Hiking

We Can Start A Fire! (Ten Essentials)

We Can Start A Fire!!  (Ten Essentials #8)

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If you ever find yourself stranded in the woods at night, the one thing that will make the biggest difference in your comfort, and possibly survival, is warmth.  You must find a way to stay warm.  In other posts we have talked about using a black trash bag and extra clothes to stay warm.  These are very important, but your best bet will be to start a fire.  Not only will it keep you warm, it will raise your spirits greatly!

Unless you find yourself on some sort of reality TV show, gone are the days of rubbing two sticks together to make a fire.  You should always carry items in your pack to make starting a fire fairly easy.  The items that I always have with me are a lighter, waterproof matches, and fire-starter.  These are all items that you can find in your local outdoor store.  I started with an empty film canister and put fire-starter pellets and water-proof matches in it so that they were all in one place together and would stay dry.  There are also several different fire-starters that you can make yourself.  Dryer lint, itself, makes a great fire starter, as does cotton balls dunked in Vaseline.

Making the fire itself is a topic for another day,  but in the meantime, make sure you are carrying all of the right ingredients to make one!

What do you carry for emergency fire starting?  Comment below and let us know!

Anna aka Mud Butt

Being On The Cutting Edge (Ten Essentials)

Being on the Cutting Edge…..  (Ten Essentials #7)

Knife

While you are stocking up your backpack, don’t forget to throw in a knife of some sort.  When it comes to a knife, you only need one and I strongly suggest that you get one that folds into its handle……otherwise, reaching into your backpack could get very interesting!  For most hikers, a small Swiss-army knife or Leatherman does the trick. The idea is to have something that will meet all of your hiking needs without weighing too much or taking up too much space.

What kind of “knife needs” does your typical hiker have?  Well, I have used my knife to facilitate pack repairs in the field, trim off the bottoms of too-long hiking pants, slice through duct tape, and cut off hunks of beef jerky for lunch.  J  In short, I use my knife fairly regularly for all sorts of things.   What will you NOT need your knife for?  You will not need your knife for cutting branches off of living trees or carving your initials into anything.

I would be remiss if I didn’t remind you to exercise all sorts of caution when you are using your knife.  It would be really nice if your use of a knife on a hiking trip did not also necessitate your use of your first aid kit! J  If you use your knife regularly to prep your food, make sure to clean it completely so that it doesn’t end up carrying all sorts of bacteria.

Finally, when shopping for a knife keep in mind your own particular needs.  For instance, I have used the scissors and tweezers on my knife many times, but never needed the file.  You don’t necessarily need “40 tools in one”.  Look at your own personal needs, the weight and size of knife you want to carry and purchase accordingly.  For me, anything longer than 2-3 inches is overkill.

Have fun knife shopping!

Anna aka Mud Butt

I See The Light!! (10 Essentials)

I see the light!!!  (Ten Essentials #6)

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Let’s get back to these essentials…..

One item that I never leave home without is a headlamp or small flash light.  For me, this falls into the category of, ‘if I carry it on day hikes, I will insure that I never, ever need to use it”!  Kind of like a karmic insurance policy!  Even if you never intend to stay out after dark, you should carry some form of light source.

I prefer a headlamp because I always use one backpacking and I love the ‘hands free’ aspect of it. If the sun goes down while I am still on the trail….something that has happened to me many times….I can turn on my head lamp and keep on trekking.  It doesn’t interfere with my ability to hike with two poles and provides a nice warm pool of light wherever I look.  One of my favorite headlamps can be found here  http://www.mountaincrossings.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWCATS&Category=71

Carrying a flashlight will work just as well, but a note of warning….always carries extra batteries.  Flashlights and headlamps have a way of turning themselves on while rumbling around in your pack, thus running the batteries out without you ever being aware of it.

If you are out hiking and it looks like you might be on the trail as the sun goes down, go ahead and get your light out, and check the batteries, before the sun actually goes down.  In the late afternoon, it is not unusual to see backpackers striding up the trail with a headlamp hanging around their necks.  Trust me, there is nothing worse than having to dig around in your pack in the dark, trying to find your light.  I take that back……it is worse when you find the light and realize the batteries are flickering and about to die.  Changing those batteries in the dark is a real pain!!

A note about night hiking in general….. Give it a try sometime!  A lot of women are scared of the idea of hiking in the dark, but it can be really wonderful.  Once the sun goes down, put off turning on your light as long as you can, because once you do, it will kill any night vision you had to begin with.  But if the trail is rugged or hard to see, go ahead and train your light down towards your feet.  For me, hiking at night is much calmer than hiking during the day.  All you can see is that warm, yellow pool of light at your feet, and all you need to worry about is what is in that pool.  As the woods wake up around you, you will hear all kinds of new noises, but never fear…..it is just the animals waking up and going about their business.  They won’t bother you.

