I just got back from a trip designed to conquer a fear. I have always been afraid to camp by myself in the deep woods, and last week I set out to change that. So I headed WAY out in the mountainess boonies, in the heart of Bigfoot country. (That famous Bigfoot "Patterson footage" shot at Bluff Creek was only about 20 miles away.)
First night was by far the worst. I set up camp, and brought in one crap load of firewood, then set out my perimeter. I put tripwires connected to 7.62 blank firing devices on two main game trails that were very close, and "rattle cans" (coffee cans with .45 slugs in them, connected to tripwires) about 30 feet around the camp at intervals in the brush. All was fine and dandy until the sun began to go down. Then the shadows came out. I sat in my camp chair with my .45 cocked and locked on my hip, and my M14 across my lap. And that is where I was when the sun came up. I did not get in the tent. I figured that it was an expensive 4 season tent, and that if one of my perimeter warnings went off in the middle of the night, I was probably going to rip the hell out of it trying to get out. So I just sat in the chair with the fire in front of me, and the small lantern beside me. I finally fell asleep, and only woke a few times. (And I only jumped up one time when I thought I heard something closeby.) The fire went out, but I let the lantern burn all night. I don't know whether that was good or bad, because of the creepy shadows it caused.
On saturday I scouted the area, and checked out some new areas I had programed into my GPS. It was cool to be able to just set the dang thing, and walk straight to an obscure spot in the mountains.
Next night. - I stayed up late reading. (My Krill 180 really came in handy, as it lights up a whole page.) Then went ahead and got in the tent. It had got pretty dang cold toward morning in that chair, even though I was wrapped in my poncho linner, and I realized I was probably being stupid for not using the tent. So I got in and zipped up, with my .45 on one side, and my rifle on the other. I slept all night with no problems. - Though the one time I got up to take a leak, that dang lantern was still throwing those creepy shadows.
So I survived. I must say that first night was the worst. The moon was only a sliver (God's Fingernail) and it was REAL dark. BTW - due to a forest fire about 75 miles away, there was a lot of smoke in the air. This caused the moon to look orange. It was very pretty. I had a real hard time keeping my imagination in check. But I knew that I had a pretty good perimeter around me, and that helped quite a bit. It also helped to read a quote that I keep in my wallet from the book Death In The A Shau Valley...." A LRRP team was sitting up their NDP (Night Defensive Position) when one of the old timers tries to calm the nerves of one of the FNG's. He whispers in his ear..."Don't worry. We may not be the baddest #@%fers in these woods, but the baddest #@%kers called me this morning - they wanted to make sure we were still friends."