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Life Lessons you have Learned While Adventuring in the Woods

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  • Life Lessons you have Learned While Adventuring in the Woods

    While going on your hikes, backpacking trips, and camping trips what have you learned over the many years of adventuring?

    Personally I have learned that moss and granite are the worst combination on a steep hill. But that is a minor life lesson, here is a list if you are interested in other people's life lessons while roughing it in the wilderness. (http://www.greatist.com/happiness/ca...me-life-062513)

    Let me hear about what the wilderness has taught you!
    Visit www.gearspoke.com for all of your rental needs!

  • #2
    Re: Life Lessons you have Learned While Adventuring in the Woods

    some lessons i learned,
    when at home you may dump a glass of anything if you see anything floating in it, maybe even rinse out the gl****
    yet, have dirt/debri/twigs in your drink while camping, hey added bonus probably has some nutritional value,
    no matter how long, cold, wet, miserable the night may be, the sun will eventually rise.

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    • #3
      Re: Life Lessons you have Learned While Adventuring in the Woods

      Thank you! Very true, when I went camping in September, it was a very cold season, and it was raining and partly snowing ... so pretty much just miserable. But the next day it cleared up, still freezing but not raining nor snowing!
      Visit www.gearspoke.com for all of your rental needs!

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      • #4
        Re: Life Lessons you have Learned While Adventuring in the Woods

        Life lesson learned while backpacking in Big Bend: Even if you are tired, look before you sit down. A rattlesnake may have taken your seat.
        Nights spent outdoors this year: I lost track

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        • #5
          Re: Life Lessons you have Learned While Adventuring in the Woods

          Haha, oh nooo!
          Visit www.gearspoke.com for all of your rental needs!

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          • #6
            Re: Life Lessons you have Learned While Adventuring in the Woods

            Wear long pants....Chiggers last a long time

            Plenty of bug spray......fewer ticks...they can get into some tight spaces

            Stay on the trail........

            When peeing......men to the left, women to the right (because women are always right)

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            • #7
              Re: Life Lessons you have Learned While Adventuring in the Woods


              High quality beer tastes good warm or cold.
              Don't wait to take dream vacations until you retire, grow weak and can't take them anymore.
              And trust me on this last one:

              When everybody else bails on you, God is still there to help.
              Last edited by tplife; 12-22-2014, 11:17 AM.
              “People have such a love for the truth that when they happen to love something else, they want it to be the truth; and because they do not wish to be proven wrong, they refuse to be shown their mistake. And so, they end up hating the truth for the sake of the object which they have come to love instead of the truth.”
              ―Augustine of Hippo, Fifth Century A.D.

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              • #8
                Re: Life Lessons you have Learned While Adventuring in the Woods

                I completely agree wtih investing in or borrowing good gear! You won't know how thankful you'll be until you're a few days into a couple week long backpacking trip...
                Visit www.gearspoke.com for all of your rental needs!

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                • #9
                  Re: Life Lessons you have Learned While Adventuring in the Woods

                  The simplest, and best advice I learned from wilderness experience is the same tested and true saying from the Boy Scouts: Be Prepared

                  The most trouble I ever got into was going into the wilderness too casually for a simple walk or day trek. Sometimes these turn into the Gilligan's Island "three hour tour" where you get stuck in a freezing storm or stranded in a snowstorm overnight. Many times, my pocket knife, some matches, and a compass saved my life and the life of my companions.

                  You don't have to carry everything with you all the time, but be prepared before you set out even for the most simple of excursions.

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                  • #10
                    Re: Life Lessons you have Learned While Adventuring in the Woods

                    I learned not to camp in a closed park.

                    Years ago, the rule at the state forest where my gang usually camps was that you could register in the morning if you got to the park after the ranger's station was closed. So, on one particular winter trip, that's just what we did. A friend and I were the first ones there so we set about clearing two feet of snow to get my popup in the site. I mention that because it comes into play later.

