[forest gnome]

ahh yes but how will backpackerjoe protect hisself from a charging momma bear !!??

[RumiDude]

[HundsSolo]

I think we are forgetting about something here. Our comfort levels. If you feel uncomfortable having someone else ( a stranger) on the trail with you then you won't enjoy your time with in the woods. This was the case. It may have been different with me or you as the case is with some of you. And think this is where the gut instinct also plays a part because it involves our comfort level. So some of you who may not seen him as a threat, but it did to him and even if he would have continued on, he probably would not have enjoyed his hike.

[RumiDude]

[RumiDude]

[joker]

RumiDude - I agree with most of your points in your latest two posts. It was the blanket statement of

[harrymalamute]

choosing not to be a victim in the forest or a grocery store parking lot at midnight is always a proactive mind set and being a solo hiker would likely elevate the need. does that mean being excessively paranoid? No. It just means keeping an awareness of your surrounding and don't leave yourself open to a blitz type of attack by a strangers smiling face. that doesn't mean you have to be cold and impersonal, it just means that while you encounter a stranger on the trail you can smile back but the whole time in the back of my mind I'd be evaluating their body language and be on the ready for any quick movements on their part. The op left the scene and that's fine, I'm an instinct kind of person and don't care about any scientific studies. non of those scientists work with the criminally insane like I do or have they had the experience of a sucker punch for no apparent reason. Ok so the op was in a parking lot and had the choice to leave. what if your already out there on the trail? if your not prepared mentally, physically or weapon wise, (pick your tools) spray, big red dog, tomahawk, bowie knife, boomerang or fire arm ( I prefer all the above) plus I'm a biter The statistics are low but it only takes 1 event to be a life changer. attacked cross country skier come prepared and sleep well at night

[joker]

I agree with most of what you wrote, but have to say that who knows if the researchers in question have every been sucker punched for no apparent reason etc. I know I have, and I don't see how that changes reality of accuracy of intuition in any way. I'd add that if one finds themselves "on high alert" in most encounters with strangers, they might consider if they have calibrated themselves well, and whether the social and nervous system costs are worth the tradeoff of the small increment of added safety. But that's a very personal decision.

[harrymalamute]

[Slide Alder Slayer]

Profiling is what happens at airports or our national borders to pick out suspected smugglers and sometimes terrorists for questioning who exhibit a series of behaviors a trained individual can detect. Police profile suspects, well trained loss prevention specialist are excellent at detecting behavior relating to theft and so on and so on; observing a behavior and translating that to an intention is now a science. A gut reaction is more like untrained profiling and I’m not talking about profiling based on prejudice which is abhorrent. Having said that, gut reactions aren’t necessarily inaccurate but more akin to having a reaction to a perceived behavior or set of behaviors; be that as it may I spent a career working with patients in chemical dependency treatment and defendants in criminal justice system who often said “I wished I would have listened to my gut instincts sooner in life.”

[Dancing Hiker]

Without reading all the posts, if you two were the only one's in the parking lot....why didn't he just kill you there? It seems highly unlikely he'd let you see the gun and the axe and then expect you to follow him into the woods.

[olderthanIusedtobe]

[Helix]

Is say the odds are pretty good. Did that happen to be a connecting flight through Denver?

[olderthanIusedtobe]

Yeah it was a connection, and it's not so unusual that we were on the same connecting flight, but seats next to each other on both flights? I booked well in advance and there were plenty of open seats when I picked mine. I've never had the same random seat mates on multiple flights before. Maybe I'm misreading your question. We did have to switch planes, so we weren't sitting in the exact same seats on both flights.

[Hulksmash]

By chance i ended up on the Beaver Lake trail today. I'm not gonna read al 9 pages of this thread....of the random ones i did read wow....what a bunch of imagination run a muck. Now i'm gonna ruin everyone's fun. The trail is a blowdown fest. I counted 44 blow downs left to remove on the trail. What i mean by 44 left, is mister open carry creepy axe dude cleared about 30 of them. Clearly this guys intent was to make this hike better for others. Any one who willingly takes on try to take on that many blow downs by him self is a dam hero in my book.