Where was Matt during all of this? I suspect, laying there sound asleep...which should be very reassuring because it doesn't take long in the woods to start to know what should be there and what shouldn't. Especially since the "what shouldn't" will bring you out of your sleep very fast when everything else is so quiet.

Don't get me wrong; I have heard some odd noises while I have been out that have made me wonder for a while, but it sounds like all you need is a good flashlight (get a big Maglite) and a few nights out shining the light around figuring out what all of the creepy sounds actually are.

The good news is that there is nothing on the East Coast that will eat you except for mosquitos and ticks...and they don't eat much.

Besides, it sounds like you owe your outdoorsman quite a bit of payback still. :)

Dear Paris,
Much as I try to avoid reading about you and seeing your pictures, for honestly what have you achieved? (at least Britney could sing, and dance), you are omnipresent. You and the paparrazi and tabloid journalism has cheapened the very notion of celebrity. Not that it has anything much to begin with. You the high priestess of blankness, is an insult to the notion of beauty too for once upon a time we believed that if you are beautful, you'd be smart, or nice, or at least, dumb. You are less than dumb (at least the they are sweet)...just empty! The other day my joy at the news of your sentence of 45 days in jail caused me exuberance, of the rational kind. Finally life has meaning, for there is such a thing as fairness. 45 days is fair. Not more, but not less either. Today I am in the doldrums upon hearing news that you may not do any of that because of overcrowded jail....Dear Lord, please clear some room there and make something of dear Paris..Tinkerbell deserves better.

Me.

Terra,

It's all in the point of view. If you can step out the back door every day of your life and see nothing but mountains, sleeping out in it doesn't add much.

The only country people I knew to spend the night out were fox hunters. They would go up on the hill, build a fire, turn the dogs loose, get drunk, and listen to 'em howl. "That's my Sal. She's on a big one. I'd say 12 pounds. She's calling holed. No, I believe she's got him up a rock."

I left running, because walking was just too slow.

Between connecting with nature and slowing down the pace of life and simply shutting off the noise I don't think anything can beat the outdoors. I agee with other posts that we should all do it more often.

But Elizabeth I know where you are coming from. My first few nights I was scared. Then my first solo trip I was scared. But then one night I slept in the middle of Colorado and about 8,000 feet in just a sleeping bag under the moon. By then I wasn't scared anymore - even though I did think about the mountain lions - but its an experience I'll never forget. You have to keep doing it and it gets better - but from the sounds of it I am not sure you will :)

Of course even if you just get out and sit high on a mountain you don't have to stay out over night.

P.S. Its really only the people you much have to worry about.

I look forward to the weather here in PA being warm enough finally to be able to go camping. The last time I went I was thirteen, visiting family friends in Colorado, and I absolutely loved it.

Terra, where did you find a tent cot? That sounds lovely.

PriveR

John,
When I go camping I have a very nice tent and a tent cot. I love camping but I have old bones and stones, ruts and twigs poke and keep me awake. But that tent cot is very restful, it also rises you up to where the breeze comes through. Also keeps you off the matting and away from any dampness.

There is something about waking early morning to hot coffee made over a fire and watching deer wander through.

Lieing on a hammock strung between two shade trees on a summer day is the best rest ever...but then I have not tried blacktop yet...I really think I will skip that. ; )
terra

I'm from far up on the Appalachian Ridge, and I'm not given to sleeping outdoors either. Not that it scares me--I could lie down anywhere in the West Virginia countryside and fall right to sleep--but because it's so uncomfortable. Roots, rocks, bugs... Give me my pillow top, too. I guess if you grow up in it, you don't see the charm of sleeping out in it.

The only place I ever lay down outdoors that was truly comfortable was on warm blacktop deep in a summer night. Everyone I've ever heard from that's done that has found it utterly restful. I found it so restful it almost got me run over. Really, I didn't mean to go to sleep. And tires passing four inches from my head woke me right up. Boy.

I live out in the country, 20 miles to the closest town...I am surrounded by trees and the wild. Tree frogs climb the french doors with their green sucker feet clinging onto the glass...owls and bats glideing in the dark sky, black against black, silent. The bats are our friends, eating the mosquitos that have the potential to harm us.

One night I looked over from my computer and there looking in was a raccoon...its shiny black eyes taking in what was on TV. We have pet doors for our cats and dogs...but occationally other entities will use them. One night I went out to the pantry to get food for the dogs...there coming out of the 50 lb bag of dry dog food for our Blue Heeler..was the biggest fatest rat tail you ever saw...I ran and got my husband..he grabed the gun...leaving two small holes in the side of our pantry, he killed a huge possom.

I have had snakes brought to me by our cats...and a flying squirril by our smallest chihuahua. I have also had the gift of peace and beauty. Of planting fruit trees and seeing the small flowers turn to the tiny beginnings of peaches, figs and lemons...I have seen hummingbirds sipping from my lantana and bees flocking to my wisteria. I got stung cleaning out my rose arbor, and have held a hummingbird in my hands,it came into my house and flittered in front of me..I placed my hands so carefully around it...a breatheing puff of warm air, taking it out side. I have had the wits scared out of me by seeing a six foot snake curled up two foot from me...

But most of all I have fallen in love. I go out and breath the night air and talk to the gods..I wake in the morning to bird sounds and wind chimes. I cut the grass and smell the honeysuckle and fresh green...

I was a city girl from the North East, not far from Baltimore. I am now a country girl in the south, a Pagan in the bible belt. I am in love with this land...with the wild life, with the slowness of the turning seasons. With luck I will live out my days here and my ashes will be scattered here.

terra

I feel that camping and spending time outdoors would go a long way to combat the Dominion Theology that has plagued Christianity. In the Bible it says: "And fill the earth and subdue it and have dominion over..." (Genesis 1.28) The misinterpretation of this passage has led us to rape and pillage the land, instead of adhering to this passage: "And put Adam in the garden to till/serve it and keep/protect it" (Genesis 2.1)

Your previous post about how everyday choices can determine not only the fate of the world in which we live, but also our very soul. Camping and appreciating the outdoors reconnects this broken gap we have from the natural cycle of life. Very rarely do we venture into this uncomfortable realm, where you feel vulnerable. Vulnerability is a great and wonderful thing. It fills you with life and helps you to understand that there is more to this world than what we understand that we are not in control of everything, and most importantly it imbues upon us a great feeling of there being a power greater than ourselves. I urge you, just as your boyfriend has, to explore this feeling of vulnerability, because from it comes the beauty of life.