I thought that April was supposed to come in like a lamb, but it's sure managed to be pretty fierce so far weather-wise. As I mentioned in last week's blog, Matt and I scouted a hike that I was co-leading this Saturday with another hike leader—Goat Lake. At that time it was totally snow-free. However with the wild weather we've been having this week, a lot of snow dumped on lower elevations and on Friday when I went to check and see if I could get the to the trailhead, the road just past Barlow Pass had almost a foot of snow on it and the white stuff was still falling! I couldn't even get to the trailhead safely. So reluctantly we chose another lower destination—the Lime Kiln trail just out of Granite Falls. For all of the wild weather we had on Friday night and the gloomy-looking skies on Saturday morning, we had a remarkably dry and lovely hike on Saturday morning. The Stillaguamish River was raging in its bed and was a lovely silty gray color. We enjoyed listening to it as we walked along the old rail trail, past the abandoned lime kiln and to the end of the trail where the old railroad bridge over the river is long gone. We sat by the river and had a snack and took many group photos. We were done around noon and headed for a snack of pizza at Omega Pizza in Granite Falls. A lovely morning spent hiking with new friends!
The volatility of this last week's weather spawned the subject of my blog topic this week—hike safety and enjoyability. The best made plans can sometimes be interrupted by events outside of human control—severe weather patterns, damaged roads and trails, high water, bad traffic, and other factors. It’s always best to have a Plan B when unplanned circumstances arise.
Yes, Goat Lake is a great destination and I'm really sorry we couldn't go there, but taking a chance to go there would've meant the potential for folks to get stuck in the snow driving the trailhead; or even if we could make it there, losing the trail in the snow and getting lost or having someone get injured in cold and windy conditions. The pain of these possible bad outcomes overshadowed the benefit of going to Goat Lake. When you find yourself in a situation where you are weighing whether to go with the original itinerary or finding a fallback destination, always be sure consider the risks versus the benefits of either plan. If the risks are probable and outweigh the benefits, then make another plan that will achieve the same benefits without the attendant risks.
Several years ago, Matt and I had a plan to hike the Walt Bailey trail off of the Mountain Loop Highway. We'd never been there before and it sounded like fun. We drove all the way up a long dirt road to get the trailhead. We were all geared up, about ready to head up the trail, when other hikers came back down the trail and announced that they had just seen a mother bear and a cub sitting on the trail not far from the trailhead. Normally I don’t fear seeing a bear on my trips—I have seen them several times, but they weren’t a mother/cub pair sitting right on the trail. We weighed the risk of running into the pair (fairly likely given the information these hikers were telling us) versus the benefit of hiking a new trail we'd never been on. We realized that there were other trails nearby we'd never been on that we could easily backtrack to, thus avoiding a possible encounter that may not have ended well.
Much of my knowledge of risk/benefit analysis in wilderness situations is learned from author John Graham in his excellent book, Outdoor Leadership. I have even borrowed some of his terminology in this writing. Even if you're not interested in ever leading any type of group out into the wilderness, this book has a lot to teach you for your own private trips and I highly recommend it. The chapter on Making Good Decisions is one that I read over and over again.
Good decisions are made before you even step out the door to drive to your hike. The decision to always carry full gear in your pack (Ten Essentials—including the map—rain gear, warm clothing, and adequate food and water) is one you should always make regardless of the trip you are going on. Your hike leaders will be emphasizing pack gear this month. Be sure to use this information to assess how you can improve your preparedness with the gear you carry in your pack.
CHS Pictures:
If you took any pictures on your hike this weekend, please be sure to forward them to chshiker2008@gmail.com to post them on the picture site for everyone to view. Be sure to include the name and date of the hike in the subject line. You can access the picture site through the CHS Web Site or directly by going to http://picasaweb.google.com/hiker.chs.
April Hike Signup:
All April hikes are available for signup for more than two hikes now. Feel free to go on as many hikes in your pacing group as you want. There is still space available in the following hikes:
CHS1:
4/11 (Sun.)—Heidi Walker/Michael Walker, Greenwater Lakes (5.5 miles, 500’ gain)
4/18 (Sun.)—Shep Griswold, Carbon River Road/Ranger Falls (8 miles, 1,000’ gain)
4/25 (Sun.)—Anna May Brennan/Steve Payne, Point Defiance (9 miles, 100’ gain)
CHS2:
4/08 (Thu.)—Sue Shih/Jan Davis, Lime Kiln Trail (6.5 miles, 450’ gain)
4/24 (Sat.)—Barbara Folmer/Jan Pecoraro, Little Si (5 miles, 1,200’ gain)
Have a great week and looking forward to hiking with you sometime soon!
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