My Journey as a Trail Guide - Part 2 of 3

Experience Is Not Enough. Out on the trail as a Trail Guide.


Day two of a three day backpacking trip. One of the hikers in our group, a young girl, eighteen, turns to me with tears welling in her eyes. “Jerry, I don’t think I can do this.”

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During the summer of 2019 my learning curve as a trail guide was steep. By the time I took my fifth group out in early August I had finally discovered the methods I needed to get them prepared. A group of three. They all arrived with everything they needed. Each had been out with me previously. Each had learned.

On day two I would once again be tested as a trail guide.

The plan I devised was not designed to be overly difficult. Though this group now had camping experience, none of them had been on a hike of real substance.

Day one we would hike 4.5 miles to our campsite. It was a campsite with no water sources, and no water sources along the way. I ensured each of us were appropriately hydrated before stepping out on the trail, and we each carried in excess of 3 liters of water. Day two we would find water 3 miles into our 6.5 mile hike. I wanted this group to learn how to camp without a water source right next to you. How this can be done with careful planning.

My test was not due to a lack of water. We arrived at our source before lunch on the 2nd day still carrying water to spare.

The last mile of our hike on day one had been a steep downhill into our campsite. The plan involved backtracking about 2 miles on the same trail the next day, before diverting onto another trail which would lead to our second campsite. Experienced backpackers reading this know what the day one descent meant. When hiking I have a saying, “what goes down eventually goes back up.”

Just a quarter of a mile into our hike on day two is when the young gal began to panic a little.

Her emotions were a combination of embarrassment at not being able to keep up, and an unfamiliar feeling from being short of breath with burning thigh muscles. The next actions I took were not only critical to getting her up the mountain, this experience could ruin her for backpacking going forward.

I sent the other two hikers ahead. We were on a well marked, safe trail. This immediately removed the feeling of embarrassment from the equation.

I knew the sleeping bag she was carrying to be too large and heavy. I had her remove her pack. I handed her my trekking poles. Before she placed her pack back on her shoulders I also took a large water bottle from her. I carried the sleeping bag in one hand, the water bottle in the other.

I instructed her how to use the trekking poles to aid in climbing steep terrain. I also taught her how to handle the early fatigue she was experiencing. When she felt her heart beating into her throat I told her to stop, regain her breath, take a sip of water, breath a little more, then continue on. I emphasized several times how we weren’t on a timeline.

I knew this feeling. In 2002, as I was completing my hike to the top of Mt. Saint Helens, my heart was pounding up into my throat. For every two steps forward I would slid one back in the deep ash near the summit. My thighs burned like never before. I fully understood what she was experiencing.

There is no doubt she made it to the top through her own sheer will and determination. I was merely there to provide the confidence to get through it. But I also had the physical conditioning required to not only continue up that terrain with my pack, but to do it carrying two extra things in my arms, and without the trekking poles I have come to rely upon.

And it was my calm voice encouraging her on. A voice of “having been there.”

Another hike in October, with a group of four, I would end up carrying an additional pack the last 1.5 miles of a 7.8 mile day. I managed to sling the straps over my arms in front of me. I was carrying my pack on my back, and this other pack in front of me. Again, I was able to do this while maintaining a reassuring voice, encouraging the hiker on to the final campsite.

With some pointed questions I can figure out a person’s backpacking experience level. Measuring a person’s physical fitness? That’s another challenge. I would describe these two individuals as physically fit. They each have a slender frame and are no strangers to exercise. But experienced backpackers know full well that exercise at home does not replicate being on the trail with a heavy pack.

The young girl from the trip in August is now an experienced backpacker. She was also on the trip in October where I ended up carrying the extra pack for a separate hiker.

As a self-anointed trail guide, I feel it is my responsibility to be in a position to handle situations such as these. Experience definitely matters.

This past summer it seemed we attracted nearly every thunderstorm during our backpacking trips. But I’d been through rain so many times. In each instance I was able to tell my group, with confidence, how we would be just fine once at the campsite. I cover this in more detail in one of my articles on the Mountain Blazer website.

As a trail guide I also feel it is my responsibility to be able to handle situations which require a certain level of physical fitness.

If you are interested in learning how to backpack, or reading about the challenges incurred by experienced backpackers, please check out the Mountain Blazers.

Another nice post, Jerry, although I am not sure about your willingness to carry someone else's pack. I've repacked my own pack to carry more of the load, but taking another hiker's pack? Wow. I think I would choose to sit down with them and talk them through the problem. Sounds like low blood sugar (give them a snack) dehydration ( give them water) or just plain need a rest (give them one).

But then, I've never had someone in a group decide that he or she simply can't hike any more...

Maybe you all started too fast to begin with?

