Comments on: Technology, gear and decision making

By: Steve

Steve — Mon, 02 Mar 2015 17:27:45 +0000

It’s like the quote from the movie Top Gun, you have to know when to turn around and come back and fight another day.

By: Steve

Steve — Mon, 02 Mar 2015 17:26:23 +0000

It’s like it the movie Top Gun. You have to know when to turn around and come back and fight another day.

By: Paul Mags

Paul Mags — Mon, 02 Mar 2015 00:27:31 +0000

In reply to David. David, glad it worked out OK. Sometimes even the best prepared people can run into trouble.

By: David

David — Sat, 28 Feb 2015 17:16:48 +0000

Thanks for these thoughts. This topic has been on mind the last couple months since I came pretty close to staying out overnight in Big Bend NP in December with only dayhiking gear. My girlfriend and I set out for a about 14 (or 16, depending which sign you looked at) mile loop with a light and fast load (water, food and sweatshirts, essentially). We’re both trail runners, so the idea was to walk/trot the loop and get back to the car well before dark. Wellll, I had not realized how technical parts of the hike were, nor how nervous my girlfriend was on steep climbs and descents, so the hike took a lot longer than I planned, and we ended up getting back to the car about 30 minutes before sunset. On a night when there was no moon. On the winter solstice. And I had no confidence in my ability to follow desert trails with only a flashlight, so it would have been a long, uncomfortable night. The truly frightening thing was that when my girlfriend and I talked about this later, I was not able to convince her that we had been in any danger at all. I guess I’ll keep trying to teach her, and be more demonstrative about my concerns and the precautions I’m taking.

By: Paul Mags

Paul Mags — Mon, 23 Feb 2015 19:56:25 +0000

In reply to Darren. Very well. At least below treeline. Good space for two as well.

By: Darren

Darren — Mon, 23 Feb 2015 19:21:40 +0000

Great post!
By the way, how does that GoLite Shangri-La hold up in the snow?

By: Mandy

Mandy — Mon, 23 Feb 2015 17:43:50 +0000

You hit the nail right on the head. Sometimes I feel like our society believes that nature has been subdued, that we have the power to do whatever we want despite weather conditions. For example, every time I visit my beloved Capitol Reef NP during monsoon season, there are inevitably days where many of the washes and gorges are closed due to possible flash flooding yet there are still people going in, laughing at the signs.
Maybe it is because we live so separated from the elements on a daily basis as you discussed, but we need to remember that despite our gizmos and gadgets, when we are out in the wilds Mother Nature rules supreme and we are no more important than the ants.