View Full Version : Sloppy Muddy trails? do you stay home?
Wise Old Owl
12-28-2009, 22:21
Yep it just rained large mammals & rodents for two days... Yesterday I got a break and grabbed the dogs for a really muddy hike. (dogs love it) The Amazing deal to me was I cannot invite anyone to join me. I drove my all wheel drive up to the hunters parking spot on a Sunday because they are not allowed to hunt. Half mile into the woods and we (me & the dogs) were wading though bogs of mud and water. No I don't wear boots, just thick socks and New Ballence 473 for less than ten miles. I plan to get nasty. I keep several towels in the car for the dogs. The car has extra rubber mats.
I took my 70 year old dad last year and we slogged it out in the spring early in March and he actually got mad at me when he discovered he was slogging it out on the same trail twice when I circled back to the car! Here he is coming out of the culvert from the other side of the park after we cut though some 100 feet of pipe.:D
http://i250.photobucket.com/albums/gg275/MarkSwarbrick/2009033.jpg
So what do you do????
This is a trick question, right?:)
Wise Old Owl
12-28-2009, 22:26
No,, Huh? no.
No,, Huh? no.
No?! :eek:
Ok then ...........:p here is the answer...
.......imaginedrumroll........................:-?
GO HIKING!!!!:D
or maybe I don't understand the question.:o
Wise Old Owl
12-28-2009, 22:44
that's the spirit!
that's the spirit!
heck yeah, don't let a little mud and slop and rain slow yaz down...:sun
Sounds like the perfect day.......;)
You will not make it through Mudchussettes or Vermud if you cannot slog. People try for several miles to walk around the mud but eventually start slogging.
Wise Old Owl
12-28-2009, 23:47
Hey I remember that - Maine is below sea level right?
Jayboflavin04
12-29-2009, 02:11
I never watch the weather report before a trip. Hiking is a all weather event.. If I am planning on a hike and I wake up and its raining so be it. I just plan for a given temp range.
Here in eastern Canada, we essentially have two seasons, mud season and snow season... So, waiting for good conditions around here means no hiking. You quickly addopt an affinity to hiking in both mud and snow..
From now till early April it is snowshoe season!
mweinstone
12-29-2009, 09:09
ice and mud dont hold a syick to plaine wet leaves. they frighten me and i dont walk on supper wet days on tons of leaves at peak death by slip season. but mud? heh...
sasquatch2014
12-29-2009, 09:46
ice and mud dont hold a syick to plaine wet leaves. they frighten me and i dont walk on supper wet days on tons of leaves at peak death by slip season. but mud? heh...
Amen to that! hardest fall I ever took was because of slick leaves, well leaves and gravity combined.
Lone Wolf
12-29-2009, 09:47
ice and mud dont hold a syick to plaine wet leaves. they frighten me and i dont walk on supper wet days on tons of leaves at peak death by slip season. but mud? heh...
friggin' bog bridges are worse. i don't walk over those anymore
sasquatch2014
12-29-2009, 09:50
friggin' bog bridges are worse. i don't walk over those anymore
What you mean the moss culture farm strips?
Year round hiking for me. I'm like a post man of old, "neither rain nor sleet etc."
Mud isn't any worse than anything else out there. All weather conditions require being prepared and a positive attitude is part of that preparation.
If I was close, I would hike with you. :D
Rasputen
12-29-2009, 10:09
Gortex Trail Runners and short trial running gators. Rinse and repeat on next rainy/muddy trip.... Different weather different perspectives. I enjoy it all.......
Hiking when the treadway is soft results in more damage to the treadway and in some locations at times is prohibited. See the WhiteBlaze thread Mud Season? (http://www.whiteblaze.net/forum/showthread.php?t=50624) for more information.
I try to stay away from muddy trails. I really don't like the kind of mud that sticks to the bottom of your shoes until you're walking on frankenstein platform shoes. Plus it's not good for the trails to hike when it's really muddy.
fredmugs
12-29-2009, 16:03
The older I get the sloppier I like it.
...take your dad on any other great hikes?
. . .
Wise Old Owl
01-18-2010, 14:21
...take your dad on any other great hikes?
. . .
Yes but he's slowing down.
Mud season options:
1. Bushwhacking through public lands, enjoy your discoveries while hiking with x-ray vision.
2. Urban "hikes" - you're in Philly? try going to Pittsburgh for the weekend, or DC, or NYC, or Boston.
Rockhound
01-19-2010, 09:48
I try to stay away from muddy trails. I really don't like the kind of mud that sticks to the bottom of your shoes until you're walking on frankenstein platform shoes. Plus it's not good for the trails to hike when it's really muddy.
Guess you're not a thru-hiker. If you don't like mud, I would avoid Maine, Vermont, Parts of Massachusetts, A good portion of Virginia.............
Rockhound
01-19-2010, 09:49
And Mississippi is famous for it's mud
kayak karl
01-19-2010, 09:58
i'll hike in mud, i'll hike with bugs, but mud and bugs i hike alone. it may just be the cursing and complaining:D
LimpsAlong
01-20-2010, 13:26
Sloppy / Muddy? Never !!!
Blissful
01-20-2010, 14:24
Mud is part if a hiker's life. If you don't like it or can't do it, walk a country road. :)
The Snowman
01-21-2010, 17:25
on muddy days I go walking on the beach.
Digger'02
01-21-2010, 17:31
you HAVE to go out when its wet and muddy, how else are you going to see how erosion is activly damaging the trail you maintain?