But for the newbies, this is good. They will take the precautions until they gain the experience and knowledge to reduce those fears to match the reality of the specific trip conditions. Unfortunately, what happens is the newbies will take extra precautions for low-risk possibilities at the expense of taking precautions for the higher risk possibilities.
I am doing a big (50 people so far signed up) potluck and presentation for newbies in our group who want to backpack. I am going to set up a white board and develop a list of their concerns and fears, and then my top 10 concerns, regarding backpacking.
I think I can predict that the lists will be radically different - I bet you animals will be at the top of their list. Depending on how much reading they've done and whether they took REI courses, they might list waterbourne pathogens.
I already know that my list will have clean water pretty far down on the concerns - since I have plenty of information on that matter, both experiential and the information other experienced hikers in my area have provided to me. (Animals will probably be grouped together on #10.)
Lori,
This is a great topic. Maybe it should be a separate one. Here is my list.
1. Running out of coffee.
2. Running out of water. (Closely related to 1)
3. Not bringing my coffee cup.
4. Running out of fuel for stove
5. Having 2 lighters break (so I bring 3.)
6. Losing my car keys
7. Completing miles before afternoon thunderstorms
Added: I totally forgot my biggest fear. Having to pee in the middle of the night and having the zipper get stuck all the way up on my mummy sleeping bag. So I never zip it all the way up.
It may sound like a trite list. It's not that other things aren't more important. They are just taken care of. I've found most problems look a lot better after I make a hot cup of coffee.
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