Ultimate Playtime

STAY SAFE!

A day's hike in the mountains is a magical event allowing you some peace and tranquility and some time to forget a weeks work in the office.

Some hikes remain in easy reach of civilization while others take you off the beaten track.

A nice way to "get away from it all" is to go off the beaten track. However, consider that if you are more than half an hour from a telephone or trail-head you are exposing yourself to several risks. Relax! With some fore thought these risks can easily be managed allowing you a life time of trouble free hiking in areas that can only be reached on foot.

A hiking trip requires some planning; get a topographical map of the area you are intending to go to, make sure your compass works properly and get a guide book of the area. If you can't read a map or use a compass this restricts you to local hikes, whereas if you had the confidence to follow a map and compass your world would be a lot richer with the variety of hikes you could choose from. So you may want to take a map & compass reading course, hire a guide for a day, or get an experienced friend to teach you the intricacy's of the topographical map and its friend the compass.

What about the GPS? It is an optional tool but unnecessary, in fact there are many places in the mountains where a GPS won't even work because of the limited horizon. If you really want to spend time and money on one, they are fun and interesting to use, but it is always best to learn to use the basics: map and compass.

Plan your route beginning with reading what the guide book has to say to work out how long the trip will take you; often they give you an estimated time already. Although your guide book will give you a pretty good idea on time, I often find that it differs from my hiking pace, so I like to use the following guidelines:

• I hike at 3-4km per hour.
• For every 300m of height gain I make I add on 30 minutes (one minute for every 10m)
• For every hour of travel time I add on 10 minutes per hour for a break, 30 minutes for lunch.
• Descending can often be slower than ascending so on the steep parts you need to add on 1 minute for every 10m of descent.

Having made your plans record your intended route, time of departure and return, then leave a copy of these details with a trusted friend or relative. Then you know someone will raise the alarm in the event that you have not returned on time due to a mishap on the trail. Sometimes, National or Provincial Parks will have a registry place where you can give details of your trip to the staff there who will also be on the lookout for your return. Just ensure you do drop in at the end and tell them you have returned, if you forget to do so, or just get too lazy, they will look for you unnecessarily. That could result in a fine!

It's interesting noting here that as a professional guide there have been times when I have been late back due to weather delaying me. But I have also been late back due to meeting other groups on the trail who were the victims of a minor accident. Sadly being poorly equipped they needed my assistance which I was able to give knowing that I would be backed up soon by friends realizing that I was late back and I could count on them coming out to help me.

On the day you depart for your adventure check the weather, and check to see if there are any closures on your trail. Both National and Provincial Parks have information offices where one can go to or phone for trail updates and conditions. There may be various trail hazards that could cause their closure, such as terrain being washed out, bears feeding in the area etc.

So after all this preparation, you finally arrive at the trail head, you've checked your equipment and its time to step on the trail. And that's where we leave off for this article. Next article will discuss being on the trail and staying safe while there. Enjoy this fall weather and stay safe out there!

By Brenda Holder