[pct-l] Shoshanna & Paranoia....

["Bel&Karen" <rookie@olypen.com>]

One statement for everyone, written in large, friendly letters: DON"T
PANIC. (Thanks, Douglas Addams).   Yep, there's just way too much to freak
out about if you let your mind wander along the Trail when your feet
aren't.  One statement is true: things happen moment by moment Out There. 
I'd never have freehand climbed the (mostly shale) wall of a subalpine 
canyon up in the Olympics had I not meandered down it looking for quartz
crystals, and a shale slide blocked my previous entry (that was scary). 
The canyon turned into a 15-foot sheer drop.  So I couldn't go back, or
forward, and that left one way to go: up. The thing is, I wasn't truely
scared until I lookde down at what I had climbed allready.... because I was
too busy trying to find another handhold.  River crossings go like that. 
You can never anticipate the BIG ones happening, because most of the time
they don't. So don't try to.  You'll sleep a lot better.  Once you put your
feet in the water, the cold kinda takes away the fear.  You're allready
wet, so you might as well go forward.  And, thanks for the anti-paranoia
flick- my mom reads this list and I think she's rather convinced I am going
to break my leg, neck, or back, or fall or drown.  So, let's keep more
cheerful notes posted on the perils of the Trail?   Besides, life would be
no fun if you weren't mildly terrified.  My only real grunt about river
crossings is when your feet and legs go too numb to feel,  then they BURN
like the dickens when they defrost.		DON"T PANIC
				Shoshanna Coyote-Rains
	
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