We are a family that loves to get out into the great outdoors. That is why we also make a trip to the Sierra Madre mountains every chance we get. The scenery is beautiful, the trip is exciting, and the adventure never ends. However, even though we love it, we do realize there are risks to it. Therefore, we spend a lot of time preparing for the Sierra Madre.

The Journey Ahead

We start getting excited weeks before the trip is scheduled. It is exciting to think about the things we will see. Each time we go, even hiking the same trails, we always manage to see something new. It does not matter whether it is a tree that we never noticed before or a new flower that has bloomed. We may see different types of wildlife or meet new people along the way. It is all part of the thrill and getting prepared is also an adventure.

Our Preparations

We begin preparing the minute we come off the hike. Even though it is a trip that we do not take as often as we want to, we always walk away from our hike thinking of something that we wish we had had along the way. For instance, the time that we ended up meeting a couple who were unprepared for the true struggles of the hike. The wife had fallen and cut her leg pretty badly. They had no bandages or gauze large enough to cover it and we helped out. There was also a time when we were setting up camp and realized one of our tent rods was missing. We used our survival multi tool to cut a limb from a tree that was able to help us improvise and it worked until we got through with our hike.

Everything We Need

We pride ourselves on being prepared, but we are not always ahead of the game. Last year, we encountered a pretty touchy situation. We had set up camp and we ended up with a with a late night visitor that seemed more interested in us than we really wanted it to be. It was a skunk who did not want to let us sleep much at all. We risked getting skunked by standing to the side and trying to find sticks to throw to make him run away. In the middle of the night, it was not much fun. Not only were we nearly sick because of the smell, but we couldn’t figure out how to make him leave.

After that adventure, we decided that on our next trip out, we would have a slapjack weapon on hand. We have no desire to hurt an animal and we would never do anything to harm them, but we really have no desire to have another close encounter. We have both considered what it could have been. A skunk is harmless, but if it had been something else, what would we have done? We choose not to put ourselves into that position again.