Last summer, I went on a 6-day hiking trip in Southeast Alaska. Except for the first & last few hours, it was entirely off-trail, and very rugged: at several points my father & I wished we had ropes as well as rapelling equipment. Twice the terrain was so steep that we had to take off the packs and raise or lower them with string; as I was tieing my pack up for one of these lifts, I discovered that my sleeping pad was missing! I backtracked & searched up the steep mountainside we were climbing down, but didn't venture far since the terrain was dangerous enough that I thought it was stupid to risk my neck over a cheap piece of foam.

For the remainder of the trip I had to build a bed of moss at each campsite to keep from freezing during the cold nights. From this experience I've learned to lash down my pad extra tight; I figure it got ripped off my pack while descending through a patch of thick brush. I also learned it takes a lot of time to build even a part of a shelter.

While on the topic of brush, my dad also learned the hard way that if you have a piece of equipment that the brush can snag, it will. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" /> Before I talked him into the lightweight packing kick he used to carry one of those ancient external frame Kelty packs, the kind that pin to their frames. One day, a branch took hold of the release pin (which is like the grab-pin on a fire extinguisher) and let loose every single fastener pin on one side of the pack, and it swung off the frame like a barnyard door. Pins scattered in the underbrush, and he had to make do with duct tape.

Lessons learned during offtrail hiking in brush:
* cover release pins with duct tape
* tuck in or trim all pullchords/zipper pulls/tightening straps (better yet, buy a lightweight pack that doesn't have much of that nonsense to worry about)
* wear safety glasses when swimming through thick brush(ouch!)
* attach prescription glasses to your head with sunglass keeper
* bring spare prescription glasses
* use a holster that secures your handgun very well (don't ask)
* tuck in shoelaces
* tuck in long hair
* lash on your sleeping pad vertically instead of horizontally, and make it tight
* make sure nothing that you tuck into those handy mesh pockets hangs out, such as camera straps or socks
* don't use "frogg togg" raingear; they're light, but they tear easily