Trail of Fails

dougo83

dougo83

Joined
Feb 28, 2008
Messages
4,834
Well...I finally got out yesterday. I have been out here in San Angelo for a month and yesterday was the first chance I've had to get out and do some hiking. I went to the State Park and it was...an experience. Sitting back and looking at my brief (5-6hr) jaunt, I can't help but laugh...it was a comedy of errors. I just wanted to post it, pics will come later, and see how many of you have had similar days in the woods.

First off, it started with my alarm not going off, so I didn't get out of my apartment until about 10 a.m. I wanted to get an early start because it was my day off. Then, I got crappy directions to the park and ended up going a good twenty minutes out of my way to get there. Oh...before I even left, I did my pre-hike ritual of unpacking all my gear and re-packing it to make sure I have everything I might need and I jacked up the zipper on my CamelBak. :mad:

I get to the park and realize I don't have any cash on me to pay the $3 entrance fee. They don't take CC, so I have to drive back out and get cash. Awesome. By now it's a little after noon and I am already debating just going back to bed. I FINALLY get into the park and find the trailhead, so I strap on the CamelBak and go. About 3 miles into it, I start feel hotspots on the bottoms of my feet. Weird, I know, it's never happened to me before. I stop and re-adjust, check my insoles and continue on my way. All is fine and good for about the next hour of hiking until they pain starts cropping up again. So I stop to sit down and take a look at my feet and REALLY inspect my boots/socks. This is when I found out, by the sharp pain in my thigh, that my Kershaw Scallion had come open in my pocket. The "safety" broke again and caused the knife to jab into my leg when I sat down, causing all kinds of pain and blood. I throw off my pack to get my FAK and find that it is no longer attached to my pack. :mad: So...I am left with a choice, turn around and go back or just keep bleeding and hiking. I inspect the cut and it doesn't look too bad, so I continue on. After about another 30 minutes, I decide I want some chow. My mom bought me a nesting kit from REI for Christmas, so I packed it to try it out. I got everything set up in a flat spot. My WetFire burner and tablet, metal cup, soup is ready to go in. AND I CAN"T GET THE DAMNED THING TO LIGHT!!! That's right, it's too windy to get the WetFire cubes to light. So...I eat the soup cold :barf: and continue on. The whole time, I have been taking pictures of the West Texas landscape: plants, prairie dogs, snakes, birds, a butterfly who flew beside me most of the way, and...I got some video of two male roadrunners duking it out...except I DIDN'T. My batteries died, so I missed out on that.

By this point, it is starting to get a little dark outside, so I decide to head back. I am pissed, sore and still seeping a little bit of blood, so I hike back to the truck. I get back and toss all my gear in the bed of the truck and decide to swap out my boots for a pair of slippers. That's when I find my FAK, laying on the back seat of my truck. I clean up my leg and go home.

Ordinarily, my hikes are relaxing and a great chance to get out in nature. This one, however, just pissed me off. Anyway, I thought I would share my tales of fun. I love the woods and I will probably go back tomorrow, but these kinds of days really put a damper on things. Anyone else have one of these kinds of days?
 
Awww man, sounds like a real comedy of errors. Well, I hope it seems funnier to you, as more time passes. ;)
 
Heck that sounds pretty normal for me :) you mean most people arnt as unlucky/inept as I am? I am laughing with you not at you.:)
 
Sounds like a Greek Tragedy! I do hope you are laughign more easily about it now.

I took my wife and kids on a hike awhile back and we were using the cool app on my sons phone to get there. It led us up a mountain and then off on ever smaller roads on the side of a mountain. Finally ended up on a jeep trail with deep soft ditches so I could not turn around- did a pretty good mud hole in my 2004 Trailblazer only to find a spot to turn around(with a spotter) and go back though same hole. Then brakes over heated due to grit and grime in the pads, so had to flush that out. FINALLY got back to Mountain Lake Resort(spot where they Filmed Dirty Dancing) and asked one of the employees where I was. She asked immediatley if I was using a GPS to get to the Cascade Falls hiking.... seems GPS often likes to take folks down an OLD logging skid trail(the one I was on). So much so the folks at Mountain Lake made up a map to get from there to the Falls...... using Highway 460!!!!!!!!

:) I have a few times forgotten utensils for noodles but a shaved stick works just as good so no drama there.

I forgot part of my gear at the top of the mountain once and had to do the hike again from the parking lot to go back for it, finished well into the night....

