August 6, 2011
* CUTTING COLLATERAL DAMAGE *
This week let's talk about an often overlooked, but very real danger faced by adventure-seekers while traveling to and from their jumping-off place.
It's easy enough to dismiss necessary road journeys as risky, caught up as we often are by the excitement of pending exploration into unknown wilderness. But most roads to remote trailheads are not your average macadam highways. Most are twisting dirt tracks that can sometimes be encumbered with rockslides, slippery roads, and fallen trees. Many have narrow one-lane sections along terrifying mountainsides or treacherous rivers.
Sturdy vehicles equipped with tested brakes and reliable transmissions should be standard equipment, so why shouldn't the drivers be equally prepped, tested, and rested? What happens instead? Adventurers often sally forth to their sought-after trailhead as if they're entered at Le Mans, hurrying to outrace the sunball and be shrugging into their backpacks at first light.
Most veteran trail travelers are cautious about grizzly bears; and they'll exercise proper techniques in fording dangerous streams. But they sometimes fail to engage their teensy neurons before backing their Bronco from the carport. And it's while pouring a cup of steaming black coffee on a hairpin curve when they meet a loaded logging truck taking up every last bit of his half of the road.
It's the opposite on the return journey. Then, excitement is not as likely to overcome caution. Instead, the return is when you're satiated by adventure, slipping into a relaxed mode that will take you through a hectic workaday world until you can again find time for R & R amidst the wilds. You're tired. Your eyelids droop. It's not exactly the most propitious time for your body to be going on autopilot
How do I know so much about road dangers on the way to and from wilderness adventures? I once lost control of a truck loaded with horses on a narrow, winding mountain road. I once turned over a pickup truck when I failed to properly consider the effects of a drenching rain on a soft roadside shoulder. One of my guides once crashed an empty stock truck on his way home for a load of hay.
In the first instance, I was behind schedule and in a hurry to get this load of horses to the trailhead for tomorrow's packtrip. In the last two cases, the drivers were too weary after grinding packtrips that began before daylight and ended after dark.
What's the solution?
Heading out for adventure is easy. Adopt a more laid-back philosophy. Drive more cautiously. Stop occasionally to breathe the wholesome forest or rangeland air. Smell a few wildflowers. Remind yourself that it's great to be alive.
On the way home is dicier because relaxation from exhaustion can subconsciously steal upon you. Stop. Park your vehicle. Take a stroll around it several times. Or take a nap. You nor the world will ever know if you're ten minutes later arriving home.
Next week? Another walk on the wild side.
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