Plan Ahead and Prepare....NOT!

*Picture from a recent trip to Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Tennessee

Last Sunday was one of those beautiful, warm, sunny, late winter days that makes you long for spring. Having been on the road for the past week at a meeting in California, I wanted to get out, stretch the legs and go for a hike with my son. I was thinking about a favorite hike, Gregory Canyon, because it's relatively long (about 4.5 miles) and traverses some beautiful country. I had also settled on this particular hike because it's in the trees and I knew it would provide shade for my son since he was going to be riding in a kid carrier. My son, my dog and I hit the trail and within a few hundred yards, I quickly realized that I was sorely unprepared (and I'm an Eagle Scout!). I had on the wrong shoes and was in a slippery situation, literally. Recent snow in Boulder had blanketed the trails and the tree cover had kept the trail icy and snowpacked. I didn't have on shoes that could grip the trail and I began to worry that we wouldn't be able to safely make it down the trail. I made the decision to keep going up and make a loop out of it, banking on the south facing part of the trail being thawed. Boy, was I wrong. It' took a full 2 hours to complete just a short 2 mile loop (I decided not to do the entire trail). "Never again" I said. On our way home I stopped by the local hardware store and bought an arsenal of hex head sheet metal screws to turn my hiking shoes into studded hiking shoes. This is something that I had been thinking/talking about doing for, oh, about 7 years. However, it took putting myself and my son in a precarious situation before actually really preparing myself. It all goes back to the importance of being prepared for what you're either likely to or will encounter on an outdoor adventure. Learning lessons the hard way is effective but in the future I'll be ready for anything!


* My "new" snow/ice hiking shoes.