swmtnbackpacker
Trail Wise!
Back but probably posting soon under my real name ... Rico Sauve
Posts: 4,886
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Post by swmtnbackpacker on Dec 1, 2016 12:54:14 GMT -8
Interesting article. Funny that they didn't mention Killer Bees (Africanized honey bees). There must be a number of injuries or death due to bee attacks in the back country... National park stats are used, so there may not be any in Saguaro's (or Big Bends?) boundaries.
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RumiDude
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Marmota olympus
Posts: 2,361
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Post by RumiDude on Dec 1, 2016 12:55:32 GMT -8
Most risk issues in the back country are at least to some degree involve human decisions. Having a tree fall on you on a windless sunny day is largely a matter of bad luck. Having a tree or large limb fall on you during a wind storm probably means you didn't closely pay attention to the weather forecast or you ignored it. Either way the human decision played a huge role in getting injured by the tree.
Anyway, the human element is always a factor. Knowing where others made mistakes might help us all to recognize where we might exercise careful decision making.
Rumi
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Post by cweston on Dec 1, 2016 13:18:54 GMT -8
I have dogs but I've never taken any of them BPing, for various reasons. The big reason for me is that I really enjoy seeing wildlife, even if not bears and elk and other dramatic animals, I really enjoy watching the marmots and pikas around my high camps. I suspect you'd not see them at all if you had a dog running around your camp.
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Post by Kevin Palmer on Dec 1, 2016 18:08:17 GMT -8
It doesn't surprise me that vehicle accidents are near the top of the list. People seem to forget that the rules of the road apply in national parks too. In Yellowstone I've seen many drivers stopping in the middle of the road for any reason (or no reason at all). It doesn't matter if there is a safe pulloff up the road a few hundred feet they will always stop in the most dangerous place with no shoulder. And then they'll get out and walk on the road like they want to be hit by a car. I can somewhat understand stopping if you see something like a grizzly bear, but when it's just a deer or a goat, it's not worth it.
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toejam
Trail Wise!
Hiking to raise awareness
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Post by toejam on Dec 2, 2016 5:38:53 GMT -8
So you are more likely to accidentally shoot yourself with your own gun than be killed by a bear. Not surprised. But still you'd be 10x more likely to die in a "non-vehicle transport" accident.
Notably missing from the list is getting struck by lightning.
I think the "dumbass" and "stupidity" remark works.
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mk
Trail Wise!
North Texas
Posts: 1,217
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Post by mk on Dec 2, 2016 5:48:31 GMT -8
Not sure I'd want my dog "learning a lesson" from a skunk while we're out backpacking.
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tarol
Trail Wise!
Redding, CA
Posts: 582
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Post by tarol on Dec 2, 2016 9:06:40 GMT -8
It doesn't surprise me that vehicle accidents are near the top of the list. People seem to forget that the rules of the road apply in national parks too. In Yellowstone I've seen many drivers stopping in the middle of the road for any reason (or no reason at all). It doesn't matter if there is a safe pulloff up the road a few hundred feet they will always stop in the most dangerous place with no shoulder. And then they'll get out and walk on the road like they want to be hit by a car. I can somewhat understand stopping if you see something like a grizzly bear, but when it's just a deer or a goat, it's not worth it. When I worked at SEKI we used to say the visitors checked their brain in at the entrance gate. The worst drivers were the ones that rented RV's from CruiseAmerica.com, can't tell you how many times I saw those people driving horribly. But my favorite story is I once came around the corner to see a visitor lying down in the middle of the General's highway (full of twists/turns/blind spots). He had found a place not quite big-enough for his car to park along the road near a sign that said, "General Sherman Tree 500 feet". Thus he thought the General Sherman Tree was the sequoia next to the sign, and it was 500 feet tall. The only way to get a good photo of it, because it was up a steep embankment, was to lie down in the middle of the highway and point his camera skyward. He didn't know what to say when I said that the parking area for the General Sherman tree was 500 feet further along the highway, where they had about 100 parking spots for cars, and from there you walked down a very safe sidewalk to see the tree... which wasn't 500 feet tall, but about 10 times larger than the one he was photographing.
