Doug, Very good set of posts. Very interesting reading. And I would like to ONLY read about such experiences, thank you very much! 8-) |With some further evaluative reflection on the paddle back to Winter Harbor, I |realized I would need much more sensitivity to that still, small voice that |gives one the ability to sense the sea's changing moods and help one act |accordingly. I have found that when the little man on my shoulder starts whispering I had better pay attention. Find out why I'm getting that voice and then fix the problem that caused it. If one finds themself in a place that they don't feel comfortable they need to do something that makes the man on the shoulder go back to sleep. I have found this to be true with kayaking, seeing a couple people on the street that I'm not comfortable with, or being in a place that does not seem safe. Last Christmas I was taking pictures in the Dupuis State Park that is near Myakka Fl, which is west of Stuart, Fl. on the east coast. It has open areas, dense forrests of scrub oak, thick palmetto bush areas underneath tall pine trees as well as cypress heads. Its a very pretty park. Dupuis has a large number of HUGE wild pigs. And I mean huge. I spent four or five days taking pictures in the park. You can walk off of the access road into the woods and see areas of the forrest floor that have been torn up by the pigs. I don't mean some little area but 20 by 20 foot areas torn down 1 to 2 feet. You see areas like this all over the place. That is a big pig doing the earth moving. And there are many of them. I walked miles in the park from the open areas to the dense oak forrests and into the cypress swamps. It was great. One evening I started walking into a palmetto/pine area just off the road. Large areas of the forrest floor had been dug up. One of the attractive things about the palmetto/pine areas is that the palmetto bushes form mazes and channels through the forrests. Sometimes the open area between the bushes can be quite small. A couple of feet. Sometimes its very open with widely dispersed palmettos. The place I was walking into was somewhat confined but not to bad. I could not see more than 20-30 feet in any direction before a palmetto bush blocked the view. I did not go far when the bells started ringing and the little man started whispering. Why? I don't know. But I stopped walking and stood still. I'm standing there with my camera gear and an eight pound tripod listening to my heart pound and I don't know why! Something is not right. I don't hear anything. I don't see anything but trees and bushes. I don't smell anything. But my heart is trying to jump out of my chest and my hands are shaking! I turn around and leave. Just thinking about that has my hands wiggling and my heart rate going. An hour or so later I was 100 yards down the road setting up to take a picture of some very pretty clouds back lit by the setting sun. I'm looking south down the road when the ShoulderMan says look behind you! I looked north and 100 yards away the biggest %&_at_$#_at_#* hog I have ever seen ran across the road! Mr. Hog was big, black,at least 3 feet tall at the shoulder and 6 feet long! At first I thought it was a black bear. But it was not. After the fog rolled in and ruined my photograph I drove down to where Mr.Pig crossed the road. He had came out of the palmettos right where I had started to walk in. I He had been in one of the palmettos. Gulp! When ShoulderMan whispers or the bells start ringing. Find out why..... Hope this helps.... Dan McCarty *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************Received on Thu Sep 02 1999 - 08:13:52 PDT
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