tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1683820086494160416.post37213527608077545..comments2023-05-13T08:36:34.316-06:00Comments on Mountain Refuge: 21 May 2012FreedomoftheHillshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11814351046926976038noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1683820086494160416.post-76780067016491974882012-05-21T20:20:15.135-06:002012-05-21T20:20:15.135-06:00Great chapter:
There are in fact things in the wi...Great chapter:<br /><br />There are in fact things in the wilderness that sound like the cry of a baby. There are also things that sound like the scream of a woman. I learned about that last one the hard way at about 13yo. Went charging to the rescue as most any boy of my generation would have done, into the brush with the only weapons at hand; a single shot .22RF and a hand ax. Not a tomahawk or one of those little sheet metal boy scout jobs, but a very robust full fledged single bit short handled ax, that you could split wood with. The rifle was in my hands and the ax was in my belt. After fifty years of reflection, training, and experience, and the knowledge that if I had actually had to engage in combat that day it would not have been with a human (I actually did see the cougar) I should have rather had the ax in my left hand. But then, had I known it was a puma I heard, I would not have perused. <br /><br /> A porcupine can make a sound like a baby crying. This I know from experience. I am told that other animals can make sounds that can be mistaken for a baby’s cry or a toddlers whimpering.<br /><br />My point is that even if the woman skier had reported hearing a baby cry, the probable reaction of rescue workers would have been; now, now, dear; you were under a great deal of stress, you were suffering from the early stages of hypothermia, you were alone in a vast, dark, cold wilderness, it was probably just a porcupine, or maybe the wind.<br /><br />Of course, this is all from a Sierra Nevada, Cascade, and California coastal range, point of view. YMMV.<br /><br />As I recall, Liz was once a member of the local mountain rescue organization, and probably has a lot of friends still in it. Even if they smelled something, they would probably just keep their mouths shut. In fact none of the locals probably want to encourage the feds to stay a second longer.<br /><br />But then Einar is a master of the doctrine of an abundance of caution. It has served him well in the past. I just hope it does not serve him poorly now.<br /><br />Thanks FOTH.<br /><br />MikeAnonymousnoreply@blogger.com