Nighttime Fears

Since we have started hiking our ultimate goal is to hike the Applachian Trial. In January we took our first overnight hike deep into the woods of Torreya State Park. We have discussed and researched at length (well David has researched) bear safety while hiking in the woods. We have bear pepper spray as a personal safety item. We have stuff sacks and line to hang our food high in a tree away from our tents to deter bears from mistaking us for a burrito while we lie in our bags at night. But during our first overnighter I began to have a bigger fear - Coyotes.

As you may have read in my January blog, I spent a very restless night on the first overnighter being a human ice cube. It was sometime in the early morning that I first heard the coyotes. I was sleeping and suddenly heard a very loud sound in the distance. Now it wasn't your typical coyote howl. It was like a large pack of animals all yipping at the same time and it sounded very eery and dangerous. I didn't know what it was but we determined that it was most likely coyotes. In my frozen state all I could ask David was if I should be afraid and he said no. I was too cold to argue.

The first weekend in February we went on an overnight trip to a park in Alabama called Open Pond. It was a campground but was very empty with only 4 other campers in the entire park. We were the only campers in the primitive area. Having wisened up and purchased a 20 degree sleeping bag since the last overnighter I was sleeping warmly when suddenly I was awakened by the same eery, dangerous, yipping sound I had heard at Torreya. Coyotes! Now that I was warmer and my neurons were firing better I spent the next hour or so thinking about how maybe we had spent too much time worrying about bears and not enough worrying about coyotes. Coyotes are pack animals and as such we could be confronted with several animals at one time rather than a lone bear. We only have one can of pepper spray and it only last for several short seconds - is that enough to defend ourselve from a pack of coyotes - I doubt it! Then as I was lying there contemplating all the ways the coyotes were going to dismember me I realized that the bear pepper spray was in the back of the truck. Oops!

I haven't quite resolved how I feel about this new coyote fear but I think another can of pepper spray may be needed and we will have to be sure that the spray is in the tent with us at night!

Happy Hiking!