Ignorance is Bliss

Note to self: Stop reading articles about people hiking.

Note to hikers: Stop dying.

As Andy and I gear up to hike the Teton Crest Trail and then hike around Yellowstone, I've been encountering far too many unfortunate news stories involving hikers. What these stories seem to tell me is: If you visit a National Park, you will die.

Let's examine, shall we?

Drowning Deaths



In Yosemite, 3 hikers went over Vernal Falls and died. Now, you'd think this would be my number one concern, because I'm somewhat anxious around water already. However, I do not ignore signs that tell me "Stay the hell out of the water" as these three individuals did. So, as long as don't lose my brain or ability to read along the trail, I think I'll be okay.

Death by Falling

Just a few short days ago, a woman fell off Half Dome in Yosemite and died. You can read all about my battle with Half Dome and find that when something scares me, I stop doing whatever it is that is scaring me. So falling doesn't land as my top worry either, because I avoid precarious climbs and cliffs.

Death by Bear

Unfortunately, not all bears are as harmless as the ones on my husband's t-shirts. In Alaska, a grizzly attacked a bunch of teeanagers, but nobody was killed.

Score - someone didn't die!

Oh wait, in Yellowstone, WHERE WE WILL BE HIKING, a grizzly killed a dude. And a little more north another grizzly bit the shit out of some lady, but at least she lived.

And there you have it, my number one worry when hiking.

Bears.

We've encountered bears a time or two whilst hiking and everything has been honky dory. We take literally every precaution against bear attacks when hiking, but bears are unpredictable. And just plain scary.

So, until the news people start reporting how some good news about hikers, I think I'm going to avoid reading any story involving hikers until after our trip.

Because if I don't know about it, then it didn't happen.

Ignorance is bliss.