Alaska is Terrifying.

As part of my job training today, I watched a presentation on outdoor safety that was entitled Alaska: If You're Not Really Careful, You're Going to Die.  OK that wasn't actually the title, but it should have been.  Why is that, you may ask?

Exhibit A: Bears.  Both black bears and grizzly bears have been known to fatally maul people, and they are everywhere.  On the trip to the lake this weekend, I saw two people openly carrying guns.  Yet, according to this article, only the .44 magnum is considered even "minimally effective" in the event of a bear attack (of the guns they test . . . rifles seem to work just fine).

Exhibit B: Moose.  Like bears, they get upset if you scare them or come between a cow and her young.  As many of you have heard me say, people in Anchorage have been stomped to death by moose.  Now, I still think this sounds mildly hilarious.  However.  It's a lot less hilarious now that I've seen moose in my front yard, and, even weirder, now that I've come across a baby moose (by herself!) in the middle of the trail when I was running this evening.

Exhibit C: Mudflats.  This one scares me the most, although death-by-mudflat seems really preventable, so it's probably the one I should worry about least.  Cook Inlet, which is the body of water right near my house, has a minimum of 37 feet of difference between high and low tide.  This is the second largest tidal difference in the United States.  When the tide is low, the mud packs, creating what appears to be a large beach that is really easy to walk on.  As the tide comes in, though, the mud becomes less packed, creating the equivalent of quick sand.  If a person were out on the mud when the tide came in, they could easily get trapped and then drown.  I'm preparing for nightmares this evening.

Exhibit D: Hypothermia.  Alaska has the highest fatality rate in the country with respect to canoeing and kayaking.  That's scary enough (see my last post for proof), but it's worse because these deaths are largely caused by hypothermia.  First, we learned that *even with a life vest* you've only got about 10-15 minutes in the water up here before you're dead.  But without a life vest, your muscles cramp up even faster and you drown.

I'm not fretting, though.  I work with people who have lots of outdoor experience, and I'm a naturally cautious person.  So I'll be trying my best not to do anything ridiculous.