I've taken a couple of weeks off from blogging, travelling to Oregon to Wallowa Lake State Park for an annual camping vacation with family and spending time getting ready for my first trail race which is taking place next weekend. I now feel prepared to run the Cutthroat Classic and put in a fairly respectable time. Even better though, my feet are prepared. A new pair of trail runners have eliminated my blister issues and I haven't had to tape my feet for several weeks. Life is good. And my CHS1 trip to Kendall Katwalk on Sunday was spectacular with a great group of folks who did an awesome job on a challenging hike!
This week I'd like to discuss a safety issue that you might encounter while hiking either with CHS, The Mountaineers, or even with a private hiking group. This involves the voluntary separation of a hiker from the rest of the party. There are two situations I want to talk about.
In the first situation, a member of a hiking party may feel unable or unwilling to make it to the final destination on a hike. This is not unexpected by hike leaders and we attempt to make plans to deal with these types of occurrences. If the weather is fine, then a hike leader might ask a participant to choose a nice place to sit and wait for the rest of the group to return, giving them an approximate time that they will return to that spot. If the weather is poor or the participant is moving slowly for some reason that day, then the hike leader might allow them to start moving back down the trail if there are no tricky junctions or dangerous trail sections.
In the second situation, there is a hiker who wants to deviate a bit from the established plan and separate from the group for a short period of time but meet up at a later part in the trail. This can happen when a hiker wants to start off earlier from a rest or lunch break to either do a party separation or wants a little more time to move over a challenging section of terrain. Hike leaders anticipate that this will come up occasionally and are usually willing to accommodate the request if it is reasonable. In this instance, it is particularly important that the hiker communicate their plan directly with the hike leader and not with another member of the group before they head out. That way, the hike leader knows what the hiker's plan is and is not left guessing what it might be based on the other hiker's recollection of the plan should things not quite work out as expected.
The important part for both situations described above is that once an agreement is made between the hike leader and participant on what will happen, then it is important to stick to the agreed-upon plan. The hike leader must be clear on what the participant will do (sit and wait at a particular spot, head down the trail slowly, or whatever), and the participant must adhere to that plan. Making changes to the plan such as waiting at a different point than the agreed upon one or starting to head back down the trail without telling the hike leader that you were going to do this causes a great deal of concern for the both the hike leader and the other participants. It can also lead to a great deal of unneeded effort to find the participant if they’re not where they said they were going to be.
So if you find yourself in this type of situation, please have a clear conversation with your hike leader on what you you will do, and then be sure to stick to that plan once agreed upon.
Hike Leaders: When needed, be sure to give clear instructions on what the hiker will do, so there is no misunderstanding.
End of today's safety sermon! Stop looking at your computer and get out there and enjoy this awesome weather!
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