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iranfromthezoo · Jun 5, 2009, 12:40 PM

Does anyone here ever go hiking? Do you go by yourself?

I am looking to go hiking in the Clark Creek Nature Area in SW Mississippi on Sunday. I'll be going by myself but will take lots of pictures. I'll be going alone and it'll be 92 with 79% humidity...but I think worth it. What do you guys think?

residentEvil · Jun 6, 2009, 11:32 AM

hiking alone is never a good idea; even if it is a small/quick/no hazards trail.

ghporter · Jun 6, 2009, 09:05 PM

We did all our Mississippi hiking in the De Soto National Forest, near Wiggins. Having lots of canopy cover made even the hot and humid weather of southern tier MS counties a lot more bearable.

Three REALLY big suggestions. First, stop at the ranger station and let them know your planned hiking route (if they don't require you to provide that anyway). Second, make sure you have LOTS of drinking water with you, and drink it BEFORE you feel thirsty-that's too late. And take a GPS and a good map so you don't get lost.

Plus, what residentEvil says is a very good rule of thumb. My wife went for a "short hike on the trail closest to the lake" in De Soto with our son when he was a toddler. She knew that part of the park like the back of her hand, yet she got lost and took about an extra hour to find her way back out-this still ON THE TRAIL. At that point we agreed to NEVER hike alone in any out of the way locale again. There are in-town hikes we might take here in San Antonio or Austin that are just as rugged and out of the way as a nature area or national forest, but have good cell coverage and thus some level of safety. I don't know if that part of MS/LA has ANY cell coverage.

Cold Warrior · Jun 6, 2009, 10:21 PM

Definitely a GPS with waypoints stored/pre-loaded. Also some extra batteries in case those run down. A compass and a map. I tend to navigate by terrain association (an old Army habit), but a gps is a wonderful device.

powerbook867 · Jun 6, 2009, 11:19 PM

I am sure I will be the minority, but I have gone hiking and camping by myself on multiple occasions. Preparation is the key. I double and triple check all my gear against a master and a "regional" list that I prep before hand and it is all based upon where I am headed.

I went to the Badlands about 2 years ago and it was an amazing trip. Had a GPS, tons of bottled water and there were people around (although next to no one at night). Hiked in about a mile to set up camp. I just needed to get away and it was very much worth it.

On that note, I have gone through Army training and Air Force training (although the AF was not that rough). I camped as a kid with my family and did a ton of reading. These days, I take my 9 year old with me on every trip. We went to the Badlands together in October of 08. Got down to about 30 degrees at night and we did 4 nights. Awesome. We leave for Rocky Mountain National Park on the 21st. We both can't wait.

Are you experienced? Do you know how to use a compass and a GPS? What's your comfort level?

ghporter · Jun 6, 2009, 11:22 PM

Training (military good, but even Boy Scouts is better than nothing) is essential. Orienteering/land nav is also essential. With a decent map and a compass, I can hike my way out of a lot of places that I'm only slightly familiar with; I would not try such things without GPS and a very clear "trailhead" waypoint in any place I hadn't had a lot of experience with.