Mountain Lions...in the North East? (Prompt # 12, Ch 16)

"In the late winter of 1994 a farmer in Vermont was walking across his property, taking some seed to a bird feeder, when he saw what appeared to be three mountain lions about seventy feet away. He stared dumbstruck for a minute or two--for mountain lions are swift fierce creatures, and here were three of them looking at him with calm regard--then hightailed it to a phone and called a state wildlife biologist. The animals were gone by the time the biologist arrived, but he found some fresh scat, which he dutifully bagged up and dispatched to a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Laboratory. The lab report came back that it was indeed scat of Felis concolor, the eastern mountain lion, also variously and respectfully known as the panther, cougar, puma, and, especially in New England, catamount." (pg 201-202). This story was included in this chapter because Bryson was currently walking where the initial mountain lion sighting was. The mountain lion sightings were significant because mountain lions were thought to be shot out of existance. Bryson did not believe that he was going to be attacked by a mountain lion, or even see one; however, he kept his knife in his pocket and made sure it stayed there.

"'Chicken John!' Chicken John was famous. I was quite excited. Some people on the trail take on an almost mythic status because of their idiosyncrasies. Early in the trip Katz and I kept hearing about a kid who has equipment so high-tech that no one had ever seen anything like it. One of his possessions was a self-erecting tent. Apparently, he would carefully open a stuff sack and it would fly out, like joke snakes from a can. He also has a satellite navigation system, and goodness knows what else. The trouble was that his pack weighed about ninety-five pounds. He dropped out before he got to Virginia, so we never did see him." (Pg 206) I think that Byrson chose to talk about the "famous people" on the trail because he wished he was one of them. However, after telling why they are famous and what they have done on the trail, the people do not seem so special. The high-tech guy dropped out. Chicken John did not really know what he was doing. He didn't know how he got his nick name. He constantly got lost and, one time, was even thirty miles away from the trail. I think Bryson may have added this just to be like hey these people aren't that great.