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AlexLofberg
07-06-2016, 03:15
Summer is peaking and most of us are ready to hit the woods, mountains, shores or any surrounding we may like. Camping and trekking is a fantastic way to discover our beautiful nature but it also comes with some a few hazards and difficulties. What is your biggest concern when camping / trekking?

swjohnsey
07-06-2016, 05:11
Blisters..

bigcranky
07-06-2016, 06:44
Ticks. Making sure I have enough water.

Greenlight
07-06-2016, 06:46
Making sure I don't decide to say to hell with it and just stay in the woods.

saltysack
07-06-2016, 06:59
Dealing with the wife raising hell when I return!!![emoji51]


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Traveler
07-06-2016, 07:10
Summer carries its own concerns much as winter does. Summer hiking I am concerned about heat stress (hypothermia in winter) and staying hydrated. Its easy to become dehydrated and to lose electrolytes in hot weather.

Maydog
07-06-2016, 07:12
I frequently hike alone in remote areas, so twisting an ankle or getting injured with no one around is a concern. It's one reason I move pretty slowly.

garlic08
07-06-2016, 08:13
Getting to and from the trailhead safely. It's one of the few times I drive, and that scares the hell out of me.

Slo-go'en
07-06-2016, 08:30
Lets see, over the holiday weekend here in the White Mountain area we had one drowning (canoe overturned in minor rapids, no life jacket), several ATV accidents, one requiring helicopter evac, and half a dozen lost or injured hikers. Actually, that's pretty much a typical weekend tally for around here.

TheCheek
07-06-2016, 08:40
People: late night parties, drunken yokels out to harass campers, etc.

Storms: falling trees, lightning.

Those are the major summer ones. Most other things can be avoided with better planning.

GoldenBear
07-06-2016, 09:38
Suffering another knee injury that will end my backpacking days forever.

At age 22, you can tear up your knee, spend a few years recovering, and get back to the adventure by the time you're 30.
At my age, I'm not sure I have that option.

Also, I wouldn't want a second round of Lyme Disease, but it would only put me out for a couple months.

Other than those two, I'm not terribly worried about anything. I wouldn't want to get bit by a rattle-snake, murdered at a shelter, fall off a cliff, or get swept away in a flash-flood; but those are all less likely than getting hit by a drunk driver while going to a trail head.

Leo L.
07-06-2016, 10:22
Hunters!
Out of season, they are still present in the woods and behave as if the world belonged to them.

orthofingers
07-06-2016, 12:23
Hunters!
Out of season, they are still present in the woods and behave as if the world belonged to them.


Really? Any hunter(s) I've ever encountered were very polite and respectful. I'm sure there are always exceptions but that's my experience anyway.

Lone Wolf
07-06-2016, 12:28
no concerns

Leo L.
07-06-2016, 12:39
To expand a little:
This is Austria, not the US!
Here, most forest and wildernes (if there is any at all) belongs to the state, who is eager to earn as much money as possible. So, hunting is licensed and hunters (rich ones) can rent an area for their private pleasure.
The whole forest and wildernes is rented out this way.
Understandable, a rich guy having paid a huge yearly rent for a certain area to hunt in exclusively, would love to be the only user of this.
Hikers legally have a "right of way" from sunrise to sunset in forest, and wildernes can be used to full pleasure by anybody.
Hunters take this overly serious and many a hiker or biker got kicked out at gunpoint (or with help of a very serious dog, which is even worse).

BTW, any hunters I ever met in US were at least funny, or respectful and polite, depending on the ratio of empty to full cans.

carouselambra
07-06-2016, 12:40
My two biggest fears in the woods are dehydration and hypothermia. I plan carefully and carry extra weight to avoid both of them.

RockDoc
07-06-2016, 13:57
Biggest concern if falling due to my own clumsiness.

lyagooshka
07-06-2016, 14:53
Really? Any hunter(s) I've ever encountered were very polite and respectful. I'm sure there are always exceptions but that's my experience anyway.

I second that.
And I would add that if they are "Out of season", they're not "hunters", they're "poachers", and therefore criminals.

Just as an FYI, many hunters LOVE hikers.
They keep the animals moving around and increase chances.
Generally speaking, but I haven't met anyone (hiking or hunting) who was a total @$$, unless they got an attitude first (like a militant animal-rights hiker-'person' purposefully disrupting a hunter [which BTW is a crime]).

Hope it helps.

Alex

Leo L.
07-06-2016, 15:29
...
Just as an FYI, many hunters LOVE hikers.
They keep the animals moving around and increase chances...

Good idea, I need to remember to point out this one during the next confrontation...
Didn't intend to blame _your_ hunters though.

Lnj
07-06-2016, 15:47
Biggest concern if falling due to my own clumsiness.

+1 and dehydration.

AlpineKevin
07-06-2016, 16:15
Park Rangers.

lyagooshka
07-06-2016, 19:03
Didn't intend to blame _your_ hunters though.
No worries my friend.
And next time you're in the states, let me know if you're in the PA area.
We'll grab a beer.
~

Dogwood
07-06-2016, 19:30
Summer is peaking and most of us are ready to hit the woods, mountains, shores or any surrounding we may like. Camping and trekking is a fantastic way to discover our beautiful nature but it also comes with some a few hazards and difficulties. What is your biggest concern when camping / trekking?