Bill
 
If it weren't for the unexpected, getting "out there" wouldn't be half as much of a challenge. Or fun! Yeah, do it again, rinse and repeat. I don't do a trailhead check (or launch check) as often as I should, or as thoroughly as I should. I never fail to forget something. A coffee cup (drink coffee from a bowl sux), fishing license (don't fish then but have the gear with me... prima facia for a ticket), a missing tent pole, no bacon or something else as mundane but pesky. I don't use a GPS, but yahoo map it directions usually are not too far off for the areas I travel. Of course a physical paper map is always a good thing to have.

I am glad that you found a nearby park to explore though. The staff there are good candidates for info on other places nearby. And shooting the breeze with them often results in a lot of obscure info about the area you are planning to hike such as trail difficulties, least hiked areas, special points of interest and history of the area. Most of them are pleased to discuss their park with those who show special interest as they have a "pride of ownership" of sorts.
 
Sucks but at least you learned something about your boots and your cook setup. I carry a small strip of duct tape wrapped around one of those fake credit cards you get in the mail in my wallet. It's come in handy a few times with hot spots on the feet. Even when walking in the city.
 
Shotgun said:
Sucks but at least you learned something about your boots and your cook setup. I carry a small strip of duct tape wrapped around one of those fake credit cards you get in the mail in my wallet. It's come in handy a few times with hot spots on the feet. Even when walking in the city.
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I don't understand the boot thing. I guess it was crappy socks. I have never had any issue with these boots.
 
wetfire has an expiration date too. i found that out while watching youtube awhile back for fak and a poster casually mentioned it...i checked and sure enough all the ones i have will no longer light even with a bic lighter indoors...lesson learned - i'll stick with pjcb and fatwood for emergency tinder.
 
JV3 said:
]wetfire has an expiration date too[/B]. i found that out while watching youtube awhile back for fak and a poster casually mentioned it...i checked and sure enough all the ones i have will no longer light even with a bic lighter indoors...lesson learned - i'll stick with pjcb and fatwood for emergency tinder.
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A very good thing to know.
 
Looking forward to the pictures. I don't know if it would be cost effective for you but they used to sell yearly passes to the state parks.
 
JV3 said:
wetfire has an expiration date too. i found that out while watching youtube awhile back for fak and a poster casually mentioned it...i checked and sure enough all the ones i have will no longer light even with a bic lighter indoors...lesson learned - i'll stick with pjcb and fatwood for emergency tinder.
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I just looked at my wetfire pack...Theres no expiration date on neither the package nor the tabs. Does yours have a printed expiration date?
 
Thanks for sharing your misadventures. Sometimes the trips that go awry are where the lessons are best learned. Maybe its time for new insoles for your boots.
 
LOL!

That's what "Survival" is, pushing through and learning to make due and do without. It's not just about buying a bunch of shiny gear. :)
 
JV3 said:
wetfire has an expiration date too. i found that out while watching youtube awhile back for fak and a poster casually mentioned it...i checked and sure enough all the ones i have will no longer light even with a bic lighter indoors...lesson learned - i'll stick with pjcb and fatwood for emergency tinder.
Click to expand...

These are brand-new and it lit fine in my kitchen. It was just way too windy. But thanks for the heads-up. I never would have checked.

Bo T said:
Looking forward to the pictures. I don't know if it would be cost effective for you but they used to sell yearly passes to the state parks.
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My dad and I usually buy the dual-vehicle pass. I just haven't done it yet and it's my year to pony up the cash.

Bob W said:
LOL!

That's what "Survival" is, pushing through and learning to make due and do without. It's not just about buying a bunch of shiny gear. :)
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Yea...all of my gear is pretty well beaten up. I am glad I got out and did this because I am planning on taking my youth out there soon for a campout.
 
A Series of Unfortunate Events
and a quote from movie,in this case

You could trip over the welcome mat and decapitate yourselves. ;)
 
PropThePolecat said:
I just looked at my wetfire pack...Theres no expiration date on neither the package nor the tabs. Does yours have a printed expiration date?
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i don't have the original box anymore just individual wraps and there's no expiration date printed anywhere. "corpus" from the esee forum posted this pic of his box (it's at least good for 5 yrs). 5+ yrs is a long time but i don't know how long mine sat in storage/store shelves and then making it into my kits to get stored for another few years.

dsc00001jx.jpg
 
Ok...it is going to take me all day to post pictures because I'm at work today.

So here's where I was:

SDC13104.jpg


SDC13105.jpg


Here's a pic of my load-out for the day. Sorry it so small. I will label this pic and re-post it later.

SDC13114.jpg


Yes...I know there is like 10 pounds of knife there. However, some of them stay in the pack and some are EDC, so I don't really drop any of them.

More pics coming soon.
 
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