Irrational Solo Fear

I always have to go to the bathroom in the early morning 2-3am and always hold it until the sun comes up! To the OP YES I also share your fear!

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If you want to step it up, you can purchase pee from the animal of you choice here:

http://www.thepeemart.com/?gclid=CJbmvdjAgb4CFdKGfgodzkYA-A

Just customize to your environment.

Still I don't know, "mountain lion pee collector" sounds like it should make the Forbes list of worst jobs. The insurance costs alone would be over the top.

"an ammo can improvised as a toilet."

The first boom box?

+1 on the pee bottle. Less than a minute of your time. And you go back to sleep. Not that restless fit the bladder at the bursting point type of rest.

"On the one occasion where I was placed in the position of having to consciously consider implementation of Stategy 1, I realized my subconscious had already doubled down on Stategy 2."

That's pretty funny. My brother & I were out at Blue Ridge Reservoir, Az, both woken up 3 times in one night, simultaneously each time (separate tents). The 3rd & final time sounded like a Transformer traipsing through the forest – boy we laugh about it now, but only because we both lost major man points at the time.

"Still I don't know, "mountain lion pee collector" sounds like it should make the Forbes list of worst jobs. The insurance costs alone would be over the top."

Hahahaha!

> On the one occasion where I was placed in the position of having to consciously consider implementation of Stategy 1, I realized my subconscious had already doubled down on Stategy 2.

Very funny David! Professional-comedian level funny!

“an ammo can improvised as a toilet.” – The first boom box?

Whitewater rafters have used ammo cans as toilets for many decades. Surplus 20 mm ammo cans or “rocket boxes” are especially popular for DIY toilets and commercial conversions. They are usually called “groovers”, for what happens to your backside if you forget to bring the toilet seat.

Smaller units, using surplus .50 caliber ammo cans, are sometimes called boom boxes. Eco-safe makes a Boom-Box conversion kit. The smaller size is not as user friendly.

Neither option would be appropriate for lightweight backpacking.

Trivia: Surplus ammo box prices skyrocketed in USA during the Afghanistan and Iraq wars, if you could even find them. Wasn’t worth it to ship them back.

— Rex

>Very funny David! Professional-comedian level funny!

Thanks, my wife is not the connoisseur you obviously are. She always tells me I am full of crap.

> Thanks, my wife is not the connoisseur you obviously are. She always tells me I am full of crap.

Oh, well, you know wives. They're always the last to realize the genius in their husbands. I've been married for over a decade and my wife *still* does not realize how witty and charming I am, despite the fact that I frequently remind her.

Back on topic, David C just gave me a new irrational worry: that deer will trip over my guy lines. Dang it! I had never worried about that before. I've got to stop reading these scare stories here at BPL.

My prior meditation practice has helped in these circumstances. If mind is racing, or if feeling fear, deep breathing and the like helps. Different kinds of meditation can help with being bored too. It is a common misunderstanding that there is only one kind of meditation, that of the "void"/letting thoughts and mind activity subside or letting it go.

There are other, more active and focused forms as well–some where the mind, or the feelings are much more engaged. You can use meditation to explore many different topics. Kind of an inner kindle of sorts. It's still a more receptive and quiet state than what i call active mind racing state though. Lot's of times it's helpful to go into the first kind of meditation first, as a kind of clearing or emptying, then go and do the exploring, more active kind.

Well, in any case, as someone who eats mostly vegetarian and doesn't drink whiskey, i've found it helpful (and necessary?) to cultivate the common (hypothesized and mythologized) Native North American tribes' attitude of, "today is a good day to die".

In any case, there is only one realistic dark terror of the nights here, the dragon and scourge of the AT, and by dragon/scourge i mean….skunks (cute though they may be). Well, more seriously speaking, ticks with lymes or other fun diseases.

"Well, in any case, as someone who eats mostly vegetarian and doesn't drink whiskey, i've found it helpful (and necessary?) to cultivate the common (hypothesized and mythologized) Native North American tribes' attitude of, "today is a good day to die"."

Agreed, I admire the words of Chief Tecumseh:

"When it comes your time to die, be not like those whose hearts are filled with the fear of death, so that when their time comes they weep and pray for a little more time to live their lives over again in a different way. Sing your death song and die like a hero going home."

It occurs to me that additional preparation may be in order. As it stands, my death song would necessarily be "Louie, Louie". The whiskey should help. Yankee Doodle? Suggestions?

Seriously, his are beautiful words:
http://www.wisdomcommons.org/author/Chief%20Tecumseh%201768-1813%20Shawnee%20Nation

Well, now I'm a Tecumseh fan. And here I thought he just built good engines. That is some powerful prose.

Different culture, similar thoughts. William Cullen Bryant, Thanatopsis:

So live, that when thy summons comes to join
The innumerable caravan, which moves
To that mysterious realm, where each shall take
His chamber in the silent halls of death,
Thou go not, like the quarry-slave at night,
Scourged to his dungeon, but, sustained and soothed
By an unfaltering trust, approach thy grave
Like one who wraps the drapery of his couch
About him, and lies down to pleasant dreams.