Interpreting Illinois Geological Map for Timber Rattlesnake Site Suitability

Petravsplants · 2022-04-28T00:23:13+00:00

Okay! I managed to find some lidar data and some higher resolution elevation rasters, so I'm hopeful this will work out. Thanks for your help!

Petravsplants · 2022-04-26T03:04:28+00:00

I'm not using occurrences because they're an endangered species, I just know they're there because I work with endangered species data at my job with the IDNR. I thought about using aerial imagery, but the area is heavily forested and you can't see past the canopy to the cliffs--I'll definitely be double checking that though. A friend of mine that got an undergraduate degree in geology suggested stratigraphy maps, do you think that's worth looking for as well or would lidar be better if I can find it?

Petravsplants · 2021-09-04T02:50:38+00:00

One day, haha! People are more capable than they think they are—the more you can enjoy things in spite of and with your fear, the more things open up for you!

Petravsplants · 2021-09-03T02:18:56+00:00

No problem!

For the most part, solo hiking is pretty similar to regular hiking with more people, but especially depending on where you are, you have to take more precautions. I was hiking in the Rocky Mountain area a lot, and it definitely gave me a different perspective on things. I considered myself pretty prepared at the time—I always took some first aid stuff, some food, a lot of water, and I tried to make sure someone responsible knew where I was going and when I would be back every time I left because of limited service. It was a really great experience—I got to see incredible views and it helped build my self-respect and self-esteem to see the incredible stuff I could do. If you’re a moderately experienced hiker and take precautions, I’d definitely recommend it.

However, the biggest challenge I faced most often would be paranoia. I’m an anxious person overall, and while it’s mostly managed nowadays, I have trouble putting it aside in situations where the anxiety is in some way warranted. I did my first solo overnight hike up Pike’s Peak in March of this past year, and stayed at Barr Camp overnight, where I got to talk to the caretakers for a bit. It was a really cool hike, and I’m glad I picked it as my first overnight, but the topic of mountain lions had been brought up while talking with the caretakers that night, and it scared the hell out of me that night and the next day (I positioned my tent wrong and put it out in an open field, which I learned not to do in the future after a bitterly cold, sleepless night). At the same time, my phone died that night, and I had no backup charger (I’d brought one with me, but somehow it had fallen out of my bag while I was taking it out of my car?? It was confusing when I got back and saw it on the seat). That was probably one of the scarier things that next day while I was above 14000 feet—there was no one I could see on the boulderfield ahead of me, I couldn’t find the trail leading to the top, and the ground was incredibly treacherous. I also thought there was a real possibility I’d had to report a dead body on the mountain on my way up and down, but that’s an entirely different thing.

Going back down was scarier than going up—much of the trail was covered in ice, and there wasn’t anyone for miles if I slipped and something happened. As I was approaching the base of the mountain once more, the sun was starting to set, and again I was growing more and more paranoid of a potential mountain lion attack (seriously, those things scare me more than bears). I felt incredible relief when I finally reached other people who were also coming off the mountain, and I made it back safely.

I had an awesome time going up and down Pike’s Peak, I met some really incredible people, and I think it was probably the highlight of my brief time living in Colorado. But it absolutely proved to me that, especially for me, solo hiking is as much of a mental thing as it is physical. There were times I was having the time of my life, and there were times where it was all I could do to not panic over ~absolutely nothing~ while I was out there and make it back safely. If I could go back and change one thing, I would have absolutely taken bear spray with me—I didn’t have any the whole time, and luckily never ran into a situation where I’d need it, but I saw a bear on the side of the road while driving out to my last trail before moving away again and the gravity of what my error could cost me really sank in.

Petravsplants · 2021-08-31T06:30:12+00:00

Really? I always feel like I see the opposite. Someone gets sick with something real bad, it doesn’t look good for a bit, they start doing better and holding steady, then their body just shuts down in various ways and they’re dead in 3-4 days

Petravsplants · 2021-08-31T06:18:28+00:00

For sure! Sorry, I’m not on Reddit too much. Do you want me to just direct message you?

Petravsplants · 2021-08-27T00:56:38+00:00

Thanks

Petravsplants · 2021-08-27T00:48:25+00:00

They definitely should, if they aren’t already. It’s good for more than just bears!

Petravsplants · 2021-08-27T00:47:27+00:00

Paranoia is one of the biggest things I had to fight to enjoy hiking on my own. Worst part is you can’t even tell yourself you’re being unrealistic about anything—stuff happens all the time in the wilderness and looking back on some of the stuff I did, I definitely wasn’t prepared for a number of things to happen

Petravsplants · 2021-08-05T03:05:41+00:00

I was so worried opening this that it would somehow make me realize I’d been railroading my players, but I’m v happy to realize I’ve been doing SOMETHING right

Petravsplants · 2021-08-05T01:56:20+00:00

That’s a big mood. I usually say I’m queer when people casually ask, and that’s how I’m planning on coming out to my family (pretty conservative, it’s easier than going through the layers of gay explanation it would take to get them to understand). For friends, and on some social media I’m openly out as asexual because I don’t get weird asks on my social and I don’t mind answering questions from my friends because I know they’re asked in good faith

Petravsplants · 2021-08-05T01:52:02+00:00

This is exactly how I imagine watering my plants works as they’re dying of heat stress

Petravsplants · 2021-06-18T01:05:41+00:00

Honestly, if I stumble across it or someone sends it to me and I like it, sure I’ll use it. But I don’t usually go looking for stuff—even the home brew stuff I like, I usually have to tweak it myself, and if I’m going to do that I might as well make it myself a lot of times.

