Potter: Surviving a monster stinking hard hike - East Idaho News
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Potter: Surviving a monster stinking hard hike

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My wife and I hiked Table Rock, and it was incredible! Oh yeah, and it was hard — really hard.

It’s a 14-miler with a 4,000-foot elevation gain and we had to work much, much harder than expected to reach the summit.

We made it, though, because we rock, and it was so worth it. The scenery was spectacular, it’s true, but when I say it was worth it I’m talking more about the accomplishment of doing something really hard.

I pushed myself past what I thought my body could do, and even then, if I had been by myself I probably would have given up.

1 Summit

Thankfully my wife was there, and together we motivated and supported each other (OK, I was the only one in need of motivation and support) to reach a peak that truly seemed out of reach.

In short, I’m pretty impressive.

But this is also the exact type of situation where my survival items and skills are actually needed, and I got to see if they are truly up to the task.

So I put the topic of my last three columns (bears, water and Clif Bars) to a real test, and here’s what happened:

Bears

Last week I wrote about bear safety, and one of the major new things I learned was putting bells on your shoelaces. Then, a few miles into the hike, this happened.

I saw at least half a dozen more hikers with bear-deterrent bells jingling over the duration of the hike as well, all worn by serious hikers. (They looked like the real deal, judging by their big packs, hiker-looking clothes, and how much faster than me they were).

Of course, this also got me a bit freaked out about bears so (and this is also thanks to my bear article) my wife and I shouted/sang/made jingling sounds with our mouths for about the last two miles home (that was when we were all alone and felt really vulnerable).

Water

We only brought three bottles of water (1 pint each) for our 8-hour, 14-mile hike, and with water purification tablets and a Life Straw, we were absolutely fine.

On the way up we purified a couple bottles from a babbling brook, and on the way down, knowing how often we would be crossing over or passing near water, we just used the Life Straw, sucking up ice-cold filtered water. And it was really good.

1 Life Straw 2

So I’m not exactly sure how many bottles of water we drank through the Life Straw, but my very educated guess is that we only had to carry half the weight of water needed, or even less.

And above all else, the ability to easily get all the water we wanted picked us up when things got rough. (Hard Hiking video)

Clif Bars

Chosen OneI learned how to eat a Clif Bar on this hike as well. (I’m not terribly smart, apparently.)

I found that breaking off a quarter of a Clif Bar, breaking that in half, and giving a piece to my wife and myself was perfect for half an hour of energy. I could easily eat the whole bar myself in a sitting, and actually, if I had been sitting I probably would have done just that. But eating a big bite while walking made it so one Clif Bar lasted both of us a couple hours, and we felt great.

And there you have it. Bear bells, water purification and Clif Bars and suddenly I’m a real hiker (except for the physical part, which I need to work on).

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