Between the Colorado hiker thread, and the fire in the rain thread, I think this is a good time to talk about what happened to me(45) and my Dad (70) this year on a hunt, and what I learned from it.
I'll try to keep it very short and concise.
It was an early season archery mule deer hunt in the Uintas in Utah. They are notorious for volatile weather, and we planned for that.
We started hiking in the morning, hoping to make it to our spike camp (6 miles away) by early afternoon, so we could be up glassing predetermined points the next day, which was the opener.
The weather was warm, probably mid 70's, some clouds in the sky. We were hiking in sun hoodies, but had rain gear, puffy's, etc in the packs.
The trail in was brutal to say the least, blowdowns, no marked trail matching Onx, so it was very slow going.
Throughout the day, it would start 'spitting' as we say out East, not raining really, but just enough moisture coming down that you could keep hiking in it, but not enough to merit putting on your rain gear, as you would likely sweat more than the moisture actually coming down.
As we got to about 6pm, it started raining lightly, we took some cover under some pines, and as it let up, we kept hiking. I knew we would not make it to the place we had planned on, but needed to at least get through the thick blowdown pines, to a better place to camp for the night, without fear of trees falling on you in the middle of the night. At about 7, my Dad said he needed to take a break and rest, as much as I wanted to keep pushing to a place for the night, I knew that if he asked to stop, he needed to stop, he's a tough guy and doesn't complain. The rain started to come down harder, and as I looked around us as the soaked logs and ground, I knew it was far from an ideal place to stop.
While debating in my head how long we should wait before we kept moving as the sun was slowly setting, and the temperatures were dropping (ultimately to 40 degrees), I looked over at my Dad huddled up under a pine out of the rain, and he was full on shivering.
I went into action mode, knowing that the clock was ticking to get him warm and dry.
I dropped my pack, ripped my 10'x10' tarp out, and got it set up into a simple A frame, hung on a Ridgeline between two trees, then guy-lined out to the ground, supported by trekking poles in the corners. I got his ground sheet out, blew up his pad, and told him to get in the bag with his clothes on. I got the stove out, boiled some water, and immediately made him hot chocolate, and made him drink it. I then made him a hot meal, that he shoveled down quickly.
30 minutes later he was feeling better, the shivering had stopped, and I felt we were in a better position.
The rain didn't stop all night, until 10 am the next morning, but we stayed dry and warm and were able to get up, get to our spike camp, and dry out the sleeping bags that day in the afternoon sun.
Here are some key takeaways from my perspective:
-A fire would have been possible to start, but very challenging to keep going, and would have gotten soaked collecting wood all night to keep it going. To be honest a fire never even came into my head as "this is what I should be doing right now".
-Keep your guy lines tied to your tarp, and be proficient at setting it up quickly in a variety of scenarios. I have used my tarp extensively, and can set it up half a dozen different ways very easily, BUT, in the stress of the moment and in pouring rain, I'll admit I was struggling to do the simplest task of tying a prussic loop.
-I ask myself if we should have used rain gear sooner, but in the moment, as I said, the precip was so light, until it wasn't,, and then it was too late.
-A tent would have been more ideal, and likely less fussy than a tarp. Luckily the rain wasn't coming down sideways, so the tarp was adequate. The 10 x size is the MINIMUM I would bring moving forward, any smaller would not be big enough for 2 ppl.
-He had a Zenbivy, which is amazing and comfortable, BUT, in a high stress moment, far too finicky to set up, I have a Western Mountaineering Badger that I thought was maybe overkill, but came in clutch in this moment, and would have been easier for him to just crawl into.
All in all, we learned a lot, and came out of it okay, but failure to act could have resulted in a very different outcome.
I never understood why survival experts always put "shelter" as a priority over water and then food, until now.
Exposure will kill you within minutes/hours, and it doesn't take a crazy storm to get you wet enough, coupled with 'chilly' temps, to get you there.
I'll try to keep it very short and concise.
It was an early season archery mule deer hunt in the Uintas in Utah. They are notorious for volatile weather, and we planned for that.
We started hiking in the morning, hoping to make it to our spike camp (6 miles away) by early afternoon, so we could be up glassing predetermined points the next day, which was the opener.
The weather was warm, probably mid 70's, some clouds in the sky. We were hiking in sun hoodies, but had rain gear, puffy's, etc in the packs.
The trail in was brutal to say the least, blowdowns, no marked trail matching Onx, so it was very slow going.
Throughout the day, it would start 'spitting' as we say out East, not raining really, but just enough moisture coming down that you could keep hiking in it, but not enough to merit putting on your rain gear, as you would likely sweat more than the moisture actually coming down.
As we got to about 6pm, it started raining lightly, we took some cover under some pines, and as it let up, we kept hiking. I knew we would not make it to the place we had planned on, but needed to at least get through the thick blowdown pines, to a better place to camp for the night, without fear of trees falling on you in the middle of the night. At about 7, my Dad said he needed to take a break and rest, as much as I wanted to keep pushing to a place for the night, I knew that if he asked to stop, he needed to stop, he's a tough guy and doesn't complain. The rain started to come down harder, and as I looked around us as the soaked logs and ground, I knew it was far from an ideal place to stop.
While debating in my head how long we should wait before we kept moving as the sun was slowly setting, and the temperatures were dropping (ultimately to 40 degrees), I looked over at my Dad huddled up under a pine out of the rain, and he was full on shivering.
I went into action mode, knowing that the clock was ticking to get him warm and dry.
I dropped my pack, ripped my 10'x10' tarp out, and got it set up into a simple A frame, hung on a Ridgeline between two trees, then guy-lined out to the ground, supported by trekking poles in the corners. I got his ground sheet out, blew up his pad, and told him to get in the bag with his clothes on. I got the stove out, boiled some water, and immediately made him hot chocolate, and made him drink it. I then made him a hot meal, that he shoveled down quickly.
30 minutes later he was feeling better, the shivering had stopped, and I felt we were in a better position.
The rain didn't stop all night, until 10 am the next morning, but we stayed dry and warm and were able to get up, get to our spike camp, and dry out the sleeping bags that day in the afternoon sun.
Here are some key takeaways from my perspective:
-A fire would have been possible to start, but very challenging to keep going, and would have gotten soaked collecting wood all night to keep it going. To be honest a fire never even came into my head as "this is what I should be doing right now".
-Keep your guy lines tied to your tarp, and be proficient at setting it up quickly in a variety of scenarios. I have used my tarp extensively, and can set it up half a dozen different ways very easily, BUT, in the stress of the moment and in pouring rain, I'll admit I was struggling to do the simplest task of tying a prussic loop.
-I ask myself if we should have used rain gear sooner, but in the moment, as I said, the precip was so light, until it wasn't,, and then it was too late.
-A tent would have been more ideal, and likely less fussy than a tarp. Luckily the rain wasn't coming down sideways, so the tarp was adequate. The 10 x size is the MINIMUM I would bring moving forward, any smaller would not be big enough for 2 ppl.
-He had a Zenbivy, which is amazing and comfortable, BUT, in a high stress moment, far too finicky to set up, I have a Western Mountaineering Badger that I thought was maybe overkill, but came in clutch in this moment, and would have been easier for him to just crawl into.
All in all, we learned a lot, and came out of it okay, but failure to act could have resulted in a very different outcome.
I never understood why survival experts always put "shelter" as a priority over water and then food, until now.
Exposure will kill you within minutes/hours, and it doesn't take a crazy storm to get you wet enough, coupled with 'chilly' temps, to get you there.