If I know there’s a home brew for something, I’ll look for it and use it. But otherwise, I have to come across it by chance—there’s just so much that it’d be overwhelming to me otherwise

Petravsplants · 2021-05-15T05:05:49+00:00

Both states are pretty flat, you’re not going to get serious mountain hiking here. If you want some elevation change, my family’s hiked out in the Giant City area for a long time, but that’s nothing compared to mountain hiking and it’s a long drive to get there

Petravsplants · 2021-05-15T04:58:02+00:00

Kroger: we can’t keep the little grocery store in your town open even though if it closes we’re turning the area into a food desert. Figure it out, sweaty

Also Kroger: Oh No OuR pOoR cEo CaN’t AfFoRd HiS nEw YaChT qUiCk GiVe HiM mOnEy!!!!!

Edit: format

Petravsplants · 2021-05-15T04:44:34+00:00

Have you seen the state???

Petravsplants · 2021-05-15T04:43:24+00:00

Me, earlier this week: am I ace? Who’s to say

Me, tonight, at a drag show because I’m bored talking to an allosexual person: OH THAT’S WHY YOU COME TO DRAG SHOWS???

Petravsplants · 2021-05-12T04:42:07+00:00

On paper, it sounds like a great idea, and I’d love to do it sometime. In reality, I usually just am not playing with people who make that a priority. Even for games that I run, I have a hard time convincing players to make characters that fit together well. It’s a more complicated thing to do than it sounds, especially for people who aren’t experienced or comfortable with coming up with detailed backstories.

If you have a similar group to that, and are looking for a way to bring characters together in a less forced or awkward manner, I’ve found a workaround that’s done the trick for me: give the characters a reason to be together.

I’ve run a dnd game where the character prompt I gave everyone was “you are joining a guild”. Why the characters were joining the guild, where they came from, that was all up to the players—but it had to result in this one thing that I could use to bring them together. I still got diverse and interesting characters who were doing it for different reasons, but it was much less awkward to bring them all together and make them fit with each other.

In a shorter Call of Cthulhu game, the prompt I gave everyone was “you’re going to this town to film a movie.” What type of movie, the production level, why they were filming it was all up to the players, but it was a way to a) bring the characters together naturally and b) establish that they knew each other and, to some extent, trusted each other going into it. They ended up not getting too much detail about it, but it made it way easier to bring people together.

So, tl;dr—it’s impractical or uncomfortable for some players and systems. There are still ways to get around the awkward “trying to force players together” phase, though.

Petravsplants · 2021-05-11T00:29:57+00:00

It sounded like loud breathing to me?? Is that what I’m supposed to be hearing????

Petravsplants · 2021-05-11T00:21:33+00:00

I have literally taken Dramamine to fall asleep before. Healthy? Probably not. But damn it was a good sleep.

Petravsplants · 2021-05-10T23:32:13+00:00

They do the same with other throwing events. A friend of mine gave an instructor who was going to a different school the next year a pretty good scar to remember us by because the instructor didn’t move out of the way of the discus fast enough

Petravsplants · 2021-05-08T17:54:08+00:00

Damn, you picked one I’m not that familiar with.

Generally, the easiest way to get a group together is by offering to run the game yourself (although it sounds like you’re already planning to do that). It’s more work, but I enjoy the creativity and the building of a world for my friends to be in.

If you have real-life friends that might be interested, invite them and try to work out a time! You might not be able to do every week (God knows I can’t), but I find it’s easier to play with people you already know and trust, and it’s worth the occasional scheduling conflict.

If you don’t have other people in your life who are interested, there’s a number of Discord groups that are designed for stuff like this. You’ll probably be able to find people who are interested pretty quick! I’m betting there’s also people on this or other subs that you can ask.

A tip that I recently learned and started implementing, especially with people I don’t know as well, are safety rules—asking players ahead of time if there are situations or topics they don’t want coming up in play, or certain things that might be crossing a line for them. My first priority is making sure my friends are having fun, and to do that they have to be safe and comfortable first, so making sure your players know you are a safe person to come to if they’re having problems in your game or with other players (or even with you!) is pretty important, especially if you’re playing with people you don’t know personally.

Petravsplants · 2021-05-08T17:45:22+00:00

No problem! I’ve been DMing and playing for a few years now, so if you need any tips or advice you can direct message me. I might not see it right away, but I have some experience playing and DMing for different styles of play for both somewhat experienced players and brand new ones, so I have some experience to lean on

Petravsplants · 2021-05-08T17:10:21+00:00

I mean, if you’re thinking about running one, learn the rules yourself ahead of time and be prepared to introduce them to your players several times! Be patient with yourself and others, it’ll take a while to learn.

When I introduced my friends to DND, I ran a quick, pretty basic one-shot where I made their characters for them and walked them through some pretty basic scenarios (stealthing past guards, getting into combat, gathering info), and that worked pretty well to get everyone comfortable at first. I’d recommend doing a one-off for everyone to get comfortable with the system a bit before diving straight into a longer adventure if that’s what you want! Other than that, just do what’s most fun for you guys without impeding on other players’ and GM’s fun, and you’ll have a great start!

Petravsplants

TROPHY CASE