Things to Avoid When Planning your Hike

We talk a lot about building a system of hiking gear and skills. And one thing we need to avoid in our system are single points of failure. What do we mean by that? 

We want to build our kit so that we are not relying on one particular item to complete a critical task. For example, we don’t want to only be relying on our phone as our only means of navigation. 

To avoid single points of failure, we build redundancy into our system. And we need to do this thoughtfully so we are not adding unnecessary weight to our pack. 

Going back to our navigation example, we should be carrying a phone or gps and a map and compass and maybe even a power bank to charge our phone. This way we have multiple layers of redundancy to ensure we are able to successfully navigate on our hike. 

Another example of a single point of failure can come in our planning like in the tragic story of Kate Matrosova covered in the book Where You’ll Find Me by Ty Gagne. 

Kate was planning on completing a single day winter traverse of the northern Presidential Range in New Hampshire. Her plan was to move fast and get her hike done before weather moved in. She did not carry any equipment needed to spend a night in the mountains. Tragically, she was not able to keep up her expected pace, the weather turned and she died of exposure. 

In Kate’s story, her plan had a single point of failure, since she did not carry the equipment to spend a night, she had to maintain her expected pace. There are many more details and nuances covered brilliantly in the book. I encourage everyone to check it out. 

So take a look at your hiking kit and your plans and watch out for single points of failure. When you notice them, find ways to efficiently build redundancy in so that you have options if things don’t go as planned. 

Stay prepared and I’ll see you in the woods!