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

[Kathi]

I had that happen to me when I was a girl scout leader. It wasn't in my 
sleeping bag, it was under it. I woke up and felt something funny, 
lifted my sleeping bag and their was a rattler. Yikes! It didn't bite me 
but it was coiled and ready for business. I also stuck my face about 5 
inches from a rattler once that was in my shower when I was at girl 
scout camp. I have very bad eyesight without my glasses and saw a lump 
in the corner which I thought was a towel someone left crumpled up in 
the corner of the shower. I got real close to see what it was and was 
reaching to pick up what I thought was a towel when I saw that it was a 
HUGE rattler! Fortunately it was sleeping or something and I jumped back 
and ran out of the shower and got the shovel to remove it. It was 
definitely alive so I was lucky it wasn't in a striking type of a mood. 
I've had many more experiences with rattle snakes and fortunately have 
never been bitten. Funny thing is I still am not afraid of snakes. I 
respect them, but I am not afraid of them. I think those experiences 
being so close with nothing happening and kind of observing their 
reactions and defenses has made me more understanding of what they 
"generally" do when feeling threatened.

Have a great day!
Kathi "Puddles"

On 7/10/12 9:43 AM, Mark Liechty wrote:
> On Jul 10, 2012, at 9:29 AM, CHUCK CHELIN wrote:
>> Many of us, myself included, got past most of the fears when first  “camping-out” as an 11-year-old Boy Scout.
> ######
>
> And that, my friends, is where I first learned to be afraid of Snakes crawling into my sleeping bag.    A old Scout leader once woke up with a rattlesnake in his sleeping bag.   It bit him and he survived but the story lives on and on and on.
>
>
> Mark "Blankie" Liechty
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Pct-L mailing list
> Pct-L at backcountry.net
> To unsubcribe, or change options visit:
> http://mailman.backcountry.net/mailman/listinfo/pct-l
>
> List Archives:
> http://mailman.backcountry.net/pipermail/pct-l/
> All content is copyrighted by the respective authors.
> Reproduction is prohibited without express permission.
>