Originally Posted By wandering_daisy
Although the title is mental toughness, the "demand" for backpack partners was stated as "no whining" and "rescue"


One of my hiking buddies, who's been with me on many bushwhacks, started whining a few years ago after we did a trip to the Leatherwood Wilderness. After being there for five days doing bushwhacks from a base camp we came out and drove to a gas station where an old timer told us we were crazy for going in there. He said there were snakes, bears, mountain lions and wild hogs, all that would kill us for food or sport. On that trip I don't think we saw or heard so much as a squirrel. But that old geezer's words stuck with him.

Around that time the silly tv shows started, recently including some about wild hogs taking over the entire planet, and he watched those.

So, the past few trips we've done he's whined, not a lot, but a bit. Mostly about bushwhacking. He obviously has convinced himself that the wild killer type animals are more likely to be somewhere off the trails. One the notable things about our trips together is that even though he's protested the routes I've led us on, he's always amazed and thrilled at what we find when we explore, is glad he did the trip, and he loves telling his friends about these trips and showing them photos.

Like me, he's over 50, been backpacking since he was 17, and in all his time outdoors he's never even seen a bear, big cat, or wild hog.

The question this brings up kind of goes back to the one Gershon posed about, " if toughness can be developed". If it can, than I have to also wonder if it can be without actual experience, and if it can also be undone without actual experience.

This guy is tough. We've done some pretty tough hikes together and I know I can count on him to do his best in a rescue situation, but he has certainly been influenced by media portrayals of things totally unrelated to his own experiences or anyone he knows. Things portrayed that are far removed from the realities of where we are, and they have had an effect him.

Last weekend I went to a hikers gathering in Arkansas. There were about 40 hikers there. Not one of them has ever had a bear come into their camp. Not one owns a canister. None said they bear bagged their food.

BTW, I took my four year old grandson with me. There was a Cub Scout troop there too, and several were members of the hiking forum that organized the gathering. So I split my time between the hikers and the scouts. W_D, those kids were zooming around from Reveille to Taps. laugh

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