biggest mistake you made in the outdoors?

[ppine]

The West Side of the Coast Range out of Skagway can be really wet.  We had three days of solid rain on the Chilkoot Trail and for the first time in my life the whole outfit got wet.  There was a lot of moisture in my down sleeping bag.   We were camped on the back side of the Pass well above treeline.  There was wet snow and sleet and gusty winds with no place for wind protection or a chance of a fire.  I was afraid to go to sleep.  Fortunately, first light in late August that far north was still before 0500.  We packed up our camp and headed down into a beautiful lodgepole pine forest in northern British Columbia.  There were no human tracks in the trail, only wolf, moose, and bear tracks.  After around 5 miles we found an old cabin with a wood stove.  We built a fire, hung up all of our equipment in the rafters and made a big meal.  Then we cooked another meal and went to sleep for about 3 hours.  I went from half dead to fine, and the date was August 31.

[Dogwood]

How many pages do you want?

Do you prefer funny happy ending, stupid light, ignorant but eventually workable, or nearly fatal bad decisions?

Buying all my trail runners in the same size and width before a PCT NOBO resulting in shoes too constricting causing massive potentially hike ending foot problems before even getting out of Cali. Sucked taking a knife to cut out wider toe boxes on brand new $130 shoes which still didn't alleviate the too tight issues.

Lesson: allow for larger shoe volume as feet expand in hot weather and as you get  further into a LD hike

Not having the "big picture" maps on a Hayduke Tr thru in Capital Reef NP resulting in getting lost in 100* scorching shadeless sun without water for almost two days. 

Lesson: in remote areas particularly off trail soloing in extreme conditions detailed high resolution topos with a limited picture should be accompanied by being able to see and locate oneself in a larger picture

Don't go down anything you're not safely capable  of ascending back up. Almost died soloing in Arches NP descending a remote pour off I was extremely fortunate to eventually very precariously reascend not being rim rocked. 

Getting feet wet and using a fording staff on shallow fords is  always preferable to falling while attempting perilous potential bone shattering ankle twisting dangerous slick rock hopping or balance beaming on slick downed trees. 

Never underestimate how slick  trail elements like dimensional wooden and barkless natural tree steps, wet leaves, some moss covered stones, iced up/frozen pack animal urine puddles and feces, wet or icey wooden boardwalks, scree fields, wet grass, area around waterfalls especially at the crest, and a dusting of sand or bee bee like pebbles can be on dry slabs  especially but not only on slopes.

Lesson: regularly, the most cited dangers in hiking and backpacking are slips, trips, and falls. Always mind your terrain. 

Going out too fast too hard too long when you're not ready. I've done this several times often because I mistakenly assumed I could seamlessly pick up where I left off from a previous 2000 mile thru-hike completed six months previous.

Lesson: be harshly honest with yourself when assessing current fitness, skill set, and ability level in relation to a new adventure. Males especially, but not only, can have ego issues. Hiking can be used as a needed humbling gut checking vehicle. Nor do we all always need to be hiking like run away freight trains after an  assumed prestigious obtainable gold medal FKT.

[slosteppin]

I like to carry a GPS when I hike or backpack. I usually carry an extra set of batteries for every 2 days I plan to be out. About 8 years ago I started out on a 70 mile loop trail. An hour after I started I checked the GPS and it had quit. Dead batteries. In the next 2 hours I used all the batteries I had and all were dead. I had picked batteries out of the wrong drawer. I was depending on the GPS because I knew I would probably lose the trail about half way. If I was totally lost the GPS would show nearby roads and wet areas. Fortunately paper topo maps and compass don't need batteries. It took 8 days to do a hike that should have taken 5 or 6 days. Now I always take extra batteries that are still in the package.

I have forgotten a few things. Once I forgot my hiking poles - which are also my tent poles. I cut 2 saplings and carved to the right length. Another time I forgot my spoon. My evening meal is always soup. Carving a spoon is much harder that tent poles.

[ppine]

A guy got lost trying to find my house with a GPS last week.  We lose a few people in Nevada every winter that follow their's on a series of dirt roads and get stuck.  A map and compass are your best friends in remote country.  They never fail. 

I usually don't make a list before a backpacking trip.  I have forgotten stuff over the years.  None of it has been of much consequence.  It is how we learn to do without. 

[Aaron Zagrodnick]

I've done the same thing with batteries @slosteppin, except in regards to my headlamp a couple times. A bit like you with leaving them in the package, I now use rechargeable Eneloops and make sure they are fully charged before a trip. Either way, no more partially charged batteries sneaking up on you! 

For me on this topic in general there's been the mistake of underestimating offtrail travel times that I think of first. Being stuck off trail on difficult steep, trail-less, unfamiliar terrain as the sun is setting faster than you can travel with no place to camp. Luckily, those experiences weren’t combined with the low headlamp battery trips.  Part of those situations is all a state of mind however, and anticipating and planning for timing with terrain as much as overall miles is an important consideration. 

