Guttin' it Out!

“We’ve all been there: 18 miles into a 35 mile loop hike and the world turns to crap. The weather sucks, you discovered you forgot your spoon (OK, maybe it’s just me that does this), and you dream of a warm bed. Do you push on or turn around? You push on. These are the trips stories are made of and they are the ones we remember the most. I have had times when I’ve cut a trip short and I don’t mind doing so usually. My buddy Mike (AKA Larry) is new to the world of discomfort. Coupled with the fact it has rained 4 out of 4 times he’s been backpacking with me and we find a pattern of pussing out forming. Last time Larry said, “I really don’t look forward to hiking wet all day and then camping.”. Neither did I but I wanted to tough it out.

A couple of my most memorable hikes were with Budder. The first hike we did was a fairly long loop trail where we (I) got turned around and we added a few miles to the trail. It was damp, chilly, the last half of the trail was a bulldozer path, and I was beat. But it was great! The second trip of memory was a 32 mile loop that made me feel like I wanted to puke my nuts up, but we gutted it out and it was very satisfying. These are the trips to be treasured.

Anyone else have a favorite hike where you found out what you were made of? Any where you had to turn back?”

“NEVER turned back.. and hope I never will.

nigal: "These are the trips stories are made of and they are the ones we remember the most."”

“Never turned back but I have changed plans while on trail. Kept hiking but not where I was planning to hike.”

“I don't mind hiking in the rain, but I DEFINITELY DO look forward to camping that night.

A hot meal, a change into my dry jammies, and a cozy, dry tent -
Man! That's something to look forward to!”

“i forgot my spoon on walkindude's blood mtn trip. i also forgot it at fiery gizzard.

the dude jinxes me!”

“Yep, thats the best.
Hiking in weather that turns most folks back and still being comfy and fed in camp.”

“Haha Rad! I told Mike/Larry he was just a black cat for me and I couldn't wait to take a nice warm sunny solo hike!”

“I cut my foot during a stream crossing on the second day of hiking the 100 mile wilderness in Maine. I was obscenely over-packed, carrying some of my 13 year old son's stuff, and had 11 days of food in my pack. The cut was nasty and and bled a lot. My son and I were making lousy time and he took for ever to get his bag packed in the morning (I had cooked breakfast, cleaned up and packed my stuff and he hadn't really made a dent in it).
I was bummed out that second night. I wondered how my foot would heal over another 90 miles of back packing, how I was going finish the trip without killing my son and breaking my back and how I was going to make it to the other end before I ran out of the food. we had made a little less than 8 miles on that first day.

I got a lot of use out of my first aid kit. I had a syringe that I could use to power clan the wound, and I used iodine tablets to make an iodine rinse that I used at least once a day. I kept it bandaged and made sure I always had a clean dry sock to go over the wounded it every morning. Whenever feasible, I took breaks to air my foot (included stopping in few shelters that we passed on rainy days). We ate the heaviest food first and had our trail legs pretty soon. By day five we were having a blast. Our mileage went up from less than 8 per day the first two days to over 30 in two days.
The scar on my foot looked pretty ugly for a while and it took a year for my toe to regain its shape... but I had a great time. For the next year, we picekd out a 150 mile stretch of the Maine AT and cut way down on our weight (from over 60 to the low 20s, with food and water... thanks partly to the availability of resupply places).

To me, what makes the ordeals of backpacking alright is that things are so simple. All you really need to do is get yourself and your stuff from one place to another. Being in great places with great people also helps.”

“"We ate the heaviest food first and had our trail legs pretty soon."

Isn't it great when you cross over from hiking in the woods to living in the woods? By the end of the trip the natural rythem of life is just a part of day to day living. You can't cature this on a weekend hike, ey?”

“I heard TownDawg use some lame excuse about losing a boot.

