# I do not like the wilderness
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-do-not-like-the-wilderness/1000483
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
**Created:** [April 19, 2024, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-do-not-like-the-wilderness/1000483 "2024-04-19T01:12:45Z")
**Posts on this page:** 18
**Page:** 6
### Author:  [@mixdenny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mixdenny)
#### Post date: [April 25, 2024, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-do-not-like-the-wilderness/1000483/101 "2024-04-25T22:23:40Z")
> [@thorny\_locust](#):
>
> Besides, he’s afraid of the Bear.
You misspelled “coyote”.
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### Author:  [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)
#### Post date: [April 26, 2024, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-do-not-like-the-wilderness/1000483/102 "2024-04-26T00:03:19Z")
Nobody with a chainsaw collection is going to be afraid of a coyote.
I’ve only got two chainsaws and the only way I’d be afraid of a coyote would be if I were seriously injured and couldn’t stand up. (The cats are another matter. I keep them in at night.)
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### Author:  [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)
#### Post date: [April 26, 2024, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-do-not-like-the-wilderness/1000483/103 "2024-04-26T00:06:37Z")
> [@Chefguy](#):
>
> I was thinking more of the disasters that happened, like the Franklin expedition, but people surviving the harshest of environments in early exploration are fascinating as well. I’m reading about Stanley’s Congo explorations at the moment.
Have you read _River of Doubt_ about Teddy Roosevelt’s trip down (up?) the Amazon? Fascinating and harrowing. It definitely shortened his life. I highly recommend it!
ETA: I was ninja’d twice on this, but I really recommend this book. Engrossing.
> [@Ulfreida](#):
>
> My friend had a Jack Russell who would leap up and catch them out of the air and eat them. Nom nom.
LOL. A Jack Russell would totally do that!
I have to believe @mixdenny is being tongue-in-cheek.
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### Author:  [@mixdenny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mixdenny)
#### Post date: [April 26, 2024, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-do-not-like-the-wilderness/1000483/104 "2024-04-26T00:22:37Z")
> [@carrps](#):
>
> I have to believe @mixdenny is being tongue-in-cheek.
It’s my nom de Dope. But the OP about how a roof on the golf cart makes it feel snug and safe is real.
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### Author:  [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)
#### Post date: [April 26, 2024, 11:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-do-not-like-the-wilderness/1000483/105 "2024-04-26T11:17:33Z")
> [@carrps](#):
>
> Have you read _River of Doubt_ about Teddy Roosevelt’s trip down (up?) the Amazon?
I mentioned that up thread. Great book. My wife liked it as well.
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### Author:  [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)
#### Post date: [April 26, 2024, 11:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-do-not-like-the-wilderness/1000483/106 "2024-04-26T11:28:24Z")
> [@carrps](#):
>
> Have you read _River of Doubt_ about Teddy Roosevelt’s trip down (up?) the Amazon? Fascinating and harrowing. It definitely shortened his life.
Yeah, I read that a couple of years ago. Teddy was quite the adventurer.
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### Author:  [@Sylvanz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sylvanz)
#### Post date: [April 26, 2024, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-do-not-like-the-wilderness/1000483/107 "2024-04-26T15:52:51Z")
> [@InternetLegend](#):
>
> preschooler and a toddler in diapers camping. There was an absolute cloud of mosquitoes around our campsite the first day, it rained all day the next, and then I got altitude sickness.
>
> I finally laid down the law and told him that if I have to cook food or wash dishes, it’s not a vacation.
For me it was a weeks old baby and a toddler. This was a softball tournament and he didn’t know how to hook up the toilet for the trailer. I was stuck all. day. long. at the campsite. Nope. Never again. Camping is a nice hotel/motel with running water, beds, and food I don’t have to cook.
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### Author:  [@Ulfreida](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulfreida)
#### Post date: [April 26, 2024, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-do-not-like-the-wilderness/1000483/108 "2024-04-26T20:21:33Z")
> [@thorny\_locust](#):
>
> Nobody with a chainsaw collection is going to be afraid of a coyote.
>
> I’ve only got two chainsaws and the only way I’d be afraid of a coyote would be if I were seriously injured and couldn’t stand up. (The cats are another matter. I keep them in at night.)
Nobody in their senses should be afraid of a coyote even if they were armed with a pool noodle.
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### Author:  [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)
#### Post date: [April 26, 2024, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-do-not-like-the-wilderness/1000483/109 "2024-04-26T22:18:52Z")
Yeah, it’s not like I’m carrying the chainsaws around with me. I’ve seen coyote, and hear them often. When they see me, they move on.
I wouldn’t try to corner one. But their idea of prey is a whole lot smaller than I am.
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### Author:  [@ParallelLines](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ParallelLines)
#### Post date: [April 26, 2024, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-do-not-like-the-wilderness/1000483/110 "2024-04-26T23:54:50Z")
I’ll have you know that a coyote can take down a full grown (if undertrained) werewolf under the right circumstances!
[shout-out to urban fantasy [Moon-Called](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/71811.Moon_Called), not serious of course ]
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### Author:  [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)
#### Post date: [April 27, 2024, 5:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-do-not-like-the-wilderness/1000483/111 "2024-04-27T05:06:33Z")
Location and time of year matters.
