Tag: Outdoor Leadership

Good planning: Good planning equals good travel.

Fellow hiker Daniil enjoying a magnificent view of Yosemite valley due to good planning by our guide, Rich.

Planning. Good planning. It’s essential to an enjoyable travel experience. But what does it look like? Summiting a mountain top? A list of attributes? Checked boxes? A check list? A person? I would have to say it could be any and all of these.

There is a saying: “no battle plan survives first contact with the enemy.” Travel planning is not dissimilar. It might only be minor changes such as a delay in getting a rental car. It might mean switching days you plan to be in locations due to weather or other parties you plan to travel with have been delayed. It might mean ending up at a different location or trail than you expected.

Planning is a road map for successful travel.

Myself reviewing a map to confirm location and features of my intended route on a recent bike ride.

Here are a few elements to consider for planning. Most may seem pretty basic, but I’ve seen numerous people ill-prepared on trips because of lack of basic planning skills or considerations.

Goals. What is it that you are traveling for? What do you want to do or see? Or, not do or see, for that matter.

Timetable. How long. Where. Mapping it out can not only help you stay on track but give you options and alternatives if/when things pan out differently than you planned.

Resources. Costs. Things you need. Packing/ activity gear list. It’s good to have basic list of travel items and travel expenses. Everyone is a little different, but having a baseline is good, especially if you have multiple things going on and can only do a little packing at a time. And if there are multiple desired activities, but you have a limited budget for expenses.

Leg work. Prep activities. That could be anything from reservations to an exercise plan or learning a language. What you put in directly impacts what you get out. As they say, “knowledge is power.” Or, “know before you go.” The more you know and handle up front, the better situated you will be. You will be preventing problems by anticipating and avoiding them.

Contingencies. Think of some common problems for your travel and some that might be specific to you destination and/or activities. Weather delays. Food borne illness. Self rescue. Getting robbed. Losing luggage. Getting lost. Think of the scenario and what you will need to do or have in place, so if it does happen you can overcome the problem more easily. Plan a few alternative routes, activities, options. Even mentally walking through various scenarios is helpful. When I travel alone, I typically have a few alternate plans for every larger activity or phase of travel. Or, I have a skill set that addresses the potential problem– first aid, map reading skills. And, yes, I’ve sometimes had to use plan “C” or “D”. It saves time and energy to think ahead.

Flexibility. This is very important. I cannot stress how important this mindset is. I’ve seen folks shut down for all intents and purposes because of one relatively minor thing changing in their plan. I’ve also seen folks angry or panicked if something out of their control or unanticipated happened. Travel, especially with others, is some give and take. Be flexible not just with plans, but people. The best tours I’ve been on have been run by folks who are flexible. If solo, your trip will go better if you are flexible with local customs and culture and people.

Competency. When traveling with a group or part of a tour, it’s nice to have others handle the booking and logistics of travel, but as good as the best are, don’t rely on every minute detail to be handled for you, especially if this is a first time traveling with a particular group or guide or touring company. Be sure you know enough to handle basic travel, if there should be any problems.

Our guide Rich, reviewing and pointing out features on a trail map for Bryce Canyon.

These are basic categories to consider. What is essential in your planning?

Devil in the Details: Decisiveness at Devil’s Thumb

That’s a picture of me taken by a fellow hiker just after passing one of the most difficult points on this scramble. 

Devil’s Thumb.  Where “devil” is in the name, the devil is in the details. We had already done a good bit of hiking that day, but now it was time for a rock scramble. It would mark the first time decisiveness was personally visible in a real world situation (not a movie or a classroom or from behind a desk) and it impressed upon me that it is a real and necessary attribute of solid leadership.  

The trailhead was not well described in the information resource available, but we did find it after questioning a bit and having to literally climb some rockface to get further on it. The trail, if you could call it that, led around the side of the prominence that towered before us. Then, the ground began to drop away as steeply on the left side as it rose on the right. We were thousands of feet up–a dizzying height. It was looking more like a goat path at times than anything a human would hike or scramble. I began to question whether this was really the trail and the wisdom in following it. I was not alone in my thoughts, but we all pressed ahead.
 
Eventually, one stopped and turned back at the heights. The rest of us went on and hiked some more distance. The person on point changed from time to time. I was up front for a time. Then another was and we sort of cycled through as folks stopped to rest or just take in the view. Since there was some question about the correct route and what to look for, I asked some folks who were coming back towards us where the trail led and they said up a draw. Others moved on and whoever was at the point started to climb on this side of the draw which was largely made up of lose stone and scree.  

We started up and came to another face of stone. Two managed to get up it. I was halfway. Our leader had moved to the top where the point was and was trying to encourage two others to follow, but they were having difficulty. The person on point was not finding a solid way forward. Was this the trail?

After seeing the disintegration of momentum and direction, our leader said something like “this isn’t working”, and turned around and came right back down right past me. We were taking a new direction. It was a very decisive move. Clearly things were not working on several levels so he turned and put his energy into another direction, fully dropping the idea instead of clinging to it to muddle it more or driving it further to exhaustion of mental of physical stamina of the hikers. There was already plenty of opportunity for injury or falling. Various scenarios of possibilities and what I could do were running through my head much of the time. 

Bottom line: He assessed and redirected. It wasn’t rash. It wasn’t thoughtless. It was decisive. You could see the assessment being made, a new consideration, then a dropping of the current plan and total turn in direction.  It came with a bit of merited frustration, but also of confidence. That’s not working. New idea. This is what we were doing now. 

Two of us lower down on the rocky outcrop turned went on with him. Two others assisted a third who was still working down the rocky outcrop–all intent on following us.
 
The group regained momentum. We started moving again. It’s exactly what needed to be done. I had not seen someone salvage a situation quite like that before when other minds got burrowed in or clouded. It really made an impression on me. I still think of it a few years later.

We made it across the scree filled draw with a bit of brain, brawn, and some intestinal fortitude and worked our way up on the opposite side and then climbed the final approach. Two more hikers dropped off the advance, deciding not to make the final ascent. One before the crux and one after.

Seven of us had started and four climbed to the top of Devil’s thumb. The devil was in the details of that climb, but it was decisiveness at the crux that carried us over the pivotal point and on to the top. That is what leadership looks like. It was well worth the ride.Here is a picture of our leader, Rich, and a fellow hiker enjoying the view from the top of Devil’s Thumb above Lake Louise in Banff National Park, Alberta Canada

The lower red circle actually denotes two of our group. The sitting pink blob is me. Right behind me is a standing green blob – our guide, Rich.

A view of Devi’s Thumb towering behind Lake Agnes towards the left. I hadn’t noticed, but it does look sort of like a thumb.