Turning around

[balzaccom]

There are times on the trail when it is important to recognize when you are at Fishhook. We once climbed up to the top of Chilnualna Falls in Yosemite in the winter. The trail was covered in snow, but we were fine until we got to with about 100 feet of seeing the top of the falls. Because at this point the trail had three feet of powdery snow on it, and followed a narrow ledge along a 500 foot drop. And we couldn't exactly see where the trail actually went. We poked our feet around in the snow for a minute or two and decided that we were at Fishhook. The benefits of seeing the top of the falls just didn't justify the risks of having one of us slip off that ledge.

(You can get an idea of the terrain in the photo here. And yes, if we'd had hiking poles, or climbing ropes, the decision might have been different. We didn't.)



So we turned around.

What brings this to mind is our recent trip up Fairview Dome in Yosemite. It's steep, and the wind was howling. And because it was January, it was cold. And so we decided that it didn't really matter that we weren't going all the way to the top. As a friend told me many years ago: "Summits are all in the mind."

We've stopped our hike or changed our route many times because of swollen creeks, time of day, or icy or overhanging snow. And we have never once regretted it.

When we hear of people getting rescued off mountains, we usually don't admire their courage or their adventuring spirits. We dp find ourselves questioning their judgment, and wondering why they didn't turn around when it made sense to do so.

So when have you turned around? And when did you keep going...and realize it might have been a mistake?

There are plenty of examples on our blog: https://sites.google.com/site/backpackt ... g/fishhook

[Grzldvt]

I can definitely jump in on this one.
One Memorial Day weekend Sunday day hike, a friend and I decided to do the North Rim Trail. Snow was moderate that year, we had never gone all the way on the North Rim so it seemed like a good one to do. It was in the high 70's on the Valley Floor and as a guess the low 70's at the top of the Falls, seemed very warm. That was the deciding factor in leaving behind any cooler weather clothes and hike in T-shrits and shorts.
Up the Yosemite Falls trail, lunch at Yosemite Point, then off to North Dome, ran into small patches of snow, but enough of the trail was exposed it was no big deal. As we progressed towards Snow Creek, the snow got heavier, the further we progressed the less of a trail we had. Eventually we were out of any visible trail and post holing in the deeper snow.
At this point we were guessing as to where the trail was. It is now around 6 o'clock , still plenty of sun and very warm, but looking at the map we could not tell where we were. We trudged on and eventually hit the edge of what we thought was an area we should hit the Snow Creek trail, but it was nowhere to be seen. We then began to hike around the edge of the cliff of Basket Dome(?), using the Manzanita bushes to hold onto, lean over the edge and look down to see if we can see the trail, no luck. The more we moved around the worse it looked. Around 7 PM we decided there is no way we are finding the trail. So we discuss our options: stop moving around, stay the night and hope it stays warm as neither of us were even close to being prepared for cold weather, or turn back. The snow was deep enough and we did not have matches, so a fire was out of the question. We did not have warm clothes, so the answer was obvious.
We decided to turn back as we figured we had an hour+ of daylight left. Our other issue was water, we were both extremely low, as we were banking on an easy hike down the Snow Creek trail. Even though we did not have flashlights/headlamps, we did have a full moon.

We luckily located our tracks in the snow and started to backtrack. We jogged/fast hiked and got to Yosemite Point around 9:30 PM. We actually ran into several people hiking down the Falls trail with light. so that helped alot. Got to the Valley Floor around 11:30 PM, cold and in a serious state of dehydration. It had gotten very cool and we were both freezing as we got to our cars. We drove home, I got into San Jose, Ca around 3:30 in the AM, my friend got to San Carlos about the same time..

Lesson learned - NEVER go hiking without a headlamp, matches and at least a long sleeve shirt, a lightweight jacket, rain pants(Mine compress to about a 6"x3" stuff sack.), extra food and a water filter.
When I do my ehhhmmm, extreme hikes I now carry a long sleeve shirt, zip on pants bottoms, matches, some extra snacks, and a headlamp

[balzaccom]

Great story Stev!
But couldn't you have drunk the melted snow? We've done that any number of times: once when our filter crapped out.

[KC]

Sometimes it's not even the elements, it's just physical limitations. At least, for me, that's what it was last summer. I was a totally out of shape new dad trying to do a 3-day 30-some-odd mile trip through Desolation Wilderness and had to cut it short. While disappointing, the elevation, heat, and pure soreness had me licked. In retrospect, I should've been more realistic about my goals at the start, but it was a nice one-nighter in the end.

[Grzldvt]

Great story Stev!
But couldn't you have drunk the melted snow? We've done that any number of times: once when our filter crapped out.

We did do some,. but as we progressed toward yosemite Falls, we were consuming quite a bit and ran out.