Mosquitoes or horse flies can make any camping trip miserable.
RV camping is a lot of fun. But not when the biting insects are looking for lunch. Once they get into the RV it’s time for the bug spray.
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### Author:  [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)
#### Post date: [April 27, 2024, 5:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-do-not-like-the-wilderness/1000483/112 "2024-04-27T05:33:34Z")
There have been rabid coyotes. It’s best to steer clear. Keep the pets and small children safe.
People say this same thing all the time about feral hogs. Any wild animal is dangerous.
But, you’re right. At a well populated camp ground you’ll probably not be bothered with coyotes.
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### Author:  [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)
#### Post date: [April 27, 2024, 11:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-do-not-like-the-wilderness/1000483/113 "2024-04-27T11:56:06Z")
> [@Ulfreida](#):
>
> Nobody in their senses should be afraid of a coyote even if they were armed with a pool noodle.
They are generally the size of a small to medium dog. One time I saw one running accross an open prairie, and was stunned at how fast they are.
But, If they are armed with any swimming pool toys, all bets are off.
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### Author:  [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)
#### Post date: [April 27, 2024, 12:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-do-not-like-the-wilderness/1000483/114 "2024-04-27T12:19:51Z")
I love the wilderness. I have very fond memories of camping in Killarney Provincial Park, by which I mean real camping. You put all your supplies into your canoe, and paddled out to one of the few campsites on the first big lake, the one along which the park entrance and registration office were located. But you were only allowed to stay there one night. After that it was a whole lot more paddling and portaging between lakes.
But my God, when you got to your destination the beauty and isolation was just heavenly, and the clear lakes and forests aside, you’d be in the midst of the white quartzite of the spectacular La Cloche mountains. The thought that all you had to subsist on was what you had brought with you was strange and a little scary, since you might be a day or more away from civilization and no means of communication, but it was all part of the experience. Plus, for some reason perhaps related to exercise and fresh air and the sheer beauty of the place, even the most mundane food items cooked over a campfire were exceptionally delicious.
After I had kids and was older and less athletic, I did indulge in some “car camping” at other parks, where you literally drove your car or camper onto the campsite, and could drive to a woodlot to buy wood for your nightly campfire. It was a fun compromise, and a necessary one with small children, but a totally different experience than real camping. For the truly degenerate, there were campsites with power hookups for your RV. I occasionally thought about approaching some of these folks with gigantic house-like RVs plugged into power outlets and asking why they even bothered to leave their own backyards.
Later on, in my days of owning a sailboat and a friend of mine going the route of the power cruiser, we visited the same area in one or other of our boats. It was an entirely different experience but a magnificent one in its own right. The boat was our home, and that whole area of Georgian Bay and the North Channel is incredibly beautiful, quite properly known as “God’s country”. Anchoring in Baie Fine, we were right on the edge of the Killarney park itself, with the La Cloche mountains in the distance. The difference from the canoeing days of our youth is we could fetch a couple of steaks from the fridge and throw them on the barbie and enjoy them with a bottle of wine.
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### Author:  [@Dr\_Paprika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr_Paprika)
#### Post date: [April 27, 2024, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-do-not-like-the-wilderness/1000483/115 "2024-04-27T14:57:38Z")
That’s a beautiful place to canoe. Some of the clearest water I have ever seen, and some of the most beautiful quartz mountains. Great place to hike as well.
Killarney, Quetico, Algonquin, Driftwood, Arrowhead… these are among my favourite places in Ontario; so beautiful the land itself seems blessed.
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### Author:  [@mixdenny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mixdenny)
#### Post date: [April 27, 2024, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-do-not-like-the-wilderness/1000483/116 "2024-04-27T17:57:39Z")
I sort of used to camp out. When I was racing cars in the 1970s I had a 19’ motorhome to pull the trailer. Several of us local drivers would camp together. At many racetracks you can camp on the racetrack grounds. No coyotes although it was rumored that certain tall weeds near one corner were pot. Didn’t try it. One time at Nelson Ledges racetrack Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward stayed late at the track and cooked hamburgers for other racers. His motorhome was…nicer then mine.
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### Author:  [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)
#### Post date: [April 27, 2024, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-do-not-like-the-wilderness/1000483/117 "2024-04-27T18:41:34Z")
> [@Beckdawrek](#):
>
> There have been rabid coyotes. It’s best to steer clear.
It’s best to steer clear of any mammal acting oddly, because of the possibility of rabies.
But a coyote in its right mind isn’t going to attack a human, unless it feels imminently threatened and can’t get away. No more need to worry about them than about, say, raccoons.
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### Author:  [@Mr.Duality](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Duality)
#### Post date: [April 28, 2024, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-do-not-like-the-wilderness/1000483/118 "2024-04-28T01:44:10Z")
The [omens](https://cowboystatedaily.com/2024/03/26/wyoming-ticks-are-already-coming-out-entomologist-bags-53-in-minutes/) point to a record-breaking tick season this year.
““I finally stopped picking them up. There were more, but I was getting tired of picking them up,” he said.”
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