My Dumbest Backpacking Mistakes (2018) [video] • Hacker News Board

Re: My Dumbest Backpacking Mistakes (2018) [video]

#21

Post by harveywi » Fri, Mar 29, 2019, 2:51 PM UTC

n4r9 wrote: post #17

harveywi wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> "She doesn't give great rules of thumb on each point." Runs fingers through thicket of chest hair "Guess it's time for yours truly to 'splain the right way to do it."

Some of the HN guidelines that you've broken here: > Be civil. > Don't be snarky. > When disagreeing, please reply to the argument instead of calling names. > Avoid unrelated controversies and generic tangents. > Please don't post shallow dismissals.

Thank you for the correction. I now see the error of my ways: The proper way to handle it would have been to passive-aggressively downvote his comment.

Re: My Dumbest Backpacking Mistakes (2018) [video]

#22

Post by crikli » Fri, Mar 29, 2019, 3:02 PM UTC

jeremy0x4a wrote: post #16

crikli wrote: post #4

TLDW version: 1) Didn't get familiar with hiking / camping on broken / rough terrain. 2) Didn't plan on how to deal with hypothermia inducing temperatures. 3) Didn't replace shoes quickly enough 4) Not taking black bears seriously enough. 5) Careless / casual with river crossings She doesn't give great rules of thumb on each point. Here are some based on my experience: 1) Go out with your pack at night and practice m…

> No RoTs here, water crossing are dangerous. If you are going to cross you have to have a plan for what happens if you lose your pack or get swept downstream. The force of water can be shocking. Just as importantly, consider in advance how being wet is going to affect you. Wet clothes are heavy and fail to insulate, while wet feet inside wet shoes is a very bad combination for a number of reasons.

Yes! Solid point, and a great example of why there aren't RoTs for rivers. It can be a really complex problem. You can't go barefoot. Do you have camp shoes, will they work for the crossing? If you use your main shoes did you make a bad choice (my opinion) and pick Goretex? Do you have dry socks for the other side? Will the environment even allow drying? Is your pack waterproof? Will it float? If you used a contractor bag does it have holes, because if you've been in for more than a few day guess what, it does! In the shitty trail mishap lottery nothing is worse than soaked sleeping bag. And what do you wear during the crossing? If you won't strip to your skivvies what's your drying plan?

Bridges are really great, is my point.

Re: My Dumbest Backpacking Mistakes (2018) [video]

#23

Post by DoreenMichele » Fri, Mar 29, 2019, 3:05 PM UTC

jeremy0x4a wrote: post #16

crikli wrote: post #4

TLDW version: 1) Didn't get familiar with hiking / camping on broken / rough terrain. 2) Didn't plan on how to deal with hypothermia inducing temperatures. 3) Didn't replace shoes quickly enough 4) Not taking black bears seriously enough. 5) Careless / casual with river crossings She doesn't give great rules of thumb on each point. Here are some based on my experience: 1) Go out with your pack at night and practice m…

> No RoTs here, water crossing are dangerous. If you are going to cross you have to have a plan for what happens if you lose your pack or get swept downstream. The force of water can be shocking. Just as importantly, consider in advance how being wet is going to affect you. Wet clothes are heavy and fail to insulate, while wet feet inside wet shoes is a very bad combination for a number of reasons.

Wet clothes ... fail to insulate

Choosing the right clothes can help mitigate this detail. Wool, flannel and sometimes knits can keep you warm while wet.

I have no clue what kind of knits do so. I just know I had a cotton sweater once that was insulating while wet.

Re: My Dumbest Backpacking Mistakes (2018) [video]

#24

Post by scriptkiddy » Fri, Mar 29, 2019, 4:29 PM UTC

adrianN wrote: post #3

The Hunt for the Death Valley Germans [1] is full of interesting information about hiking in dangerous terrain [1] http://www.otherhand.org/home-page/search-and-rescue/the-hun...

Oh man! I love this guy's site! Tom has some amazing stories on there. The one you linked is one of my favorites as is the one about the missing hiker in Joshua Tree.

It's really fun to have Google Earth open while reading the stories so you can find the places he is writing about.

Re: My Dumbest Backpacking Mistakes (2018) [video]

#25

Post by joevandyk » Fri, Mar 29, 2019, 5:27 PM UTC

Any recommendations for how to start backpacking? Books, stores, guides, etc.

