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Thread: Winter hike.

  1. #21

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    Quote Originally Posted by sjj View Post
    Do not underestimate the value of that warmer gear you enjoyed in the evening. Things an happen that make it life saving.
    Well, yeah. I definitely was glad to have it when we stopped moving for the night. I guess my point was how unprepared I was for the raw amount of heat my body would generate. I didn't anticipate standing mostly uncovered in below-freezing air and running hot as a furnace. As for life threatening, we were on an established trail, also, that intersected several roads - came close to a couple of farmsteads - and had at least two ranger stations within reasonable distance. It wasn't the back country of Alaska by any means. But, then again, you can freeze to death in your back yard if you're unprepared enough.


  2. #22

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    Quote Originally Posted by LostOutrider View Post
    you can freeze to death in your back yard if you're unprepared enough.
    Absolutely! And don't assume you've got a three hour window of opportunity to remedy the situation either. I came VERY close to a hospital bill or worse from the effects of a one hour drive on a fairly busy highway, unprepared.

    In the late 70's I was running a pop route in a worn out truck. I had one of the small towns routes and the last town on the list was about 45 miles from home. With just a couple stops left to go I hopped in the truck and it wouldn't start. Small town in the midwest there was a friendly face attached to jumper cables there in less than two minutes but the jump only got me as far as the next stop. Luckily it was the auto repair shop and they quickly informed me that the generator wasn't putting out.

    Called the dispatcher and he said just get a quick charge and head back. Right! It was about twenty minutes before closing time at the garage but they shot as much juice into that battery as it would take in the time we had and wished me luck. It was mid winter and the sun had already dipped below the horizon but being very young, fairly dumb and eager to put the day behind me, I assumed that if I hurried there shouldn't be any problem.

    I wasn't five miles out of town before the truck started to stumble. I figured it was from lack of electricity so I turned the heater down a couple notches and the motor started purring again. Soon enough though it was stumbling again so I tuned the heater off and wished the maintenance people had done something about the enormous hole in the floor board where the shifter came through.

    If you've ever delivered beverages, you know that if you aren't in the truck or the store, you are manually unloading the truck so you don't normally need a lot of clothes. I had on those thin ugly pants the uniform companies love so much, short sleeve shirt, a light weight jacket and I'd put my jersey gloves back on when I switched the heater off.

    I had maybe ten minutes of smooth sailing this time but I'm running out of ideas to cut the drain on the battery and the engine is missing so bad now I had to downshift to keep it running. Then it occurs to me as I'm topping a fair sized hill that if I was right on somebody else's bumper, I wouldn't really have to have headlights so I take advantage of the downhill stretch and snuggle up behind a pickup that had passed me a minute earlier and switch off the headlights, put the truck back in high gear and start feeling a little better except that my fingers are freezing.

    About fifteen miles from home now and I need to downshift again. It took a pretty good tug to get my right hand off the steering wheel, I shove the shifter knob forward with the back of my fingers and try to get my hand to go back on the steering wheel but it won't open up. Now I'm starting to worry.

    I probably should have pulled off the road at this point and flagged someone down for a ride in but I had racked up a pretty good sized "road side assistance" bill a few months earlier when instead of telling my "co-pilot" to get his head out of my mirror, I accepted his "no cars back there" as an all clear and backed into $62 worth of ditch.

    Lots of oncoming traffic flashing me with their brights, engine stumbling again, I hook my wrist around the shifter and the motor dies as I pull the tranny into second gear. Restarts as soon as I let the clutch out but I know I need a new trick. I'm going WAY to slow to be on the highway with no lights in the back so I reach across with my right hand, kick on my left blinker and punch the lights off. The motor smooths out but I'm afraid to try and get a higher gear so I creep and blink my way into town. A half mile or so from the first open quick shop the truck started to buck in rhythm to the turn signal. I turned as sharp as I could without taking my left hand off the wheel, bucked into the far side of the lot and mashed the brake pedal killing the motor. MADE IT!!

    Pulled/pushed my left hand off the steering wheel, used my wrist to push the door handle up and almost fell on my face as I rolled out of the truck. I could not straighten up. It took me about thirty little "frankenstein steps" to get to the door of the quick shop walking with both my fists frozen at half mast out in front of me like a zombie. I guess one of the two men inside figured than Dr. Pepper had started hiring the handicapped because he beat me to the door and opened it for me.

