<snip>
> Right now in my little corner of the world,
>if I were to go out and sit on a rock and contemplate the beautiful and
>gentle aspect of nature, I'd be dead of hypothermia in a couple of minutes,
>or if I were real lucky, eaten by a mountain lion, or perhaps covered by an
>avalanche.

Do you really have man eating mountain lions? I think you are exaggerating.
I have lived and worked in the wilderness and in managed forests here for 42
years. I have had enumerable experiences with bears, cattle, moose,
squirrels, packrats, wolverines, fish, elk, but never have I had an
experience with a cougar. I have had wolves near me on one occassion and
they leave a trail of piddle in their footsteps fleeing in fear from me. If
I am correct it was Farley Mowatt that said that "man is the dirtiest and
meaniest species on the earth" not cougars. Even the packrat is friendly to
humans. I forgot to add a few other creatures none of which have attacked
me. Turtles, snakes, mice, weasels, northern alligator lizards, pine martin.
The most ferocious animals that I have encountered are many times smaller
than me. The mosquitoe, black fly, wood tick, deer fly, and horse fly are
the worst of all. But I don't hurt the majority of them if I wear a head net
or wrap my head in tee shirt. The sun is a real pain too, but it there is
not much I can do. I have been several meters away from Grizzly bears and I
almost though my heart was going to jump from my breast.

you know what? I only carry one can of pepper spray with me in the woods. I
work and play in the woods on about 200 days of the year. The insects are
the worst thing I encounter, my own bad attitude, rain, and plants that
cause me some misery such as Rhododendron and Azalea. The devils clubs are
bad in some areas. I feel safer in the woods than any street in a large
city. In Lima one night I was the subject of no less than 3 robbery
attempts. I felt like a piece of bait in a fish tank. I finally had to take
my partners hand an walk out into the middle of a street to get away from
theives and pickpockets.

In fact I love to go out in the coldest weather and ski in avalance chutes
and on steep treed slopes. I love the cold and the deep snows. When I go to
a city for more than two weeks I want to get the hell out. Cities are
boring. Consume, consume, consume. Nature is not read in tooth and claw.
Nature is beneficient to all life. You just have to know how to live in the
woods and exercise caution. I would not say that nature has any other lesson
to teach than to be prepared and have fun.

I have slogged around with bare feet in Mangrove swamps.
Sleep at night in the rainforest without mosquito nets. Waded for miles
upstreams in rainforests. Walked for days in rainforests. There are a lot of
lianas and there are a lot snakes but I was never attacked by animals. Once
a small group of wild pigs crossed my path but they did not tree me and
attempt to feast on me. Howler monkeys sound like Banshees from hell at
night but they never attack. A very large rattle snake blocked my path once
but saw me and retreated. I think that lightning is very scary and I have
been nearly killed several times by it. Some people carry a gun in bear
country. I don't. I never advise people to either.

jon





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