[Paddlewise] 3 Mistakes when camping

I'd echo much of what's already been said. I'd add these FWIW.

1.  Failure to adapt.  Maps lie, gear breaks, companion's attitudes
waver, energy rises and falls, weather happens.
      Focus on gear and technique often places a thicker distance
between us and the environments we encounter.
     I've known people to nearly wander off cliffs their maps said
couldn't exist, seen people at trailheads calling Garmin
     Customer Service on their cell phone to explain to them why their
GPS didn't match up with the posted markers,
     observed people heading out into very cold water and iffy
conditions w/o being dressed for immersion because their double-wide
kayaks
     "never tip".    Darwin is right....those who don't have the skills
to adapt are most likely the first to exit the gene pool.

2.  Learn to recognize pleasure.  Start small. The bigger pleasures are
usually an aggregate.  Enjoy the physical cadence
     of making your way through a small part of the world, relish the
mental and emotional challenge of negotiating time and space.
     This sounds far too metaphysical....but the truth is that most of
what I gather and retain from my ventures is a collection
     of smaller experiences that lead me to feel better, more often,
over longer and longer periods of time.  This doesn't require
     the purchase of any particular gear.

3.  Take conscious time to pay attention to the task at hand.  Lists
help you to remember.  Methods help break the larger
     tasks into smaller, more readily accomplished and repeatable
sequences/steps.  If you find yourself worried about a crossing, or the
weather,
     and you are trying to pack up camp at the same time, you're not
giving either the full measure of your focus.  Once I was caught in a
high camp
     as a furious lightening storm approached.  Rather than finding
refuge in the thicker woods a few hundred feet below, I hurriedly tried
to break camp
     to hike out...my bear-bag line was snagged in the one tall tree
near by, and as the gunshot was going off around me, I yanked by 'biner
weighted
     line with all my might. It sproinged loose, whizzing straight for
my scalp and opened a lovely, gushing head wound than had to be treated
before
     we could make a safe zone out of the storm.  Small casualty
resulting from not paying attention to bad decision making that might
have caused
     a much more tragic result than my bruised ego.  I could swear I
heard the whistle telling me to get out of the gene pool.

     If weather and conditions concern you, make the time to deal with
those concerns in a rational, reasonable manner.  Give everyone
     ample time to work through their own process and voice their
concerns or decision.  If a beginner is worried about
     facing rough conditions, and everyone else is hurriedly packing
camp to 'get underway', the momentum is on going, and
     you've just upped the chances that a chain of events might unfold
off your group's weakest link.  Bad idea.



-will


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