                    Skip ahead to the following morning. We're all sitting around having breakfast when a light rain begins to fall. See where this is going? Somebody notices that the snow doesn't look all that white anymore - it's more gray. On top of that, the temperature is steadily going up. We hear a low - I mean LOW rumble. We sound the alarm - time to get out NOW! We throw everything that we can up the hill behind us as this low rumbling starts. We jump in our trucks and haul a$$ out of there as the water starts rolling through the valley where we were staying. From the highway we can see trees getting mowed down like they were twigs.

                    To keep this long story kind of short, the water peaked right to where the step to my popup was underwater. Somehow it wasn't washed away. We found out through some locals that the park had been closed because they were expecting the flood. It also turns out the locals were kind of pi$$ed off at us because they had sent people in to find us and we were nowhere to be seen. Ever since that day there are signs throughout the park that tell people to register before they set up. We're very proud of those signs because we knew we were responsible for their creation. Nothing like giving people a job, right?

                    I forget what year it was, but it was definitely a long time ago because my hair was brown. Here I am on the right, with the rest of the idiots, looking pretty happy, maybe because we didn't die?

                    Click image for larger version

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                    Hancock, Maryland and a lot of the surrounding areas were wiped out that year. Green Ridge State Forest was almost unrecognizable for years because most of the trees in low lying areas were gone. Some of my friends must have short memories because I insist on high ground on winter trips. Yeah - I learned not to camp in closed parks.
                    Last edited by MacGyver; 12-22-2014, 03:21 PM.

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                    • #11
                      Re: Life Lessons you have Learned While Adventuring in the Woods

                      Oh my goodness, Oh noo! That is the perfect lesson to learn though!
                      Visit www.gearspoke.com for all of your rental needs!

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                      • #12
                        Re: Life Lessons you have Learned While Adventuring in the Woods

                        Wow, Mcguyver, wild story! I thought the story would lead to you getting a ticket for not registering and paying before you camp. The story certainly took an unexpected and facinating turn.

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                        • #13
                          Re: Life Lessons you have Learned While Adventuring in the Woods

                          Originally posted by Mike View Post
                          Wow, Mcguyver, wild story! I thought the story would lead to you getting a ticket for not registering and paying before you camp. The story certainly took an unexpected and facinating turn.
                          Believe me - it got crazy. Just outside the park, there's a restaurant that's real popular with the locals. Imagine how we felt when my group walked in and all we heard was, "They're here" from a bunch of the locals, accompanied by looks that said you all seriously f'd up. Next thing you know we're confronted by a Park Ranger wanting to know why we were camping in a closed park. He didn't seem to like us telling him that we'd been camping there for about 15 years and had always registered the following morning when we got there late. We really hadn't done anything wrong according to the rules at the time, but you're right, we were all surprised we didn't get a ticket, beat up or locked up.. or something... He let us go with the warning to check the ranger's station from then on. By the time the next trip came around, the register first signs were up everywhere.

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                          • #14
                            Re: Life Lessons you have Learned While Adventuring in the Woods

                            All the established campgrounds around here have gates that get closed with a park closure. If there isn't a ranger or host, but the gate is open, you can come in and set up and pay in the morning. If the gate is closed, no camping there.

                            Now I'm wondering - were you responsible for this procedure out in California as well as the signs out east?
                            “One could not be a successful scientist without realizing that, in contrast to the popular conception supported by newspapers and mothers of scientists, a goodly number of scientists are not only narrow-minded and dull, but also just stupid.” - James D. Watson

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                            • #15
                              Re: Life Lessons you have Learned While Adventuring in the Woods

                              Originally posted by toedtoes View Post
                              All the established campgrounds around here have gates that get closed with a park closure. If there isn't a ranger or host, but the gate is open, you can come in and set up and pay in the morning. If the gate is closed, no camping there.

                              Now I'm wondering - were you responsible for this procedure out in California as well as the signs out east?
                              They couldn't gate off the State Forest - there are people who actually have private property within it and live there full time.

                              The idea that Maryland park rangers told the rest of the country to put up signs is really funny to me. That means we're national idiots, not just local.

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