Varies depending on where and how I'm backpacking. Most times my biggest concerns aren't from Nature...bears, snakes, scorpions, spiders, ticks, waves, drownings, getting rim rocked, being sucked into quick sand, eaten by lions,... High up the risk list is usually something involved with humans... getting hit by a car, having gear ripped off, some drunken or drugged up jerk rubs me in the wrong way and will not stop despite my warnings,...

Slips, trips, and falls on trail. Wet or muddy roots or wooden trail construction or matted down wet leaves on descents. Not paying attention to footing and how rocks, logs, landslides, etc will move.

rocketsocks
07-06-2016, 20:40
Staying motivated through the suck.

MuddyWaters
07-07-2016, 00:35
Ticks, family

Trailweaver
07-07-2016, 02:13
Falling is my main concern. I have a medical problem & broken bones don't heal well for me. I have also torn a ligament on the trail when my foot slipped on a rock. Wasn't much fun to hike out with that one. And while I've never had gear stolen, I'd hate it if it happened! And then there's a fear of snakebite. I tend not to see them until I'm right on them.

I don't worry about it much - until someone brings it all up! :)






't

Leo L.
07-07-2016, 02:40
No worries my friend.
And next time you're in the states, let me know if you're in the PA area.
We'll grab a beer.
~
Next time i'm visiting my daughter, who's living in Pitsburgh, I'll take you on this one <G>

Zach ADK
07-07-2016, 10:07
Pterodactyls are my biggest fear when hiking. I guess they're not really that big in some ways but it's the wingspan that makes me nervous.
Zach

rocketsocks
07-07-2016, 11:51
Pterodactyls are my biggest fear when hiking. I guess they're not really that big in some ways but it's the wingspan that makes me nervous.
Zachmine is tripping over fossils and falling down.

bstiffler
07-08-2016, 06:17
cannibals
bigfoot

Traveler
07-08-2016, 08:04
mine is tripping over fossils and falling down.

I usually don't sit where I can be tripped over......

Bronk
07-08-2016, 13:35
I don't hike in the summer. I prefer fall and winter when the weather is cold...to me being hot is miserable. Views are better when the leaves are off the trees.

Dogwood
07-08-2016, 20:13
Ticks, family

Funny, u connect the two?

Leo L.
10-27-2016, 15:44
Hunters!
Out of season, they are still present in the woods and behave as if the world belonged to them.

Doing some aftermath of my trips of this summer:
Hunters were no problem, so you were right.
Surprisingly the only troubles (if slight) I had were with horses. A flock of them came running towards me across the pasture and started begging for goodies. They were closing in forming a tight circle and when I started shying them away some turned their hind towards me. That got me really alarmed and I got out of the circle before they could start to kick, grabbed a huge stick (this was in the middle of a ski area, so sticks were plenty), and off they went.
BTW, in this same area in the past few years had been several accidents with aggressive cows, even one or two casualties.

Another Kevin
10-27-2016, 16:55
Hmm, this is a bit of a zombie thread, but I missed it the first time around.

What I think is most likely to do me in Out There.

1. Automobile accident while traveling to/from the trailhead, roadwalking or hitchhiking.
2. Sudden medical emergency miles from anywhere.
3. Falling.
4. Drowning.
5. Hypothermia.
6. Dehydration

What I think might make me miserable - and end a trip - without killing me. Some of these have ended trips for me, or given me trouble after returning home:

1. Wilderness-acquired dysentery (viral, bacterial, protozoal - with the last being relatively rare).
2. Insect borne disease (West Nile, equine encephalitis, borreliasis, babesioisis, etc.)
3. Acute or chronic orthopedic injury
4. Trench foot
5. Acute lower respiratory infection
6. Losing food or gear to marauding wildlife

Virtually everything else falls in the general category of, "if you hear about it on the evening news, it's sufficiently rare that you don't have to worry about it." Human and animal attacks, snakebite, failure of navigation, flood, fire, lightning, and so on all fall into the category of "vanishingly rare if sensible precautions are taken, and fairly rare otherwise." A majority of snakebites, for instance, happen on the hand. Guess what people were doing? Don't do that!

I'm not entirely sure where to put hazards such as lightning and widowmakers, but I don't camp above treeline or under dead branches.

Most of these risks are reduced by orders of magnitude with sensible precautions.

rafe
10-27-2016, 19:33
Usually nothing in particular, but I fret about all the things could go south.

Weather, trail conditions, bugs, water, getting decent sleep, eating well, being regular, not getting banged up or sick, keeping it fun. That sort of thing.

Gear, I don't worry about. (A) it doesn't generally go bad, and (B) if it does, it's fixable, as long as attitude is OK.

jgillam
10-27-2016, 19:53
Making sure I don't decide to say to hell with it and just stay in the woods.

It's like he can see my soul.

rocketsocks
10-27-2016, 20:21
I usually don't sit where I can be tripped over......you ole fossil you. LOL

DuneElliot
10-27-2016, 20:39
Crossing fast and deep water. Water makes me really nervous, period, so if I came across a fast-flowing river without someone else, I'd be pretty stuck. It's the biggest worry for solo hiking for me...plus I always have a dog or two to think about; I always carry their pack across and don't want them to get swept down river even though they are strong swimmers.

Surprising a bear makes me nervous, but again with above-mentioned dogs, not knowing when wildlife is present is an pretty rare thing.