to the spring?  Why worry that the flashlight will only
illuminate the first 30 yards around the bed when there’s a distinct rumble
in the exhaust system that suggest giardia?  Why worry about “the
boogey-man” when tomorrow I’ll have to increase the pace considerably to
arrive at the resupply point in time to pick up my box?  Why should I worry
about “…goulies and ghosties and long-legged beasties and things that go
bump in the night...” when right now I’m so damn tired from today’s climb
that I just don’t care what they might do to me?

Proximity to others at night helps, but I’ve seen big, strong, adult
soldiers from the city turn into sniveling, thumb-sucking, whiners as night
approached on their first bivouac; regardless that there may have been 300
others camped in the same immediate area.

I like to camp alone, under the stars, and in the brief period before I
sleep I listen to the night-sounds and try to figure out what they might be.
In the still of the night, a field mouse sounds like a  deer, and a single
little deer sounds like a whole heard of elk.

Once I was camped with someone who kept waking me up saying, “I hear
something! I think there’s a bear out there.”  Finally I replied, “Don’t
worry about it.  Bears have big, soft, fuzzy feet.  If there was a bear out
there you wouldn’t hear a thing.”  Bad idea.  From then on it was, “I don’t
hear anything; there must a bear out there!”

Sasquatch is an entirely different matter.  See:
http://www.trailjournals.com/entry.cfm?id=167914

One thing I do that helps is to remember this:  Every night before the
Boogey-Man goes to sleep he checks under his bed to be sure that Chuck
Norris isn’t waiting under there to get him; and every night before Chuck
Norris goes to sleep he checks under HIS bed to be sure that I’m not under
there waiting to get HIM.

Last of all, don’t believe everything you think.

Enjoy your planning,

Steel-Eye

-Hiking the Pct since before it was the PCT – 1965

http://www.trailjournals.com/steel-eye

http://www.trailjournals.com/SteelEye09/


On Tue, Jul 10, 2012 at 1:42 AM, Anne Estoppey <anne_estoppey at yahoo.com>wrote:

> Hello everybody
>
> Another newbie question from me, I am afraid.
>
> I have been field working, and camping and such, but it was always with
> people, or at least in some sort of campground with a few people. Planning
> to hike PCT in 2013 (thru-hike or sections) I know I will be facing the
> 'alone in the dark' overnight on the trail. Well, errr, yes although I am
> old enough, I feel unconfortable to camp alone, and I admit that I even
> freak out a little bit. I know it is silly, and the experienced hikers out
> there are definitely allowed to have a cheap laugh ;-)
>
> Nevertheless, what are your experiences (when you were still a newbie)
> with coping with possible 'night freakouts'?
> How did you deal with this? Was it quickly a solved problem because one is
> so tired that you just sleep and that's it? Shall I bring a little teady
> bear with me? Or a little glow in the dark thingie? Are they some 'hiker
> tricks' that I dont know about yet?
>
> Thanks in advance for any answers :-)
> Anne
>