My son's first wife was from Brazil but she had never been in truly wild country before like parts of the wilderness of California in the mountains. I had taken them up to slushy meadows near Mt. San Gorgonio which is over 11,000 feet which I climbed to the top in December of 1969 when I was 21 which was almost fatal for me then because of extenuating circumstances.
So, we left late in the afternoon but I brought drinking water and protein bars and nuts for us to munch on because I knew we wouldn't be back until after dark. I also brought flashlights but neither my son or I realized this wasn't something his wife had ever experienced. Being in a real wilderness with mountain lions present and bears.
So, as it got dark it dawned on her that it was getting dark and she got very scared and I realized my son and I probably had made a mistake in bringing her because she was completely terrified to be in the wilderness after dark.
So then, she started making terrified sounds that sounded exactly like a dying rabbit. I had to tell her to stop making that sound because that would really draw mountain lions to us that particular sound and other predators.
This scared her even more but we didn't have any weapons so I grabbed a large heavy stick in case a predator came for the sound. But I did get her to stop making that sound finally.
So, we put her between my son and I and he led and I brought up the rear so she felt safer after that and everything turned out okay. I think I even gave her one of the flashlights because it was dark and it helped her cope with the dark.
My son and I have really good night vision so we are capable of walking through the dark as long as the terrain isn't too uneven usually, especially then. This was the early 2000s when he married his first wife.
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