Dangerous Imagination

Over the years of adventuring, I’ve come across a handful of “warning signs”.  Such as the following sign posted at the start of a canyoneering route in White Canyon, southern Utah.  

Yes, people have died in that canyon.  People have also died getting out of the bathtub.  Yes, the potential for danger* was present throughout the entire canyoneering route, yet being smart adults, we exited unscathed. 

*(nominal dangers such as: flooded sections filled with debris (think Star Wars trash compactor), upright log blocking path (created a loop step out of webbing that we had brought, so we could hoist ourselves up and over), and as the photo shows, one log holding back A LOT of debris)

Just a nominal danger....

Yesterday, I went hiking to the top of Yosemite falls and along the way I was warned about the potential for “rock fall”.  Yup, a rock could crash down upon me.  I see rocks littering the roadways quite often.  Alas, I again exited unscathed.

Upper Yosemite Falls and Half Dome 

The reward for hiking up dozens, DOZENS, of switchbacks

But alas, this Sunday morning I thought I’d entertain a gentle stroll to the Merced Grove of Sequoia trees.  Of course, at the trailhead I was greeted by the following sign (dated April 2013):

Well, too late, I drove a ways to get here and had imagined myself sitting beneath a Sequoia tree reading passages from John Muir’s “The Yosemite”.  I immediately found a weapon (I mean hiking stick) and in my mind ran through scenarios of how I would come out victorious against a mountain lion.

As I was hiking alone with my mind, off to the races went the imagination, and my senses heightened exponentially.  Mtn. lion? No, a squirrel running across a log, a flutter on the forest floor, just a bird. Why are there flies buzzing here? Begin the search for a dead animal stashed in the above tree limbs! Begin formulating a plan to descend from a 100 some foot Ponderosa Pine.  Good thing the bark has lots of texture aka foot and hand holds! I did make it to the grove of Sequoia trees, but heard something moving along the forest floor that I couldn’t discern, so 180* I went, keeping an eye over my shoulder.

After passing a man heading into the grove, I relaxed a bit knowing that there was another human along the trail. I managed to relax enough to take out the binoculars and pause to see a Winter wren, pileated and downy woodpecker, Dark-eyed junco (Oregon population), and listen to the ethereal call of the hermit thrush.  Did I learn my lesson about hiking alone, striding past signs warning about mountain lions?  Well, in the words of John Muir, “But in the face of Yosemite scenery cautious remonstrance is vain; under its spell one’s body seems to go where it likes with a will over which we seem to have scarce any control.” -The Yosemite