[Carolina]

Perhaps those who grow up in more open country (like rural England) become fearful when they cannot see the horizon.

People who move here to our heavily-forested part of NC comment on feeling claustrophic at first, not being able to see the horizon and having to crane their necks to see open sky.

[HairOfTheDog]

Yes, as a Western Washington native, I do not inately fear the forest, but my first horse, a wild-born Mustang from the desert, did. He was forever fearful of close places where a view of any distance was hidden. From what I have seen of pine forests, your pine forests are even less tangled than our mixed woods. Our forests are thick with undergrowth, and one could not travel through them without a path.

In that way, I am familiar with the disappearing nature of the paths in the Old Forest. paths I may stumble on here, made by deer and other critters, meander and disappear, leaving you know choice but to crash through ahead or turn back.