Date: 2005-12-17
To: Lessons Learned (so far)
Miles today: 0.0

It seems like every time I go out for a hike lately, I learn something new. Thought I would share a few things that may be helpful to any newbies that are even newer than I am!1.        Don¢t step on log water bars. Even though boots, ground, and log are all dry, this can still cause you to fall; my left knee will attest to this. 2.        Pitch tent tight, especially for rain. I set up my Zoid a couple of weeks ago in the yard and left it all day in the rain and wind to check it out, and realized I hadn¢t pitched it tight enough to shed the rain off the somewhat flat area on top of the rain fly at the foot end. Tightened things up and it shed the water quite adequately. 3.        Warm fuel canister with hands to improve flame power if sluggish from cold. Your hands will get cold, but at least your water will get hot! 4.        Put warm layers on before you are cold rather than saving them for when you are ¢really cold¢.5.        Camera remote only works to distance of 8-10 feet. I figured this out after trying 10-15 clicks with my tiny camera remote ¢ no picture. Then I got right up in front of the camera and it worked fine; oh yes, now I remember reading something about that in the manual¢¦6.        Ear band is not comfortable; makes my head itch and slides up off my ears ¢ I like ear muffs better. 7.        Silk weight Patagonia under hiking pants seems like just the right leg layers for me hiking in cold windy weather.8.        Batteries don¢t like cold weather. This one involves a story. About 3 or 4 years ago my son and I did a day hike from Spivey Gap south to Sam¢s Gap (NC/TN) the day before Thanksgiving. With the short November days, we figured we would have just about enough time to do the 13-plus miles to Sam¢s before dark, leaving Spivey around 9:30 or 10:00. Well, it would have been enough time, but it turned out to be a snowy day, mostly blowing, but with 12 to 1 inch of ground cover most of the way. Snow on the ground definitely slows my pace, but we had warm gear, lunch, headlamps with fresh spare batteries¢¦Lunch at Bald Mountain shelter was - cold! We had frozen sandwiches and frozen snickers and frozen I-can¢t-remember-what-else. The temperature stayed 22 to 25 degrees all day. Going over Big Bald in blizzard-like conditions was absolutely awesome! About 4 miles before Sam¢s gap I suggested to son that he go ahead and meet dad so he would know we were indeed coming, I was just going to take longer because of the slippery snow cover. I was not worried about hiking in the dark as long as I had my headlamp. A short while before dark I still had about 3 miles to go and I thought I should pull out my headlamp and have it handy. Turned it on to check it and there was only the weakest, faintest, tiniest glimmer of light. Well, no problem, I will just slip in my brand new batteries (though the current ones were fine this morning)! New batteries did not produce anything at all in the way of light. Panic! But only briefly. I sent up a very quick prayer, stuffed everything back in my pack and determined to get as far as I could with the twilight that was left. But since most of the next mile was uphill (this is the AT, after all) I was severely limited in how much speed I could obtain. I wasn¢t worried about getting lost since I have hiked this area many times, but I was worried about falling on a root or rock, especially on the 12 mile stretch of pretty good downhill, or walking into an eye-level branch. Oh, well, at least husband and son knew where to come find me if I never did show up at the car. There was certainly not going to be any moon or starlight as the air was completely socked in with snow and fog. Amazingly, I never got to the point where I felt like I couldn¢t see. Even though it was very dark the last 1 12 miles, there is something about snow that seems to give off its own light and I was able to see the solid white path quite clearly all the way out. Got in the car mumbling something about ¢who needs a headlamp anyway¢. After being home an hour or so I got out the non-functioning headlamp and it worked perfectly ¢ with either set of batteries. Batteries do not like cold temperatures. Next time in that situation, I will keep my headlamp in an inside jacket pocket as I expect that would make a big difference. Lesson learned! Merry Christmas! My next entry will be coming in the new year and I believe it is going to be a great hiking year for the AT Class of 2006!