Discretion is the better part of valor

by

in

I was up at Westerly this weekend, and wanted to go for an overnight camping trip while I was there. I decided to hike 4 miles up Noble Canyon to Noble Lake, then sleep under the stars and reverse the whole process Monday morning. I like summer camping trips like that, where you can keep the pack light by ditching the tent.

On the drive there, I noted a fair amount of thunderstorm activity. When I got to the trailhead, there was moderate to light thunderstorm activity. The clouds were all up above the top of the canyon, and I’d be hiking in the floor, with plenty of room between me and the storm. I decided to get hiking, and make one final go/no-go decision at 2 miles in. Either it would be a 4 mile day hike, or an overnight as planned.

At 2 miles, the storm hadn’t let up, but hadn’t gotten worse. I decided I had nothing to prove to mother nature, and didn’t want to get wet that night, so I turned back home.

I stopped at the pub in the lodge at Bear Valley, and met some really nice people there. Much better conversation than I would have had up at Noble Lake, asking myself, “Why the hell didn’t I turn back” when the weather turned nasty at 3 am.


Comments

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *