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What Happens when you don’t Bring your Gaiters!

Last weekend I went on a wonderful weekends hiking with some friends. It was just awesome … the weather up until the weekend hadn't been great, for like three weeks beforehand, and it was looking like this would continue into the weekend. However, we got lucky! Come last Friday, the sun was shining as we headed out on our first hike of the weekend along some beautiful cliffs in Donegal, Ireland along the Atlantic coast.

An absolutely gorgeous day. The terrain there is quite rocky so nothing to much to be concerned about in terms of mud, bog or whatever. The following day we had a hike around a beautiful horseshoe shaped set of mountains. Again, the weather was stunning on Saturday morning, we couldn't have asked for a better day as we prepared our gear for the day out on the hills.

Errigal in the Background

Anyway, as I was packing up my stuff for the day, I was looking to see what I could leave out of day pack, it was a sunny day so thought I could lighten the load a bit in terms of gear to carry. I started looking and first took out an extra layer for warmth which I wasn't going to need, a lighter one I also had in the pack was enough.

Next up, my gaiters caught my eye. I looked at them and made a classic mistake. I looked up and saw nothing but beautiful hazy sunshine on a really hot day. Sure the mountains we were going into can be boggy as you traverse the valley basin to get up to the mountains proper but that didn't enter my mind … it was July, it was sunny and hot. Nah, I thought, I won't need them today.

Remember when I said at the start that it had been raining for the previous three weeks? Well, that was my classic mistake … taken with the beauty of the day I completely neglected what had been happening, in terms of the weather, the previous three weeks! It had been raining, most days, and raining quite a lot at times.

So, decision made, I left my gaiters in the place I was staying and headed out to the car to get to the starting point for the hike. From there we walked about 500 meters before we hit the valley floor proper and man oh man, even though it was sunny and hot, the valley floor was very wet and boggy! Of course, from all the rain previous three weeks, it would take days of the heat to burn it off a bit.

So, by the time I realized my mistake, it was of course too late. I had left my gaiters behind and I couldn't go back and get them as it was too far away. So, I of course just got on with things and did the hike. How did it turn out? Well, the hike was great, but not having my gaiters, My hiking boots and hiking pants took a fair bit of a bashing lol 🙂 as you can see in the photo below!

Muddy Hiking Pants

Conclusion

Moral of the story? Well, first, just always remember to be careful what hiking gear you leave behind, thinking you won't need it, you never know! Secondly, never forget what the weather has been doing in the time running up to your hike. If it's been raining a lot you could have a lot of saturated ground like I had or overflowing rivers, etc. There are all sorts of latent dangers and challenges that could develop from previous heavy conditions.

It didn't effect my days hiking thankfully and I had a great day out. However, I got a good reminder how easy it can be to add a bit more difficulty of your own accord. I also got a great reminder how absolutely wonderful gaiters are 🙂 A really great piece of kit!

First Backpacking Trip of the Year? Remember to Ease Yourself in

Last weekend I headed into the mountains for my first short backpacking trip of the year. A friend of mine suggested we head out to get a hike in on Saturday on the way to camp and another on the way back to the cars on Sunday. As we were in the mountains, it also was  great opportunity to practice some night navigation so we had that penciled in too.

The weather had turned last week and spring had definitely sprung. The temperature was on the up and it was to be pleasantly mild. Although a bit cloudy, the sun was expected to break for a few hours on Saturday and Sunday. There was to be rain but it was only to be on through the night so all in all, it looked like a reasonable weekend for spending a night in the mountains with some room for a couple of nice hikes on either side.

At the Campsite

I haven't camped since late October last year, so all my backpacking gear was packed away in the cupboards for the winter so I had to get all my gear out Saturday morning. I am not really a winter camper so I camp mainly from spring to autumn. With that in mind, it's always good to be getting the backpacking gear out as it means the days are getting longer and warmer which is always great.

