Lets Go Outside
My overnight adventure in the mountains went well despite everything that went wrong; & I suppose one really reassuring element of that is that I had the skills, knowledge or pre-planning to have a backup for each of these issues.
Equipment Problems
- New cord (from Mountain Warehouse) sucks, it slips and sticks in water, esp for Rolling Hitches. This is very very bad, but only two strings failed overnight. I'm not sure if it's even useable for anything because what's the point of a string that won't tie reliably. I got lucky. Apparently this Icicle Hitch is better for slippy ropes
- Head torch broke? Or maybe it is very charge-hungry. Fortunately, I had the Calad i Paemaeron as a second light.
- Clip on the Calad i Paemaeron broke. Fortunately, I have been crocheting a net bag for it, so I had that with me to fix the light up on the tarp mainline
Water
- Managing what does and doesn't get wet is key & I think I didn't attend to it in an ordered fashion.
- A bag left on wet ground soaks up water. I think I wanted a second tarp mainline to suspend objects from - especially clothes to try and dry them overnight, and bags.
- Loo roll packed on outside (got wet) - this was just a bad error, cus I packed in a hurry
- Sleeping bag in picnic bag got wet - I forget it had holes in. A plastic bag is needed for it, and other things too.
- I need either waterproof trews, or spare trews for next day
- I need a better plastic phone bag because it worked well, but something about the bag I've got is Off
- Need a dry hat and gloves - the ones I was wearing were too wet to wear to bed
- Clean tent pegs on site, before they go into a bag
Sleeping & Warmth
- It was 13° overnight. My sleeping bag is rated down to 0°
- Forgot cloak, a major error. I did ok. It was cold and I worried, but I had a second sleeping bag which covered.
- How warm you feel on getting in the tent won't be the same in 2hrs time - I almost left the tent window open, but that would have been a mistake
- Foam mat does great service - it's just an old yoga mat, but no water came through. But I think I was curled up on the reflective mat - I don't think the foam is very warm.
- The tarp saved the tent from getting wet, even with the pegs that slipped. Checking the web, my tent is technically a hooped bivi so maybe I shouldn't be expecting such tentlike behaviour, but I feel like it could still do better, and I can't stealth camp as easily if I always need to factor in a tarp as well. It feels like the hooped bivi needs some real guy lines to hold it under tension
Darkness
- I didn't see the mushrooms on my spot, so damaged some, and I feel very bad about this.
- I couldn't find way up to where I was heading - but I think I almost made it. In particular, forest paths become hard to find. I woke up to find I was ON the path, and I think I could see where I intended to be.
Other
- Weight was OK, but I'm still not carrying food or water and that's worrying me for future
- I really need some kind of. Hammock? a place to rest. Being outdoors is tiring and sleeping isn't always sufficient.
- I really want my feather duvet. Can I pack it? Would it fit in my bivi?
- I've found my concern for my cloak restricts my movement in contexts where I need to be useful.
- Don't rely on your lift being there
- The tarp erection was confident, but took a long time
- Check next days weather for a good leaving window. I got extremely lucky to catch a dry spell for getting down, and a second one for getting home.
- I need more patience when repacking stuff, and a better plan
- I sort of need a second tarp as a hangoutspace, because the tent dominates the first one; or a tarp layout which does both.
- The day after camping, I am no spoons.
- Same for major ritual and I need to make a better plan for that.
- I've worked out how to suspend the bedroll under the backpack - it uses the front and back straps and then a cross-style lashing.
The biggest problem, perhaps, is that you can't focus on ritual. You're out of your head, but so focused on survival - this will perhaps pass with time.
#camping #trip-report