Anyway, my second trip ever was from Springer to Neels Gap. Hiking up Blood Mtn. on a Sun. morning we were still tanked (about 13 miles w/ too much wt.) from the day before. Near the top we run into Rady, gojo, and the gang. It was so nice to be told that the top was just two more switchbacks. I've never had lunch taste as good as it did that day.”

“Never, my hikes have always had the perfect weather, no injuries, nothing ever bad happened.


Except that trip we took into Montana from Cooke City to East Rosebud Lake. The first two nights the mosquitos were terrible. We put more miles in the day we layed over than any day we hiked. Had mosquito nets on all day. Kept moving around to get away from the mosquitos. Then the next day it rained for 24 hours, so we layed over a 2nd day in the same spot. Fomr then on things were perfect.

Except for the.............

LOL”

“I just started to git into backpacking recently. Last weekend, I hiked 17 miles - the Old Settler's Trail in the GSMNP. I got a late start (4:00), and hiked most of the way to the campsite in the dark. The stream crossings were a b****. It was hard to tell where the trail picked up, and a few times I kept on wondering if I was on the trail at all. I am too stubborn to turn back though, but I did consider camping out illegally (yeah, I'm a hellion). It was awesome!”

“One of my greatest death-marches was in the White Mountains in mid-December 1978.

My brother was in Cambridge, Mass and I drove up from DC.

We went in somewhere off the Kancamagas(?) Highway in late afternoon...of course.

The first five miles was an old timber rail trail and relatively easys grade.
We got to a shelter as night fell and the temp dropped well below 20.

The next day we hit the ten mile loop that took us UP.

As we gained altitude the snow got to be deeper and we only made about five miles with great effort.

That night we tarped in the trail at about the halfway point.
I fired up my SVEA stove only to watch it piddle out and die.....I had used auto unleaded gas on a cross-country motorcycle trip in '74 and that clogged the works.
The temperature dropped below 10.

The other SVEA worked a little better.....same fuel problem.

It was an awesome pretty and cold night.
We woke up with about half(bottom)our sleeping bags under four inches of powder but warm.

That last day we had ten miles in front and ten miles behind us.
We went ahead through knee-deep snow in the higher places, blazing our way.

The trail was hard to follow since the blazes were WHITE.
Clumps of snow on the tree trunks looked like blazes!

My brother and I took turns breaking trail and made it exhausted to the bottom of the loop.

We nearly killed the poor bastard who went with us.....named Larry.....but with out our youthful push that poor bastard would not have made it!
He followed our trail through the deep snow to civilization and beer.

We were ill-equipped and young.”

“Well put Nigal. You've got me trying to finagle time for a long hike next summer. SnowNymph's 30 day John Muir hike would be a great one to emulate.”

“Nigal, GREAT thread!

I have cut on two trips. The Zeleski one with you this summer. That was cause we had our 4.5 month old and both dogs. We definitely under estimated the work.

The second was On Isle Royale. We cut a 10 day down to a 6 day trip. The black flies were like a Biblical plague! I still tremble at the mere mention of them.

Generally I dont quit anything I have started (especially smoking). I try to stick stuff out especially when its sucks simply to build discipline. I do this with my running and especially my job. Theses types of challenges are no fun to go through but yield massive rewards in experience,humility and better planning.”

“Dayhiker, TD lost a boot but he sure didn't use it as a lame excuse. He finished the hike exactly as planned (daily milage, etc.) and without a single complaint.

The 2 worst hikes I've ever been on in my life:

North Fork Mtn trail in W. Virginia with Buddur, Buddha Bear and Gonzo. I had hamburger for feet. I had a great time.

Fiery Gizzard/Tennessee cookoff. Boot issues again and over-packed for the benefit of the largely ungrateful (but still deserving) pooch. I had a fantastic time.

Those who were with me on both can attest to that.”

“Yeah, I was just teasing him. I hiked the same trail a couple of months later. I still wish I had stopped and taken off one of my boots to take a picture of for him. It would have been great if I could've made it look like his”

“It made the ultimate sacrifice.”

