Sunday, August 10, 2008

Tough Stuff

I like to pretend I'm tough stuff. I like to think that just because I grew up in Oakley and was outside more than I was inside, that I could survive in the wild if I needed. My mom did drag me on long and strenuous hikes in the Uintahs when I was just a kid and I think I picked up some survival skills there out of necessity. After falling off a cliff and hanging on literally by my fingernails to a projecting rock, weathering raging thunderstorms in a light backpacking tent, and even getting lost once or twice I feel that I might know better than some how to survive in the rockies. I also did a lot of camping and hiking in southern Utah and would hope I know a little bit about surviving in the desert. Just to prove to myself that I am not a complete idiot in the wilderness I took a couple quizzes and was pretty darn proud of my results. I scored 10/10 on the rocky mountain survival quiz and 9/10 on the Moab desert quiz. Let's see how you fare! (You'll have to copy and paste the links, sorry)
http://dsc.discovery.com/fansites/manvswild/quiz/rocky-mountains/rocky-mountains.html
http://dsc.discovery.com/fansites/manvswild/quiz/moab/moab.html
and here are some pics of my adventures both in the Rockies and in southern Utah.



8 comments:

Unknown said...

I like your tongue in that last picture. :)

Jenny said...

I wish I could say I were that tough now, but I've definitely become a softy in recent months.

Emily said...

you ARE tough. Those are awesome pictures too. Can I just pretend that's me scaling that cliff? I always wanted to be tough.

Allison said...

You definitely look tough in those pictures. Apparently I never soaked up as much knowledge as you did on all our camping trips, because I only got 7/10 and 9/10 on those quizzes. I guess I would survive better in the desert than the rockies!

Emily said...

Okay, so Nate and I have this ongoing debate. Are you REALLY tough? Or are you just totally GOOD at taking tests??????????

I say both.

Unknown said...

I was there for some of those pictures, and she is tough as nails (maybe not the stainless steel variety, but definitely a quality iron or brass nail). I got 9/10 as well because there was a question about a random plant, but yeah, how do you do so well on tests?

Unknown said...

hehe... I wonder how I would fare complimenting girls as quality iron or brass nails :)

I finally took the quizzes: 10/10 mountain and 8/10 desert. The most interesting answer, though, was the one about scaring snakes. I suggested pounding the ground to create vibrations, but the real correct answer turned out to be:

"Since you're above the treeline, you need to make a snow cave to survive the night. Dig a cave three times the size of your body into a slope that does not face the wind using whatever tools you have on hand or can scavenge. Then make a ledge inside the cave to sleep on. Also, be sure to smooth the roof of the snow cave to eliminate icicles that could drip on you as your body heat warms the air in your cave."

huh... so that's how you get rid of a snake.

Mandy and Brian said...

Haha, yeah I put the same answer and got the same thing, although it still said that I was correct...hmmm maybe we should get some snakes together and test the theory...