my brother and I had been mountain biking in the middle of nowhere. We spotted the island and decided to cool off and swim to it. It was about 200 yards off shore and nobody was around. About 3/4 there I realized that it wasn't as easy to swim in waves as it appears. I was a good swimmer, but realized that my younger brother wasn't. I was wondering how I would be able to get him to shore if he cramped up.... We both survived, but had to bike to our camp in wet clothing.

#2. Back packing – got lost in Emigration Wilderness (near Yosemite) with my BIL. Decided to split up to see if we could find the duckies (no trail and the GPS wasn't working). After about 20 minutes we met back up. After going over a small hill discovered that my BIL was being followed by a black bear (about 20 yards way). It saw me (I'm 5'9") and ran away.... through the pass that we needed to travel.