“So what if you left your spoon....NEVER GO BACK!!!!!Anyway backpacking in the rain is fun to me...Sometimes.....:)”

“Oh, I kept goin'! That was the same trip I left my span brankin' new $60 Thermarest at home and slept curled up on a trashbag. Ate dinner with the handle of my toothbrush too.”

“Nigal, we will have to rember this thread when we are knee deep in snow and freezing LOL!”

“Turn back???? What for? I've already been there!!!”

“Rain, palmetto cuts in my shins and innumerable chigger bites on my ankles, back of knees and *other places* nearly dampened my spirits in the Ocala National Forest recently. But when the sky dried up, the sun set, the moon rose, the owls started to hoot, and my tuna helper was bubbling away on the Pocket Rocket I felt like I was right where I should be.”

“Last May my son and hiked into the Kern Canyon and it rained on us most of the day. We just kept pressing on and finally arrived at our destination, Little Kern Lake. After we set up camp, we explored the back side of the lake and the nearby Kern River. Before long the weather cleared up. We had a nice campfire the air was clear and the stars shown bright that night...we were very glad we decided to keep going.

The only time I have bailed... was this summer on the JMT. Not sure why but I came down with altitude sickness(never had it before) and on the 4th day still feeling like crap warmed over, We caught a shuttle bus from Red's Meadow to Mammoth and called home for a ride. I was very disappointed.”

“skully: thank you.. do you realize you are my best friend on here?”

“First day of the 30 days, 4000' el gain, near the end of the day my left knee had (really) sharp pains. I tried to deny it, but was worried about it. I didn't say much to SD about it til we stopped. The next day it was gone, but the pain was in my right ankle. That was gone by the 3rd day. I must "wish" my pain away. It just moves to another spot and later goes away. Didn't have much after that. Glad we didn't turn back.

PedXing, the JMT can be done in as little as 9 days. The guy from England that we met did it in 11 days. There was a guy doing a yo-yo at the time in 16 days or so. I heard he made it. We wanted to enjoy the time out there and do side trips.”

“Haha! Birch I know I’m packin’ preloaded Hex syringes!”

“Those braincells aren't just dead --- they're Exterminated and Fossilized.

I'll see what I can dredge up.

There was that Dayhike up to Clingman's Dome from Newfound Gap the first week of March. The AT was nothing but ice and roots. We had started late (of course) got to about an hour after dark.

We walked back down to the Gap on the road. Both of my bootsoles blew out.

FLAP! FLAP! FLAP! FLAP!”

“Birch said "Generally I dont quit anything I have started (especially smoking). I try to stick stuff out especially when its sucks simply to build discipline. I do this with my running and especially my job. Theses types of challenges are no fun to go through but yield massive rewards in experience,humility and better planning."

Dude, you should apply this to the smoking. The rewards are more "massive" than you can guess.”

“Can't possibly agree more. I quit about 14 months ago and I still can't believe how much better I feel.

Do it, Man!

You'll go bonkers for a few weeks but it's Well Worth It. Weird thing was, when I quit taking the Zyban, I didn't need the Nicorette gum anymore, hmmmmmmm...

Okay, I'm OFF the soapbox.”

“SnowNymph: thanks for clarifying... I'm really hoping to be out something like 30 days. I'm not sure how realistic that is with two kids at home and then in college.”

“"You'll go bonkers for a few weeks but it's Well Worth It"

I've seen birch on the wagon and rest asured it'd be sassafrass goin' bonkers! LOL!”

“Sounds like a good time for separate vacations, LOL! Send sassafrass & co. down the Colorado on a raft and turn Birch loose on a section of the JMT.”

“Lesubtil, tilt... I know I should quit. I try often. Only had 3 today. Its 3 too many but its 17 less than usual. Its a b!tch! But I have quit for months before and know that I will feel better and overcome the cravings in time. It just sucks at first.”

“ooooooooooh yes I know!

It's a Royal Damn B!tch if there ever was one.”