Don’t forget to look up periodically for trail signs and crossings, as they can be easy to walk by in the dark.  But while you are actually walking through the dark, enjoy being a part of the forest that few ever get to enjoy.  Have you ever hiked at night?  Post a comment below and tell us what it was like for you….

Anna aka Mud Butt

Let’s Make Them Balloons!

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Todays blog entry is from fellow Dame Trina….. 

These thoughts are in response to a 30 Day Challenge we are doing in which each Dame picks a personal goal to work towards for the month. 

“Good morning ladies.  I had a thought this morning that I thought I would share as we start this new 30 days. For those that I haven’t met yet, philosophy is oft my middle name…

With that said, let’s get our philosophy on:

I had another long 16 hour day yesterday at work that ended with a round of layoffs and more work added to my plate.  As I was dressing after no sleep and knowing that today wouldn’t be any better, I was contemplating that oft stated line that when you begin a challenge, you will be met with obstacles to challenge you to make sure you really want it.  I considered my obstacles from now and the past and it occurred to me that although they may be a different ride, they are in the same playground.

And that’s when it hit me, that line is not only bull but it leads to subconscious negative thinking that in itself is sabotaging!  Try this exercise:  imagine that there is a balloon on a string in front of you.  Now reach out with both hands, grab the string and bring the balloon to you.  Now repeat the exercise but imagine that it is a 1000 pound weight instead of a balloon.  You can actually break a sweat and work every organ in the body with this simple exercise.

So how many other places do we add weights?  By viewing these items as obstacles, I’m making this journey much more difficult including adding a silent negativity to myself that brings me down when I don’t realize it.  Do we get on a scale and don’t feel good about ourselves unless we reach a specific weight?

There are usually reasons we are where we are and we need to overcome those to truly change; otherwise any change we manage to succeed in will not stick or it will manifest itself elsewhere.  How easy will change be?  Do we put weights there or balloons?  It’s as hard as we choose it to be. We may miss one day but does this abort the journey?  It’s not the goal.

Perhaps these things that come up in our life are not ‘obstacles’ at all, but are actually the very reasons that have put us where we are in the first place and they show up, not to have us prove we truly want this goal but so we can overcome them and grow! Someone may be saying, great she is finally going to deal with this crap, let me hand her the blocks so all she has to do is walk past them and be done!  What a gift!  We have everything we need to succeed right in front of us – outside obstacles and any inside stresses and fears and so on.  This time I will not set myself up for failure with negative thinking, challenges or even unrealistic goals that are not for me.  Let’s change our entire being for the better now.  Do you have weights inside of you?  Let’s make them balloons and let them fly off!

– Trina

Dreaming In The Rain-AT 3.19.03

Dreaming in the Rain

(Excerpt from Mud Butts AT Journal 3.19.03)
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Ok…..don’t panic…but I am in the middle of a firefight! Seriously! There are bombs and machine guns going off all around me! I am the Hawk Mountain shelter and I had forgotten that the Army Rangers use this area for training. In fact, five of them walked up to the shelter to talk about….I don’t know…bombs or something, and even though I needed help with the bear cables, I was way too intimidated to talk to them! In any case, you have to admit, this is a heck of a way to arrive at the beginning of a dream that has been years in the making….

Yep…after lots of dreaming and planning, I am officially off on my Appalachian Trail thru hike.  I have to tell you first off that I have the greatest parents in the whole world! They got up at o’dark-thirty to drive me to Amicalola State Park so that I could sign in and weigh my pack. I wasn’t doing the aproach trail,but I really wanted to do all the official stuff. Then they drove me up FS42 to the Springer Mountain parking lot. But wait!! That is not all! Then they hiked up Springer Mountain with me in the rain!! Have I mentioned that my parents aren’t hikers!? Well, they are now! They were awesome!
When we got to the top, up walked a guy with a bottle of champagne to share with all of the thru hikers starting today! Trail magic! And I haven’t even stepped off of the mountain yet! His name is Ken Connely and he is celebrating the anniverary of his own thru hike. Isn’t that neat? I tell you what…these thru hikers are pretty special people.
Well, it is my first day out and I have cried all day. First I cried on Springer Mountain with my mom and dad cause I just couldn’t believe that I was finally here. I truly thought this day would never come. Then, after a long day of cold rain and being soaked to the bone, I cried when I got to the shelter. It was almost dark and when I finally got here and I was so happy that I had reached my goal for the day.
After I put my tent up and went down to the spring to get water, I cried again because it hit me that I can really do this. I AM really doing this.
Well, there is a lot more to tell but I am freezing to death.   I have been rained on for about nine hours, my right foot has a huge blister, my whole body aches, all I had for dinner was half a candy bar cause I was too tired to cook and there are bombs going off all around me.
And I am having the time of my life! 🙂
Love, Anna aka Mud Butt