As it turned out, a cousin of his also joined us so there were three of us out for the night. Saturday was fine, cloudy but no rain and visibility was reasonable. We had a nice hike in and made camp, it had been a while since I'd had camp food! My warmed up packet food is always my food of choice and it's a winner when I'm in the hills! Zero hassle to prepare which is right up my street!

Camping Food

So, all in all we had a nice couple of days and we made it back to the cars all good on Sunday, which turned out to be a really nice and sunny day. I thought I would share this in a post, as I actually got a little caught out with something at the weekend, so thought I'd add it in for others. What did I get caught out with? Well, that was, quite simply, not being used to camping for four to five months.

When we planned the hike, my friend said, we'd hike about 6 miles into the mountains to a good spot to pitch our tents. The spot looked good on the map and I was happy to run with it. I've also camped in that area several times before so if that spot didn't work out, I had a back-up spot about 2 miles away where I have camped a couple of time before, so not the end of the world if it wasn't suitable when we got there.

So all good … or so I thought. My friend has been out camping several times already this year so he has adjusted back into it. I haven't lol 🙂 When looking at a 6 mile hike into the camp spot on the map, I didn't think it would be a problem, six miles is not a big hike for me. However, I hadn't really factored in the 13 kg backpack I would be carrying!

Normally, this is not a big deal, but I haven't camped since October remember. So my body wasn't recently familiar with hauling a 13 kg backpack for three miles, never mind six! Again, no big deal, I was just a bit tired when we got to camp.

We headed out for a four mile night hike on top of that and then hit the hay Saturday night. As expected, the rain and the wind got up during the night, and as it was my first night sleeping on my awesome air mattress in five months. While it is normally very comfortable, I hadn't slept on it in five months and with the wind and the rain, it made for a pretty restless nights sleep I can tell you.

We got up Sunday morning and headed for another six mile hike on the way back to the cars on Sunday. A fine sunny day and a great hike. All in all, a great weekend was had, but boy was I tired when I got back to the car! After a two hour drive home I was a happy camper when I got back to my house and could collapse on my couch!

Conclusion

So, the moral of the story is? Well, if you haven't been out backpacking since last Summer or Autumn, it might be a good idea to start with a smaller trip first time out just to get your body back into backpacking mode. Heading out for six miles with a heavy pack after not being out in five months may not be the best way to get your backpacking trips started in 2017.

I still had a great weekend and it was great to get out for the first camp of the year. However, I was a happy man when my head finally hit the pillow in my warm bed on Sunday night lol 🙂 I slept like a baby I can tell you!

Carry Other People’s Rubbish Out Of The Mountains!

Yes, you read the title right. Today I am going to suggest to you that carrying out other peoples rubbish, that you find while you are out hiking on the trail in the mountains, is a really good thing to do.

Rubbish On The Ground

Some people may already be thinking that idea is just nuts but bear with me. Let me begin with a backstory that put this fresh into my mind recently and may provide some perspective on the key point I want to get across.

The Backstory​

Some weeks back I was back in my hometown​ visiting my best friend. He works in the outdoors and regularly takes people out into the mountains. Everything from school groups to individual paying clients, he does the full gambit.

Anyway​, he also has two young sons aged 9 and 7. They're great kids and just like their Dad, they love the outdoors. He had the day off and he had the two boys for the day as his wife was out visiting family. We decided we'd head up into the local mountains for a short hike. Nothing too strenuous but enough to get the kids out in the wilds a bit as they love it.

We drove up to a car park in the local mountains and then started to hike up to a small peak. When we got there, there were beautiful views to be had. It was a sunny Summers day and the view from the small peak out over the mountains beyond was just spectacular.

Beautiful Mountain Scene

As we stood enjoying the view, his younger son kicked something behind us and we heard a noise like plastic hitting off something. When we turned around, we could see he was kicking an old plastic bottle water bottle about the place.

Now, this wasn't his of course, nor ours. Someone had unfortunately dumped, or possibly dropped, an empty plastic water bottle, a regular one you buy in a convenience store. As we surveyed the scene, we started to notice a few other bits of rubbish. A chocolate bar wrapper, some other plastic wrapping and that kind of thing.

