[pct-l] Safety on the trail

[Cat Nelson]

This belongs in the New True Blue Thru Hikers Guide.
On Feb 6, 2013 8:06 PM, "Diane Soini of Santa Barbara Hikes" <
diane at santabarbarahikes.com> wrote:

> I hiked solo pretty much the entire way, nobody to talk to. Sometimes
> I didn't even see other hikers for days because I was way out in
> front of the pack for half my adventure.
>
> I got used to living out there. It became normal to me and things
> like walls and cars became strange and foreign to me.
>
> I felt comfortable sitting right on the ground in the dirt. The water
> in the streams and creeks was better and cleaner to drink than from
> faucets.
>
> I felt like cars made short distances seem far and long distances
> seem short and they went WAY too fast. I'd be holding on to the arm
> rest with dear life and we'd be going 35 mph or something ridiculous.
>
> The hardest thing to get used to when I returned to ordinary life was
> not talking to people you passed on the street. They'd think I was
> weird. We wouldn't know the same people. On the trail, everybody
> always knew someone I knew if they didn't already know who I was and
> we'd stop and talk for a long time. It seemed so unfriendly to just
> walk by without even looking at the other person. It was a strange
> adjustment.
>
> Out there is not like anything your "you gotta have protection"
> friends and family think it is. It's not like what you read in books
> where people are conquering nature, climbing mountains, conquering
> their fears, dominating, winning, striving, being eaten alive, dying
> of starvation in buses. You are walking. It's quiet. Everything is
> really pretty. You only hear birds and wind and creeks, sometimes
> scary thundering ones, sometimes ones that sing with voices at night.
> You conquer a lot of fears but most of them are in your head and you
> have to conquer them with acceptance not force.
>
> I became like a little secret wood nymph, my place was the forest, I
> peered behind trees at this strange world of cars and machines and
> people who talked really loud to each other and smelled horrible and
> never gave me food as often as I hoped. I'd look at it all like an
> outsider, then fade back into the trees where I belonged and felt at
> home again.
>
> I had a personal rule: Try never to camp within 5 miles of a road. 10
> miles was better if it was a popular backpacking location. You'd see
> absolutely nobody except other thru hikers after the first 5-10
> miles. I broke this rule on the night before town though. I always
> liked to be able to into town in time for a big breakfast. A big
> breakfast was a joy of civilization that had the strongest hold on me.
>
> On Feb 6, 2013, at 10:00 AM, pct-l-request at backcountry.net wrote:
>
> > From: Dan Jacobs <youroldpaldan at gmail.com>
> > Subject: Re: [pct-l] Safety on the trail
> >
> > Head outside away from civilization and leave fear at home. Embrace
> > the difference that is unique to an experience in the wild and learn
> > how to live peacefully with the natural world that is no more a threat
> > to you than you are to yourself. Just keep your wits about you, and
> > learn from experience. There is no need for fear in the wild. You'll
> > miss the difference when you get back home.
> >
> > Dan Jacobs
> > Washougal
>
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