Well,
here's an entertaining story from this past weekend's solo backpacking
trip in the Tetons. After hiking 6 miles up the trail to the camping
zone where I was all set to stay for the night, I saw that all but two
of the sites were completely snow-covered. Even those two had just a few
patches of grass suitable for placing my tent. After some
consideration, I chose one of the sites and then set
up camp. I noticed right away that a pika kept running to my tent site
to gather grass, while a family of marmots checked out the area for any
possible food. I'd learned on previous trips to be wary of marmots, for
several had once broken into my tent during the day and shredded my
salt-laden shirt and underwear. When the snow is first melting, it seems
they are desperate for salt, even eating the soil where I've urinated!
Anyway, after I went to bed, I awoke to an animal making strange noises as it entered the tent vestible just six inches from my head, where I heard it gnawing on my salty trekking pole handle and water bottle. I yelled threateningly and the animal left, but it kept returning every time time I drifted off to sleep for a few minutes. Finally, the animal began pushing aggressively against the tent sides, all the while making more of the strange sounds. I would awaken each time, yell, it would retreat, and then I'd fall back to sleep, only to be awakened a few minutes later by the next round of noises. Eventually, the animal began pushing more deeply and intensely against the tent sides, as though it were trying to get in. Finally, while still in a sleepy daze, I heard my tent rip and saw a dark figure push through the fabric. Instinctively, I punched it, thinking it surely must be a marmot. "Ow ! "I heard myself yell after I laid into the shadowy figure; "That hurt!" Switching my headlamp on, I saw a hole in the tent side in the spot where my salty hat lay against it. I also noticed that the hat now had a gaping hole in it!
As I awakened a bit further, I suddenly remembered that marmots are NOT nocturnal! I decided then and there to investigate the situation. As I stood up and exited the tent, an animal with gleaming eyes rushed threateningly toward me, stopping just a few feet away. It was a PORCUPINE! Suddenly, I realized why my fist had hurt when I'd let fly a punch! Chasing the porcupine away by running after it with my pole, I finally caused it to retreat back into the snow. From then on, it left me alone. I had gotten hardly a wink of sleep that night, for the porcupine had terrorized me off and on from about 11:30 to 4 A.M.
After the sun rose, I repaired my tent with the nylon tape I'd fortunately brought, and then quickly moved camp, determined to understand what qualities I might learn from this encounter. "What," I wondered, "did the porcupine have to teach me?" I thought immediately of the fact that I need to take better advantage of my natural psychological defenses by not being too sensitive to the negative or challenging "barbs" of others. All my life, I've been too affected by the opinions of other people. Rather than letting them go too far inside my heart and soul, I need to set up some "barbs" of my own. In many ways, I find that - over the past year or so - I've begun to care less and less about what people think of me. I suppose this is a healthy attitude for a natural people-pleaser like me! In any case, this crazy porcupine encounter helped strengthen my own recently-discovered defenses!
Photo: My porcupine-chewed hat; Grand Teton National Park, WY; July 4, 2014
Anyway, after I went to bed, I awoke to an animal making strange noises as it entered the tent vestible just six inches from my head, where I heard it gnawing on my salty trekking pole handle and water bottle. I yelled threateningly and the animal left, but it kept returning every time time I drifted off to sleep for a few minutes. Finally, the animal began pushing aggressively against the tent sides, all the while making more of the strange sounds. I would awaken each time, yell, it would retreat, and then I'd fall back to sleep, only to be awakened a few minutes later by the next round of noises. Eventually, the animal began pushing more deeply and intensely against the tent sides, as though it were trying to get in. Finally, while still in a sleepy daze, I heard my tent rip and saw a dark figure push through the fabric. Instinctively, I punched it, thinking it surely must be a marmot. "Ow ! "I heard myself yell after I laid into the shadowy figure; "That hurt!" Switching my headlamp on, I saw a hole in the tent side in the spot where my salty hat lay against it. I also noticed that the hat now had a gaping hole in it!
As I awakened a bit further, I suddenly remembered that marmots are NOT nocturnal! I decided then and there to investigate the situation. As I stood up and exited the tent, an animal with gleaming eyes rushed threateningly toward me, stopping just a few feet away. It was a PORCUPINE! Suddenly, I realized why my fist had hurt when I'd let fly a punch! Chasing the porcupine away by running after it with my pole, I finally caused it to retreat back into the snow. From then on, it left me alone. I had gotten hardly a wink of sleep that night, for the porcupine had terrorized me off and on from about 11:30 to 4 A.M.
After the sun rose, I repaired my tent with the nylon tape I'd fortunately brought, and then quickly moved camp, determined to understand what qualities I might learn from this encounter. "What," I wondered, "did the porcupine have to teach me?" I thought immediately of the fact that I need to take better advantage of my natural psychological defenses by not being too sensitive to the negative or challenging "barbs" of others. All my life, I've been too affected by the opinions of other people. Rather than letting them go too far inside my heart and soul, I need to set up some "barbs" of my own. In many ways, I find that - over the past year or so - I've begun to care less and less about what people think of me. I suppose this is a healthy attitude for a natural people-pleaser like me! In any case, this crazy porcupine encounter helped strengthen my own recently-discovered defenses!
Photo: My porcupine-chewed hat; Grand Teton National Park, WY; July 4, 2014
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