This is of course always very disappointing to see 🙁 While one piece of rubbish could easily just be an accident, several bits implies that people drank and / or ate their stuff and simply dumped their rubbish after they were finished.

This is a big deal! I have been on mountain peaks in many parts of the world and some of them are much cleaner than others. No matter where though, it is always really sad when I find rubbish left behind by people. It's just needless and inconsiderate on many levels.

Anyway, on with the story ... my friend got the attention of his two sons and sat them down and started to explain to them that finding rubbish on a mountain top is not a good thing. He explained that some people are stupid and they do this without thinking about the consequences.

He gave the boys a few examples like wildlife potentially choking on plastic wrappers as they try to get to the remains of a chocolate bar. Aside from that, even if not eaten, it is simply not good for the environment as the plastic materials could take years to decompose. Finally, he explained to them that it just isn't nice for other people when they come up to somewhere so special and have to find other peoples rubbish.

I could see the boys were very focused listening to my friend. He then said to them, 'what do you think we could do to help?' I saw the two boys thinking about it and then the older of the two said, 'we could take rubbish we find away!'​ My friend was very pleased, and proud of course, to hear his older son say this.

He told them that, that was exactly correct. He said that not all people are stupid and leave their rubbish behind, it's a minority for sure as most people respect the hills, mountains and nature. He went on to say that if every time they came into the mountains, if they made it their business to spot other people's rubbish and take two items off each, each time, then they would be doing a lot to help the birds and the animals and they would help to keep the area beautiful for other people to visit.

It was great to watch as the two boys got excited and ran around looking for bits of rubbish. Myself and my friend did the same and we put what we found into the outer pockets of our day packs. That was 8 items taken off that mountain top. We had to look around a bit, not too much, to get 8 pieces of rubbish but we found them, it's a popular mountain that is very accessible to the general public so sadly, not surprising.

And that was it, the two boys learned a great lesson which I don't think they'll forget in a hurry. And from now on, any time they go to a mountain top with their Dad, they'll look for rubbish to take off. If the three of them are there, that's 6 bits of rubbish potentially being taken off the mountains. That has got to cover at least 2 to 3 inconsiderate people who dump their stuff!

Conclusion​

Now, this is nothing new to me or likely to you. Most hikers are very familiar with Leave No Trace and go out of their way to not damage the pristine environment they get to enjoy. However, not everyone shares that point of view and are, well, just inconsiderate and selfish.

If every hiker reading this made a commitment to take at least one piece of rubbish off a mountain if they came across one, just think what that could do to help keep our mountains in good shape for us and future generations to enjoy. I know many people do this already, I like my friend, have been doing it for years.

So, if this is new to you, please think about doing this the next time you find a piece of rubbish out on the trail. It's not hard to pick it up and stick it in an outer mesh pocket on your day pack to carry out.

If you found this interesting of useful, please like and share :-)​

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Heading To The West Coast For Some Hiking!

Tomorrow morning I'm heading to California for the start of a two week trip. I land in Los Angeles and from there plan to make my way over to Sequoia via Santa Barbara. I am spending one night in Three Rivers, then on to Lone Pine to eventually head down through Death Valley to Las Vegas before finally heading back to L.A. to return home.

Virgin Narrows River in Zion National Park

I am really looking forward to the trip. I've never been hiking in California, Nevada or Utah before and there are so many wonderful places to go hiking, it's hard to make some final calls on what to do, I'll have to leave some stuff out. Just not possible to do everything in two weeks. I am really looking forward to the different types of landscape and so on, it will be awesome!

I of course want to do some of the classic sites if possible, the Giant Forest while staying at Three Rivers and the Grand Canyon while staying in Las Vegas for example. I also want to visit the gateway to Mt. Whitney when staying in Lone Pine.

I had toyed with the idea of trying to arrange to do Whitney but at this time of year, there's a fair bit of snow so it would be a much more drawn out and complex affair. I decided to leave it for another time. I'm still hoping to get in for some of the lower areas of the Sierra Nevada though or in and around Inyo National Forest.

