As someone with a bit of familiarity with hostile environments I'm curious, do you have a preference for the sort where Mother Nature is out to get you or the ones where it's the people who are making it hostile?
You ever get a chance to camp out in bear country?
This is a good question.
People are predictable (mostly) so can be easier to deal with if someone has the skills and equipment. Having said that, humans are capable of doing terrible things.
Nature is less predictable but doesn't think, it just is, meaning it does what it does...the wind blows, the rain falls, a lion wants to hunt and eat and so on.
With that in mind I'd say mother nature any day...I back my skills in either situation but I think nature is preferable because people are fucken assholes sometimes.
I've camped in koala bear country but I don't think that counts as those little buggers aren't really dangerous...the worst of it is a sharp claw during a hug! So no, I've not camped in bear country, just loads of other dangerous places. How about you?
When I was typing it out I was certain I'd go with people, but the more I thought about it the less certain of that I am. Mostly having the option of fighting back is what appeals to me I think.
Quite a bit, mostly black bear with a little bit of time in grizzly country. It's not particularly dangerous, probably stand a better chance of stopping a round here in the city, but you have to secure all your food/scented items in a bear-proof container. That's it's own sort of planning and discipline, one I've discovered escapes a surprising number of people. They're not overly large, you talking about food reminded me of the tradeoffs you make for that.
Yep, I agree that the fight-back is an option and there's no point doing so with a twister or earthquake. People though, I guess I'll choose nature over them most of the time. My cat for instance, she's better than most people I know. Lol.
As for bears, I have read about the food storage thing and it makes sense. In my head though, I have bear attack images from the move, The Revenant. Great movie. Koala bears don't attack like that.