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tarol
Trail Wise!
Redding, CA
Posts: 582
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Post by tarol on Dec 2, 2016 9:12:19 GMT -8
I know that I'm much more likely to die from a car accident, or a fall, or crossing a river. But there's still something about a wild animal like a bear or cougar or crazy human being that causes me to lose sleep more when I'm backpacking. I think the first is evolution - we haven't evolved yet to fear cars, since they've only been around 100 some odd years. And most of us avoid places where we could easily fall, as we have a healthy respect for gravity, as well as avoid raging rivers. But freak accidents do get even the most careful of us, falling in areas that were unlikely and drowning in smaller bodies of water... I think we've all heard examples of that.
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Deleted
Deleted Member
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Post by Deleted on Dec 2, 2016 9:26:04 GMT -8
Interesting article. Funny that they didn't mention Killer Bees (Africanized honey bees). There must be a number of injuries or death due to bee attacks in the back country... National park stats are used, so there may not be any in Saguaro's (or Big Bends?) boundaries. I was visiting Big Bend Ranch State Park (just west of the national park) last year, and one of their car campgrounds at the time was closed owing to the presence of a colony of aggressive bees. They were having it professionally removed. I expect they do have colonies of them in the national park, too, from time to time.
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BigLoad
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Pancakes!
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Post by BigLoad on Dec 2, 2016 9:41:07 GMT -8
I think the "dumbass" and "stupidity" remark works. Maybe "testosterone poisoning" is less offensive. The judgment-related fatalities are incredibly skewed toward young men.
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Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
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Post by Deleted on Dec 2, 2016 9:52:31 GMT -8
I think the "dumbass" and "stupidity" remark works. Maybe "testosterone poisoning" is less offensive. The judgment-related fatalities are incredibly skewed toward young men. Most common last words of redneck ... Hey watch this ...
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Post by tallgrass on Dec 3, 2016 16:05:04 GMT -8
falling into a geyser pool I'm surpised this wasn't mentioned a few weeks ago that a guy and his sister were in a prohibited area of Yellowstone looking for a place to go hot-tubbing! (with his sister?) Anyway. they found a place that looked inviting, so the good bro' kneels down to test the temp, 'cuz boiling steaming water might not be quite right. Well, sis is busy with her camera, making a video of bro' as he topples into the pool! Splash...bubble bubble bubble, blub blub...gone! Somehow a rescue team arrived to pull his body out of the pool, but a thunderstorm caused them to wait until tomorrow. Well, by the next day the body has dissolved! The cellphone video was not shown because it was too disturbing.
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Post by hikerchick395 on Dec 3, 2016 18:39:26 GMT -8
Most common last words of redneck ... Hey watch this ... I thought it was "hold my beer"
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null
Trail Wise!
Posts: 578
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Post by null on Dec 4, 2016 2:26:45 GMT -8
The one thing I take exception with is the writer's editorialzing:
And most people assume that the metal boxes they ride around in—assembled at the lowest cost possible by robots in a far away factory—are far safer than they actually are.
Much as we don't like it, robots are FAR more reliable than humans in assembling cars or just about anything. And these robots make lower costs possible. The writer makes it sound like industrial strength SUVs and F250s are rickety old hoopties.
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Post by cweston on Dec 4, 2016 3:48:31 GMT -8
The author is correct, IMHO, that most people assume automobile travel to be safer than it actually is. But that's not because of the way (or where, or be whom) vehicles are assembled. It's because of human nature. It's the traveling 80 mph (or whatever) part that makes it dangerous. If your body is going to go from 80 to 0 catastrophically quickly, there are going to be catostrophic results.
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