[jhelms]

I don't know if I would say it was a mistake or just a really dumb move. A number of years ago I was on a business trip out west.  It was to one of the mountain states and I extended my stay so I could take a day hike in the mountains near where I was working.  It was February and as it should have been, snowing in the higher altitudes.  I left my hotel in the rain and by the time I got to the trailhead it was snowing pretty hard.  Several inches had already accumulated so I decided I would hike out a short way and then come straight back to my car and get out before the snow depth was too excessive for me to get off of the mountain.

The trail was devoid of landmarks even without the snow and it was nearly impossible to see the trail with the heavy snowfall. The falling snow cut my visibility to 50 yards or less as I proceeded down the trail for about an hour or so.  I decided it was time to return up the mountain and back to my car when I turned around to follow my trail out, there was no trail.  The snow was accumulating so rapidly I could only follow my steps for about an eighth of a mile or so.  I was not prepared to stay on the trail for long, neither in clothing I was wearing or in the provisions in my daypack, so I did the only thing I could think of.  I headed straight down the mountain so I would walk out of the snow and then headed east in hopes of finding the road on which I had driven up the mountain.  Luckily, my plan worked and after about two hours I was out of the snow and within another 30 minutes, I was on the road.  I walked up the road for about three miles and found my car right where I left it.  It was covered in more than a foot of snow, but it was there.  I swept off the snow and drove up the mountain a couple of miles where I found a little lodge, a beer and one of the best bacon cheeseburgers I have ever eaten.  

[Aaron Zagrodnick]

That one would be an attention getter for sure! Sounds like a nice recovery and reassessment of the situation to get back safely as well.

[Norb5150]

Sunburn in a kayak crippled me for a week.  I have a true addiction to kayaking. So much so that I have been known to earn some unpaid time off here and there for my kayaking adventures. One weekend a few of us courageous kayakers decided we were going to paddle the entire lagoon loop at presque isle state park which is not a very hard thing to do it just takes oh like 7 hours. I put on sunblock prior to setting out but I'm one of those kayakers that has a hard time actually staying in the kayak for very long when the weather and water temps are ideal so as usual I was in and out of the kayak quite a bit for a lot of the trip. Never once reapplying sunblock. My buddy brought his daughter on the trip and every now and then I would mention to her to put on some sunblock but I wasn't adhering to my own advice. When we got back to the takeout, my legs felt bruised while walking. I just brushed it off said to myself I overworked my muscles and didn't drink enough water. As I reflect back on that adventure I wish that was what the problem was. The actual problem was that I had gotten so burned on my legs that I was bruising from amount of burn. By the next day I could not stand up because my legs felt like I did 1000s of heavy squats on top of the burning. Its a pain I don't never want to feel again and yes now I take multiple bottles of sunblock with me and I even wear long sleeve uv blocking shirts and convertible pants most times....And yes I still tend to earn unpaid time off from work

[ppine]

I grew up on the water and had an outdoor career.  I have been hiding from the sun as an older person.  I like brimmed hats and long sleeves now even in warm weather.  The new scarf like devices that can cover the face were designed by fishermen in the tropics.  When your face warms up it is time to put one of those on.  Sunscreen is good but not as dependable as clothing. 

[Dogwood]

First real winter backpacking trip with 3" of snow at the TH I had  overestimated my abilities and how the conditions would become more difficult as I ascended  compounding the cumulative comedy of errors by only taking 4 days of food incorrectly assuming I could avg 18 mile days. Day 1: 12 miles; I reasoned I'll make it up Day 2.  Day 2: 11 miles; So bone headed I reasoned I still might make it up.  Day 3: 5 total actual trail miles;  Post holed in 30"+ snow all day trying to find the trail/a trail  "perfecting" my winter route finding "skills" wandering around that I probably did my highest MPD at around 22 miles. Ever see all those hare tracks in the snow  seemingly aimlessly wandering in circles probably left by  a lost, starving,  or mentally ill hare? That was me. I was becoming exhausted.  I eventually got out cutting it short but had to severely ration food for the last two days basically always hungry turning it into a 6 day remotely located deep winter trip.  

As funny as that is now writing about it this is how things get compounded causing injury, death, and/or really remotely lost.  The risks were also higher  because I was solo roped up  dropping into/down climbing  into remote slot canyons. Had not yet known about Ralston's affair.        

Lessons: don't be stupid light especially in winter, especially when going solo under such conditions, keep pride and ignorance ruthlessly in check, adjust MPD avgs for seasonal changes and trail conditions, be more aware of how weather, especially in this case, elevation factors into trail conditions, consider including GPS navigation as part of map and compass route finding when deep snow covers the ground  

I did some things right on that trip like having a warm enough sleep system and breathable apparel layering system and letting others know where I was going and when expected back