I used to lead a backpacking program for troubled youth (not criminal offenses, mostly from abusive or dysfunctional home situations.) More than once, I've had the "I can't do this" discussion. Sometimes the reason was purely physical, but sometimes it was simply the physical exertion that broke down some mental barrier, and the teenager would have an emotional breakthrough - that was why I had professional counselors as co-leaders.

Sounds like you did everything right with the first young lady. You helped reduce her load, but didn't eliminate it. Then you explained to her what was really going on - sometimes the fear of not knowing is more debilitating than the actual physical effort needed.

There are times when you have to take someone's pack (like you did on that October trip), but that should be an absolute last resort. By doing that, you risk giving them the impression that they failed - and that means they won't want to backpack again.

When you plan your routes, do you include some "bail-out" options? For our brand-new beginner trips, with the mixed-age groups I now help lead, we usually station a car somewhere around the halfway point of the trail (in a parking lot that has a quarter-mile access trail), and at our first overnight camp (a frontcountry site with drive-in access, in case someone needs to lighten a load - or, in rare cases, be evacuated.)

The groups I now lead are mixed-age adults. We gather information when they register for the trip. It's not uncommon for our beginners to be overweight (some significantly so); they want to learn to backpack as part of becoming more active. They also indicate that they are signing up for a beginner trip so their next trip can be an AT section hike. In those cases, we try to manage expectations and, at some point, counsel them on less-challenging trails where they can hone their skills and work up to the physical demands of the AT.

Last summer, we led a trip with such an individual on a mid-90s weekend. We had concerns about her ability to hike under those conditions from the start; we let her try because we were using a trail that only had a few 100-200 foot elevation changes. I was walking last, as I usually do, to take charge of the "stragglers" who fall behind. By the time we'd gone a mile, this individual was a quarter-mile behind, and struggling to keep up. We were stopping for lunch at our bail-out point, about two miles from the start. My hiker was, by turns, flushed and pale, and I'm starting to get concerned about heat exhaustion. We stopped every couple of hundred yards that second mile, and finally got to the lunch stop almost an hour after everyone else. (The main leader was well into his "Leave No Trace" presentation.) I told the main leader we could not let her finish the hike, even though she said she'd be fine "if I can just rest a while." We hadn't even got to the part of the trail where the elevation started changing, and still had six miles to go. So, I evacuated her to our campsite by car. I spent the afternoon with her, specifically teaching her how to lighten her pack and talking about hiking techniques and easy trails that would let her ease into the sport at a slower pace. My main point was to convince her that she hadn't failed, and to give her strategies to make her next trip work for her.

Keep encouraging them and working with them. Also, if you don't have assistant leaders available already, work on turning some of those earlier participants into assistant leaders for your future trips. The experiences they had will make them more empathetic with the people struggling on their first trips.

Glenn & Balzaccom,

Thanks so much for the replies! Glenn; I love your ideas and I will definitely put them into play. The last thing you wrote; I'm already on it. I have two people qualified to be assistants. They are students with heavy class loads, but I'm trying to push them on the administrative side to get them there.

I agree with you both about carrying the pack. I should not have. What I left out of that story is; the person who's pack I carried is my son. I showed a bit of weakness there. I think I will incorporate this mistake into that story for future posts.

The bailout point is a great idea! I am fortunate with the areas here in the Carolinas where I take many trips for newbies. One of the areas is a flat terrain, 1.3 mile hike to the campsite. It allows for people to bailout (just walk in the other direction). Which did happen. I'll discuss this in my part 3 story. And I hope you don't mind, but I'm going to actually use the word "bailout" option. I'll give credit for your input.

I know my website needs work. I'm getting there. Running a coffee shop only allows so much time for leisure. I had to postpone my hiking trip for this weekend (AT section in GA). The weather is going to be too nasty. So instead I'll work on adding content to my website.

Since you mentioned the AT. It would be awesome if we ever hooked up for a hike next summer.

Thanks again!

Jerry

I don’t think carrying a pack is a mistake; sometimes, there’s no choice. All I meant is that it should be the choice of last resort.

Also, remember that hindsight is 20/20. I always give the benefit of the doubt to the guy on the spot, who made the best decision he could in the situation he was in. I’m guessing you made the right call, given all the facts in the moment.

Thanks. I agree; I do the same thing with my Baristas. If they made a call with a customer and I wasn't there, I assume they made the right call.

And I certainly did not take any of your criticism personally, at all. One of the points in me finally joining forums (besides my website) is to learn from others. I'm the only one I know of in my area who is doing this. So I don't have a mentor. I've already learned a great thing from you to incorporate - the bailout option.

And now, time for some rest. Coffee shop owners have early schedules...