>>1704977>Be me>18>First time solo hiking>First night hear coyotes howling in distance.>Getting kinda nervous.>At least I hung my bear bag and my dishes are set about twenty feet from my tent in case they smell>Set them on a log to act as an alarm if an animal comes into my camp>Go to sleep, all is well>2am, dish alarm goes off. >Wide awake, scared. >paralyzed from fear, can only pray it's not a bear or other large predator>Start hearing twigs snapping right next to my tent>Hail Mary, full of grace...>More twigs snapping>Try to rationalize through the fear>Tell myself it's probably deer>Most large predators have soft feet, after all, they wouldn't make any noise>Start to calm down>Sound of twigs snapping starts moving away from my camp>Finally, silence>Most large predators have soft feet, after all, they wouldn't make any noise...>Oh shit>Never fall back asleep>After sunrise step outside and see pic related>Feel foolish Once you get through your first solo, it gets a lot easier.
