Cool story Lori! And what a nice way to meet someone.

It does seem to me that there is more to some of these kinds of things than coincidence. So many things have to line up for them to happen, and so many little things, choices we make, could have altered or prevented the outcome.

For me, wandering around has led me to some wonderful places, and to meeting some great people, and the opportunity to share something with them.

Sometimes I get vague premonitions of what I might find when I'm out bushwhacking. Nothing like in the movies, but more of a general feeling, or line of thought. Sometimes I don't find anything that fulfills those, but other times I do.

I would think that on SAR missions one might encounter this a lot. A feeling or urge to go look someplace, or what you might find while searching, perhaps an increased sense of urgency.

It's probably best described as intuition, and how it works. and the results we can attribute to it, are a hard thing to relate and discuss. We all have it though, and we all act on it, many times a day in fact. But it's hard to talk about, at least in our culture it's not discussed much on a personal basis.

I think that like other gifts, or skills, one can get better at it with practice. And I think that it is an important skill for backpackers to have and hone.