Wild Bound

May 2007 Archives from Dandelions and Daydreams

I love spontaneity. That being said, It’s no surprise that last Friday night when Brenton came home in an out-of-sorts-mood we threw two sleeping bags in the back of the car, loaded a cooler with ham, cheese, and bread. Fifteen minutes after the idea struck, we were on the road and headed towards Montana for a night of camping in the back of the car.
Any good adventure has its setbacks. Our obstacles proved to be trains and red lights. You know, those things are nothing but annoyances when you are trying to run away from civilization. I thought I was going to pull my hair out before we got out of town.

As we headed East on towards Montana on Highway 200, I snapped a picture of the green Monarch Mountains. This was taken right before the rain started pouring down. We kept on driving east chasing a patch of blue sky that we didn’t actually find until the next morning. It was getting dark and we had driven about 100 miles, so we found a national forest road that headed north somewhere past Thompson Falls, MT.

The road caught Brenton’s attention because it headed up into a valley between two mountains. He was thinking of how much fun it would be to fly into the valley. While he was thinking of airplanes and flying, I was keeping my eyes open for a place to pull in and park for the night.

It’s still pretty early in the season up here for camping. Most of the parks will open on Memorial Day weekend. We actually came across several campgrounds that were still closed for the season. With no worries, we kept on driving. The national forest roads are just dotted with campsites along the road. These campsites are little more than a parking space and a fire ring, but they do the job. we found one beside a nice river in the valley between two mountains.

At this point I should probably mention that we didn’t bring any matches or lighters or flashlights or a tent (of course I brought the important stuff–a camera and accessories). I scrounged around the car a while and found a flashlight buried deep down in the glove compartment. We had actually planned from the start to sleep in the car, but we hadn’t planned out the logistics of it.

I had thought of putting the back seats down and sleeping with our feet in the trunk, but I dismissed the idea. As we were trying to figure out how to sleep Brenton suggested folding the back seats forward and sleeping with our feet in the trunk. It took a little extra padding and wiggling around to get comfortable, but sleeping in the trunk of the car was definitely not the most uncomfortable sleep I have ever had while camping.

The next morning we planned on having sandwiches for breakfast, but there is nothing like a hot breakfast after a cold night of camping. We did what any logical person would do after heading out on a spontaneous camping trip. We headed north on the national forest road into uncharted territory.

The road followed the Thompson river. Any road that follows a river snakes back and forth incessantly. There were places where three roads ran side by side just ten feet apart. I thought that the road crew could have planned that a bit better. I was getting hungrier and hungrier until I finally gave in and had a ham sandwich. Brenton on the other hand was still holding out for a stack of pancakes.

We finally came out of national forest about 40 miles East of Libby Montana. By this time I was hoping we would have enough gas to get us into town. Brenton was easy going as always.

About a mile outside of Libby we picked up a hitch hiker. Brenton asked the man if he knew where there was a good place to get a bite to eat. The hitch hiker recommended Torgys. In fact that’s where the gentleman was headed himself.

That was a good breakfast! Brenton had pancakes, eggs, bacon, and coffee. I had eggs, bacon, and toast (and of course coffee). The food was just right. The coffee a bit weak (but then I like it so you can stand a fork up in it). Overall the price wasn’t too bad at Torgy’s Restaurant. I think my plate was $4 and Brenton’s was $5.

Back on the road we drove home to Sandpoint where we rounded out our camping weekend with opening day of the Farmer’s Market, sighting in my rifle, and hauling horse manure in for the garden. At the end of the weekend, It was a good weekend.

During the whole trip we kept a count of wildlife sightings. Here are the totals and my conclusions:

White Tail Deer: 36

Mule Deer: 3

Black Tail Deer: 1

Bald Eagles: 8 (including one juvenile who didn’t have the characteristic white head yet)

Geese: WAY TOO MANY TO COUNT

Bear: 1–in my dreams, no really I dreamt about a bear.

Conclusion: if Bald Eagles are endangered, the moose must be extinct because we didn’t see any of them.

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When you head out on the hiking trail for an afternoon or all day hike, you will need to pack some essential gear. The gear that you choose to carry will change depending on the climate, season, and location of your hike.

In the 1930’s, The Mountaineers, a hiking club based out of Seattle, created a gear list that is still referred to as the Ten Essentials. Here is their list:

1. Topographic Map
2. Compass
3. Flashlight
4. Extra food
5. Extra clothes
6. Sunglasses
7. First Aid Kit
8. Knife (multi-tool)
9. Waterproof matches
10. Fire starter material

There are a few extra things that I would add to The Mountaineers list like water and a way to purify it, sunscreen, rain gear, and a space blanket.

The basic idea of carrying this much stuff on a day hike is to be prepared to stay out all night in the worst weather the season can throw at you and survive it.

In the winter, you should carry gear to survive a night of snow and freezing temperatures. The temperature lows vary from location to location, and when you pack for a mountain hike, don’t forget to take altitude into consideration.

Summertime, your greatest threat is likely a cold thunderstorm. Actually, the chance of hypothermia is probably worse in the summer than in the winter because the average summer hiker is not prepared for it.

I’ve said it before, the most important thing to carry with you is knowledge, common sense, your brain. Unless you know how to read a map and use a compass, just carrying the items in your pack won’t do you any good.

I’m as bad as anyone–worse even–for wanting to just put on my shoes and head out to the trail, but a little pre-planning could save your life.

Next time, I’ll write about putting together a Bug-Out-Bag (BOB) with essential gear so that going on a day hike will involve putting on your boots and grabbing your BOB.

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The recent disappearance of hiker, Meredith Emerson on Blood Mountain in Georgia has gotten me thinking about personal safety on the trail.

There are so many risks when heading out to hike, and you need to take some measures to protect yourself.

Some possibilities that you should consider when you go hiking:

• unexpected weather changes
• injury
• being lost
• dangerous animals
• dangerous people

I certainly don’t recommend avoiding the great outdoors because of the risks involved. Even the most experience hiker needs to prepare for the dangers that surround you on the hiking trail.

The most important thing you can take with you on a hike is knowledge. Having a first aid kit isn’t enough if you don’t know how to use it.

Over the next few posts, I am going to explore some of the basics of personal protection for the outdoor adventurer.

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