While in Las Vegas I want to take a day trip or two to Zion National Park in Utah as well. Would love to do the Narrows hike, pictured above, but there might be too much run off this time of year, I will see. Angels Landing is another hike I am very keen to take a look at in Zion as well. I would be tempted to head to Bryce Canyon for a day or two as well but that might be pushing things a bit 🙂

Overall, I'm just really looking forward to it. I'll of course take in some of the city sites too of course. Not having been to L.A. before, I'll have to take a trip to Venice Beach, Santa Monica and some other well known and loved sites and tours. Similarly, while in Las Vegas, I'll just have to catch a good show and of course try my luck at a table or two. Not that I'm much of a gambler I hasten to add but it should be a bit of fun!

Conclusion

So yeh, just a very short post this week. Not a lot very informative in it, I'm just buzzed to be heading on the trip and I'm SO looking forward to the hiking trips. I haven't had time to really scope out the detail of every hike as yet but I have a broad idea of what I want to do. I do want to leave some room for spontaneity too though of course. If I come across something cool while I'm there, a nice hike in a smaller national park or that type of thing, I'll consider it for sure.

I've only started packing so I need to clock off and get organized. I'll no doubt be writing up some posts in the coming weeks about all the beautiful hikes I've done while on my trip. I'll be doing a lot of the famous ones but that's cool, no harm to add my personal experience about it. I could also link to any resources I find that are useful for you if you're planning a similar trip anytime soon.

All in all, this boy is excited and looking forward to the two weeks ahead 🙂

Start Planning Your Hiking Trips For The New Year Ahead

So, we're a few days into 2016 and with the champagne drank and some sore heads, no doubt, nursed back to health again, it's that time of year where things tend to get that bit quieter.

Happy New Year 2016

January is always a good time to take a step back and reflect, both on the year previous and what you might want to do or achieve in the year ahead. I did a post recently on making a hiking bucket list and so now is a good time to get that out and have a review of it. If you haven't made one, it's a great time to take a half hour and do it.

Looking down your list, you can see what grabs you and what trips might be doable in the year ahead given any resource and time limitations that you may need to adhere to. I was thinking about this myself the last few days and on a hike on Saturday, lot's of hiking friends were starting to do the same. Thinking about what trips to plan, what challenges to take on and that kind of thing. Lot's of great stuff was coming up, Kilimanjaro and Mt Toubkal to name just two.

It's definitely a great time to do it, it is just that bit quieter in January and I find I usually have more spare moments available before the frenetic pace of the year kicks in.

Myself, I have a trip to California planned in March / April. I haven't confirmed exactly what hikes I want to take on from my list but I have a wide range to choose from as there are quite a few in that part of the world that I'd like to take on. I won't get to them all on one trip, that's for sure.

Mt Whitney looks appealing but I'll need to do a bit more research on that first, check the weather at that height at that time of the year and that type of thing. Failing that, I'd still love to get one or two of the big parks in. The Half Dome in Yosemite would also be high on my list, but so is the Grand Canyon, Zion National Park and Bryce Canyon … to name just a few lol 🙂 You see what I mean, once you get started, there are any number of amazing hikes to consider!

Conclusion

It's just a short post today, it's the first week in January so I'm being lazy, still feeling the pressure from all that Turkey and Christmas Cake lol 🙂 I'm only kidding about that of course but I do feel lazy, it always takes me a while to kick back into the normal rhythm in the New Year after Christmas!

So, in summary, January is an ideal time to have a think about the year ahead and what you may want to do in it, both in general and in terms of planning hiking trips and / or challenges. You don't need to get the exact details 100% confirmed but a rough map across the year, a few inquiries into feasibility, checking on interest from friends, etc. All that sort of thing will help get a reasonable idea as to what items you may be able to tick off your hiking bucket list, and if you don't have one, it's a great time to create one.

I'll conclude by wishing you a Happy New Year as well as safe and happy hiking in 2016!