What's in the Backpack?

    A friend of mine who had been reading my blogs about the Ozalenka, contacted me, wondering what was carried in the backpacks he saw in the photos.  The trips I took up to the Ozalenka were just day trips, so in my backpack, I only took those things that I figured I would need for the day.  Because, you never really know what might happen while hiking up into the wilderness, I always take a few things that might come in handy in case something unexpected happens.

    The most important thing I always carry is water.  While there are usually clear safe streams that drinkable,  they are not always readily available, so I always take a couple of water bottles.  Water always adds a lot of weight to the daypack, so I always have to carefully judge how much water weight, I want to carry around. 

    Another important thing I always pack is a warm hat, as well as the sun hat that I will wear.  I also take a windbreaker  jacket.  The winds can be very strong in the alpine.  If you get caught in the rain, or have to spend an unexpected night up in the alpine, getting hypothermia can happen, so having some extra layers of clothing is very important. 

        These days, I would certainly take my cell phone, even though in the alpine, there would probably not be any cell signal, but you might get lucky and catch a signal in an emergency.

    Naturally, the main thing on a day trip of hiking, is a lunch.  It doesn’t take long expending a lot of energy, to start thinking about snacks and food.  Beside a sandwich and an apple, trail mix, and maybe a candy bar are always appreciated.  When you are working hard, extra salt and sugar are important, even if they are not very nourishing.

    I don’t take any bear spray.  Usually I hike in a group, and trust that all the noise we make will scare most wildlife away.

    I once was proud of myself for buying a whistle to take along on hikes, thinking that blowing a whistle would be a lot better than yelling for help, if I got lost.  Then Glen, the most experienced hiker in the valley, told me a story about a friend who used a whistle.  As he blew, he noticed that a grizzly bear he spotted in the distance began moving toward him.  It seemed that the grizzly bear thought that the whistling was coming from a marmot, a groundhog sized rodent that lives in the alpine that makes a whistling sound.  The hiker immediately stopped his whistling and got out of the area.

    A really heavy backpack is not much fun to lug around, but as you use the water and food inside it, it gets lighter.

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