Post by hangingtrekker on Jul 31, 2016 10:31:02 GMT -8
due to members of the group finding out they didn't "belong" in the woods? What happened and how did you handle it?
As I type this I should be finishing my last day hike of a trip, but I am waking up in my own bed with the AC on. We took off Thursday for a 3 day backpacking trip and some day hikes on day 4. The trip got off to a late start, which was part of the demise, but I don't think that really mattered as we went. We got packs on and headed out hiking about 7pm Thursday night. We had an hour and a half of daylight and about 3-4 miles to hike. It was slow going. We had a lot of gear and were going to hike in, set up a base camp, and maybe day hike the middle day, then hike back out the third day. I had my fly rod with me (first time on a backpacking trip), among other things. Once the sun went down on day 1 and we were "battling the darkness" trying to make it to camp morale dropped like a ton of bricks and I tried to keep heads level as best I could. We needed to find a place to camp fast.
One of the guys was ready to throw in the towel and hike back to the vehicle and sleep there. With his inexperience, I knew that was not a wise choice. We were, as it turned out, less than 3 trail miles from the vehicle, but beat down from not prepared to hike, in the middle of the night, with possible rain was about the worst time to "bail". Long story short - they decided to head for the vehicle regardless.
About 15 minutes later they found their way back to camp somewhat realizing the lack of logic in the decision and situation they were in. Good thing - about a half hour after getting camp set it rained - hard - for about 30-40 minutes and continued for quite a while longer.
The next morning they couldn't wait to get out of there. That was supposed to be our day of enjoyment in the woods - no packing out, just enjoying the great outdoors and returning to camp. We did breakfast and took our time in camp. This was the first trip I've tried to do eggs on the trail. After some bacon in the pan the eggs came out spectacular. So at least we all got off to a really good start with good food. They ended up hiking out ahead while I packed up camp - still couldn't wait to get out of there.
One of my cardinal rules backpacking is to stick together. I'm fine by myself out there, but no matter what kind of trip it is there is always safety in numbers.
We knew what the weather forecast was, I knew what the travel time was to get there, and that we were getting a late start. I tried to mentally prepare everyone on the way down. Though, looking back to the planning and to the start of the trip I suppose I should have anticipated the outcome more than I did.
With all the years I've been backpacking, if there is one thing I have learned it is that the planning of a trip is a rough guide, maybe just a location to get to. Having ideas of what to do and what to see are good, but until you actually get out there you won't know exactly how the trip will unfold. So I like to think of that as "part of the trip" and I enjoy that. It is part of the mystery, the "not knowing what we're getting in to" thing. So from that standpoint I am OK with the trip, but just bummed out my time in the woods was cut short.
As I type this I should be finishing my last day hike of a trip, but I am waking up in my own bed with the AC on. We took off Thursday for a 3 day backpacking trip and some day hikes on day 4. The trip got off to a late start, which was part of the demise, but I don't think that really mattered as we went. We got packs on and headed out hiking about 7pm Thursday night. We had an hour and a half of daylight and about 3-4 miles to hike. It was slow going. We had a lot of gear and were going to hike in, set up a base camp, and maybe day hike the middle day, then hike back out the third day. I had my fly rod with me (first time on a backpacking trip), among other things. Once the sun went down on day 1 and we were "battling the darkness" trying to make it to camp morale dropped like a ton of bricks and I tried to keep heads level as best I could. We needed to find a place to camp fast.
One of the guys was ready to throw in the towel and hike back to the vehicle and sleep there. With his inexperience, I knew that was not a wise choice. We were, as it turned out, less than 3 trail miles from the vehicle, but beat down from not prepared to hike, in the middle of the night, with possible rain was about the worst time to "bail". Long story short - they decided to head for the vehicle regardless.
About 15 minutes later they found their way back to camp somewhat realizing the lack of logic in the decision and situation they were in. Good thing - about a half hour after getting camp set it rained - hard - for about 30-40 minutes and continued for quite a while longer.
The next morning they couldn't wait to get out of there. That was supposed to be our day of enjoyment in the woods - no packing out, just enjoying the great outdoors and returning to camp. We did breakfast and took our time in camp. This was the first trip I've tried to do eggs on the trail. After some bacon in the pan the eggs came out spectacular. So at least we all got off to a really good start with good food. They ended up hiking out ahead while I packed up camp - still couldn't wait to get out of there.
One of my cardinal rules backpacking is to stick together. I'm fine by myself out there, but no matter what kind of trip it is there is always safety in numbers.
We knew what the weather forecast was, I knew what the travel time was to get there, and that we were getting a late start. I tried to mentally prepare everyone on the way down. Though, looking back to the planning and to the start of the trip I suppose I should have anticipated the outcome more than I did.
With all the years I've been backpacking, if there is one thing I have learned it is that the planning of a trip is a rough guide, maybe just a location to get to. Having ideas of what to do and what to see are good, but until you actually get out there you won't know exactly how the trip will unfold. So I like to think of that as "part of the trip" and I enjoy that. It is part of the mystery, the "not knowing what we're getting in to" thing. So from that standpoint I am OK with the trip, but just bummed out my time in the woods was cut short.
