In Chapter 4, Bryson introduces how he feels, in general, when he walks in the woods. First, the woods make you feel vulnerable. They are unique in that trees surround you from all directions. Bryson comments on how if you are in the dessert, or a prairie, you can see the big space around you, but in the woods, you feels like you are in a "vast, featureless nowhere". (pg 44) In the summer of 2007 I went on a ten day backpacking trip with my Boy Scout troop to New Mexico, so I can connect with Bryson. When you spend so much time exclusively in the woods, you begin to notice how alive and wonderful it is, but also how intimidating it can become (especially at night). Even Daniel Boone said the Appalacian mountains were "so wild and horrid that it is impossible to behold them without terror".
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