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

[Diane Soini of Santa Barbara Hikes]

On Jul 11, 2012, at 10:00 AM, pct-l-request at backcountry.net wrote:
>
> So, here's my solution I'm currently working on: I'm learning AS  
> MUCH as I
> can about the plants, animals, and ecosystems that I'm likely to  
> encounter.

You can learn a lot just by bringing the wilderness press guide books  
and maybe learning in advance what some of the fancy geological terms  
mean, like "ultramafic." A very cool word. I believe it means rocks  
from the mantle or almost the mantle. That's further in toward the  
center than the Earth's crust.