Re: My Dumbest Backpacking Mistakes (2018) [video]

#26

Post by [deleted] » Fri, Mar 29, 2019, 5:29 PM UTC

13of40 wrote: post #12

flurdy wrote: post #5

My dumbest backpacking mistake was on day 2 of my interrail [1] trip across Europe and North Africa. Exhausted I fell asleep on a Marseille beach in the afternoon without any suncream on. When I woke up my shoulders was very sunburned. Spent the first week or two of the 6 weeks long trip lifting my heavy backpack off my painful shoulders. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interrail

Not strictly backpacking, but I went on a car-free trip to Italy a few years back and thought it would be a great idea to buy new shoes for the occasion. After two weeks of walking eight hours a day, the blisters finally healed.

[deleted]

Re: My Dumbest Backpacking Mistakes (2018) [video]

#27

Post by rak00n » Fri, Mar 29, 2019, 6:05 PM UTC

SECProto wrote: post #19

crikli wrote: post #4

TLDW version: 1) Didn't get familiar with hiking / camping on broken / rough terrain. 2) Didn't plan on how to deal with hypothermia inducing temperatures. 3) Didn't replace shoes quickly enough 4) Not taking black bears seriously enough. 5) Careless / casual with river crossings She doesn't give great rules of thumb on each point. Here are some based on my experience: 1) Go out with your pack at night and practice m…

> 3) Replace your shoes when mileage equals 500 - your loaded weight (bodyweight + pack). Do not risk your foot health for a hundred bucks. Converting units to metric (km and kg), Replace your shoes when they are worn 800-3.5*(loaded weight)

Where did you get this numbers from? I think my hiking boots are way beyond those numbers by now.

Re: My Dumbest Backpacking Mistakes (2018) [video]

#28

Post by oblib » Fri, Mar 29, 2019, 6:32 PM UTC

I made a tent out of those plastic "SOL" emergency blankets that heats up inside via solar or a small campfire. You can dry out clothes pretty fast with it.

I know you can't have campfires out west, but I live in the Ozarks where forest fires are not an issue most of the time and it's easy to check the fire risk at https://www.spc.noaa.gov/products/fire_wx/fwdy1.html

So, the reason I bring this up is it's pretty easy to fashion a UL clothes dryer if you carry one of those blankets, a bit of clear plastic, and some tape.

Here's a link to a very short video of the tent: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FdekfNtx65c

Re: My Dumbest Backpacking Mistakes (2018) [video]

#29

Post by oblib » Fri, Mar 29, 2019, 6:55 PM UTC

joevandyk wrote: post #25

Any recommendations for how to start backpacking? Books, stores, guides, etc.

Go to https://backpacking.net and check out their "Tips" page and other content and I highly recommend you go to https://backpacking.net/bbs.html and sign up for their forums.

That site has a lot of top notch info and the forum members collective experience is a great resource for those looking to get started and those who've been backpacking for years.

Go there before you start buying gear and you'll save a ton of money and have better gear. And you'll be lugging a lot less weight.

Re: My Dumbest Backpacking Mistakes (2018) [video]

#30

Post by SECProto » Fri, Mar 29, 2019, 10:08 PM UTC

rak00n wrote: post #27

SECProto wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 3) Replace your shoes when mileage equals 500 - your loaded weight (bodyweight + pack). Do not risk your foot health for a hundred bucks. Converting units to metric (km and kg), Replace your shoes when they are worn 800-3.5*(loaded weight)

Where did you get this numbers from? I think my hiking boots are way beyond those numbers by now.

I just did a unit conversion of the OP comment. 500 miles = 800km. The 3.5 is to convert weight in kg to lb, then convert miles to km to match the unitless number in the original (2.2*1.6 is ~3.5)... the units don't make any sense, but it's just a rule of thumb

I don't necessarily agree with the rule of thumb, I was just converting it into units I could understand and thought I would share it with the community. They do line up approximately with injury-avoidance running shoe wisdom (replace every 400 to 600 km), so it seems plausible. I think it would depend a lot on the individual (i.e. I hike in trail running shoes, so I should replace more frequently than someone who uses heavier duty boots - might just want to replace insoles occasionally?)