Are You Prepared?
I found myself yesterday in the middle of a steep hiking trail on a beautiful day, with Blue, my blue heeler. The trail wasn’t slippery and it wasn’t long. I had the forethought to wear my winter hiking boots but I didn’t bring my micro spikes nor the snowshoes. They’re a prerequisite for winter hiking in the Adirondack mountains that can literary save your life.
At the house, I imagined the trail to be flat. When I read the description earlier in morning before I left, it said it was an easy 3.3 mile trail suitable for families. I said to myself, “that’s perfect!”. I’d been taking walks around the block and there was no ice to worry about at home. When I arrived at the trailhead parking lot later that day, I immediately saw the steep trail. I had driven an hour to get there so I decided to give it a try. It wasn’t slippery; just packed snow on the trail heading upward.
I was a scout growing up. I’ve also been both a Boy Scout and a Girl Scout volunteer as an adult. The scout motto is Be Prepared. This is similar to the Ask Yourself questions on the Method of Procedure at work. The idea is that of you ask yourself a series of questions, and they will trigger an interrupt to stop you and verify if you are prepared for whatever task you are about to begin. Do you know why you are doing the task? Do you know what gear you’ll need in the woods?
Hiking in general, but especially during in the winter in the Adirondack mountains, calls for you to be prepared to spend the night in the woods. The temperature in the mountains can drop precipitously throughout the day. You can end up on the top of peak on a perfectly clear day only to find yourself minutes later in a whiteout not being able to find the trail markers. Seasoned hikers know that to be prepared, you will need specific gear. Gear to keep you warm and dry, extra food, extra water and purification, shelter, headlamp, navigation (map and compass), first aid, fire starters, a knife, and shelter. Even on a day hike, a person can get turned around and lost. Don’t expect someone to rescue you. Every year hikers call out for help because they weren’t prepared or their skill levels weren’t up to where they needed to be. Some hikers don’t ever make it out of the woods.
Humans are really good at underestimating the situation ahead and that gets us into trouble. That’s what happened to me. I assumed I wouldn’t need those micro spikes. The consequence for my lack of planning and my desire to proceed with hiking was that I found myself half way up that steep trail and then realizing that I was going to have trouble making it back down. I began to think about what was coming next. I was going to have to walk my leashed blue heeler back down that trail. Blue loves to go fast. In the end, I had to find many ways to convey to Blue that she needed to take it painfully slow on the way back. Being the ever forgiving companion, she complied with my requests to take it slow. We made it back to the car in due time. I was safe this time from impending harm, already thinking about our next adventure to come.
The mountains will always be there.
Linda Salzer is a Senior Network Engineer working to pivot towards a technical Product Manager position.
