TOUGH CALL: Part One

It’s no news that things don’t often go according to plan. In considering this statement, it occurs to me that really NOTHING I have ever planned as gone as predicted. Often, these hiccups teach us a lesson, give us something to consider, but don’t necessarily interrupt our lives. Other times they can become huge inconveniences, with very real consequences. Interesting how something as mundane as the weather can place one in this situation.

The plan: A team of 10 women on Real Chicks Getaway complete a 15 mile hike and overnight camping trip, gaining 2000 vertical feet and camping at one of the most beautiful spots I’ve found in Colorado

The directions: bring rain wear, waterproof boots, warm clothing and a long list of other essential typical fall camping equipment. Each woman carries no more than 30 lbs. We have PLENTY of food, water and essential survival gear.

The forecast: 55 and mostly sunny for both the hike in and the hike out

The hiccup: my prospective co-leader becomes ill, leaving myself as the sole leader of the excursion

Pre-trip Solution: hiker in the front with a map, hiker in the rear with a map. All hikers are familiar with the trail on the map, the emergency skills each team member possesses (including a Wilderness First Responder, several police officers/firefighters and even a nurse…pretty stellar team, eh?), sign in at the trail head with start date/time and expected exit date/time and make sure several people back home know our itinerary.

Emergency plan: hike with a SPOT emergency locator beacon (review to follow)

The reality: Rain. Drizzle. Sleet. Snow. A LOT of it.

The tidbit: we ran into 2 guys coming down the trail. They had been the only other group to sign in with the same destination. They turned back after seeing an inch of snow of the ground upon reaching the top.

The turning point: at 1000 vertical feet and our halfway point, we can see our destination get socked in with snow.

The options:

A. Keep going. Make it to our initial destination, set up camp, cook and head to bed knowing the weather could go from bad to worse.

Those risks: getting too much snow could force us to wait for a break to hike out and/or cover our trail to    exit.

Those solutions:

• could include relying solely on our map/compass skills to get out,
• following the water back out (as our trail ran along a river between one lake and another),
• pres the “help” button on our beacon

The weather: I had asked my teammates to be equipped for fall camping, not winter. They were all pretty well prepared but it had also been raining all day and we were all a little wet.

B. Camp where we are.
Those risks:

• Missing our initial destination, potentially disappointing a group of women who had paid to be guided into the backcountry…to this destination.

So, before I tell you what decision we made…what would YOU have done? What questions would you need to ask? How do you make a smart, informed decision and how would you going about making that call, particularly if others are relying on you. Leave a comment and let me know.