    Now they are both staring at me like "Were you going to buy something?"

    I can't talk! Can't even make the little animal sounds used by some deaf people, nothing! After what seemed like a half hour of very uncomfortable scrutiny waiting to thaw out I try again and succeed in making an audable grunt. Eight or ten more unintellegable syllables and I finally blurt out a halfway decent "bout froze!"

    I noticed that it was actually painful to talk so I waited another five or ten minutes to run some more warm air in and out of my pipes and then I went and stood by the wall phone. The guy that had met me at the door asked me if I wanted to make a call and I rocked my upper torso in an affirmative fashion. Had him dial the Dr. Pepper office and with him holding the receiver, told the dispatcher "come get your truck." Then I went and sat down and he told them where the truck was. I'll never forget that.
    That which you sew, so shall ye reap.
    United States Blowgun Association

  3. #23

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    This is a good thread. Lotsa good points. That's the hardest thing for me to grasp with this winter hiking, camping thang. I've hiked and camped plenty in the past, but rarely in the winter. It's hard to balance lightweight pack vs. the expected or unexpected requirements of winter. It's equally as hard to dress light enough as not to sweat too much.

    You need the heavy or at least well insulated clothes for when you stop, but lugging them along in the pack is a real pain. My winter hunting clothes are 8-10 lbs. including insulated bib coveralls, insulated hoodie jacket and insulated flannel. I had no idea it weighed that much and it takes up a huge amount of room in the pack. All I really need to wear for hiking is jeans and the flannel with a sweater or t-shirt. but once I stop or am hunting I need the bibs or an extra pair of pants and the hoodie or else I freeze. Add that to the 13 lbs. of tent, blankets, bedmat and such and there's not a lot of room left.

    I've came close to freezing 3 or 4 times and it ain't no fun. Your body literally stops functioning. Once the work truck broke down and I had to wait in a light flannel for hours in freezing temps doing cal's in the truck box to keep from freezing solid until the tow truck arrived. Then I was hiking thru a swamp deer hunting and hit a deep cold spot of water which instantly froze my feet and legs. I had to remove my boots and socks and walk barefoot thru the snow to regain function. Then, I went north salmon fishing and the temp change went from 60's down here to 20's and 30's up there. I was not prepared and spent the night in my car worrying that if I fell asleep I wouldn't wake up. Needless to say I didn't sleep but kept getting up and walking around to regain circulation. All dumb things that could have been avoided if I were prepared.

    I've overheated too, and although it never caused me to get hypothermia, I usually do end up with a cold a few days later.

    That's why I now always dress in layers, keep spare socks, gloves and boots if possible and keep blankets in the car or work vehicle. You never know waht to expect.

  4. #24
    Administrator Rick's Avatar
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    Neondog - I did a stint of that with "the other guys". Nothing like the sound of pop bottles freezing because the heater in the back of the worn out thing they call a truck doesn't work. I ran out of gas on a back road one time because the gas gauge didn't work and the night shift guys forgot to fill it up. I made a phone call at a farm house then went back, tilted the old Ford cab up and stood next to the engine to stay warm until the company tow truck arrived. Then there was the time the drive shaft fell out....
    Tracks Across the High Plains...Death on the Bombay Line...A Touch of Death and Mayhem...Dead Rock...The Griswald Mine Boys...All On Amazon Books.

  5. #25

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    My truck was just a two axle job, no heater for the products, trucks stayed inside overnight. There were a couple of occasions when I was overloaded and had to put some of the Nehi on top where you threw the returnable bottles. Had pop-sicles poking out the top of the bottles before I could get them into the store.
    That which you sew, so shall ye reap.
    United States Blowgun Association

  6. #26
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    So was mine. I don't remember for certain but somewhere around a 1967 or 8 probably Ford C600 straight truck. We had hot water piping in the back that ran off the engine coolant. It just circulated through the center of the bays and kept it above freezing....when it worked. Back in the days when empties could be carried on top of the truck. You came up to a quick stop and could hear a stray empty rolling the length of the roof and watch it sail off over the cab. