[pct-l] Fear of the dark

[Eric Lee]

C wrote:
>
I'm seriously scared to death of the dark and the fact that there are
animals that could rock my world...I hear a lot about protecting the bears
but anyone have a fool proof way of not having bear encounters...so i got
get messed with...i havent really been camping so where do i hide...how much
smell is too much...i heard some people bring firecrackers?  Really??
>

You could remind yourself that the statistics are very much on your side.
The continental US averages less than one (!) fatality per year due to
bears.  Compare that to the ~20 per year due to domestic dogs, ~30 due to
lightning, ~50 per year due to bees, or the ~32,000 fatalities per year due
to automobiles.  In terms of objective risk, bears are way, way, *WAY* down
on the list of bad things that could happen to you.  Black bears in the
continental US are usually very shy animals and prefer to avoid
confrontation.  You have to go seriously out of your way to provoke a black
bear enough to be dangerous.  (There are extremely rare exceptions, like
there are with everything, but they're so rare they don't matter in any
practical way.  Grizzly bears are a separate issue, but you don't have to
deal with them on the PCT.)

But numbers don't really matter when you're lying there in the dark, do
they?  We humans are notoriously poor judges of absolute risk.  We'll
cheerfully hurdle down a two-lane highway at 70 miles an hour, missing
oncoming traffic by mere feet, implicitly trusting that the other guy isn't
going to sneeze at the wrong moment . . . then twitch at every little sound
when we're safely on the trail and away from those death-trap machines.
We're way too comfortable with familiar risks (even if they're actually
quite dangerous) and way too terrified of unfamiliar risks (even if they're
really quite benign).

So knowing that, the best thing you can do is practice.  I'm not naturally
comfortable with the dark myself, but living in Seattle and having a
full-time job and family, most of my training hikes this time of year occur
in the dark.  Over time I've slowly gotten more accustomed to the dark and
these days, while I can't say that I really enjoy the night, I'm ok with it.

Try going out to a trail (or park, or whatever is practical for you) around
dusk, find a comfortable place to sit, and just let the darkness fall around
you.  Listen to the natural nighttime noises, enjoy the smells, and discover
how much you can actually see once your eyes adjust.  If you practice that
awhile you'll be more familiar with the dark and your fear will subside.  If
we can't conquer our stupid irrational risk assessment circuitry, at least
we can make it work in our favor.  :-)

Eric