When I was a child, I spent every minute I could in the woods. As I have grown older it has become harder to find the time and less enjoyable to be in the woods with my sweetheart at home. So we started this journey to find what works for us and meets our yearnings for the outdoors together.

In the last two blogs I told of one of our adventures where I really…actually…embarrassingly…got my Baby lost in the woods. We were dating then and thank God I still get to take more adventures with her after that. It was a short stroll. No significant distance and no obvious hazard. I was lulled to sleep by the fact that it was asphalt in the city and went unprepared.

There are some serious take aways from that night. I realized that I have to prepare at a higher level. It’s critical to have a prep plan as if I might be away from my truck for several hours. I suggest you only take the first step on a minor hike after the day pack is prepped with these things:

Plenty of water-we took a water bottle each that night but now I keep a two liter platypus in the day pack. This turns out to be too much on most little trips but at least we are ready.

Paper map-there is no replacement for having a paper map in a plastic bag in case you lose all power.

Jacket-we each tie an extra layer around our waists  because of awareness that the cold can come unexpectedly from wind, rain and from sun down…if you can’t get back.

Flashlight-the light on my cell phone is now reliable because of a solar power pack I carry. I also carry a flashlight as a backup to the backup.

Backup power-I bought two solar power packs that will each charge my cell phone twice. It is also the back up flashlight because of a light built in the design.

Some of these may seem like over kill or just the results of someone who has had a bad experience…they may be. I’ve been miserable and I’ve been comfortable. I like comfortable so much that I prefer to be over prepared. Even more importantly, my Love prefers to be comfortable.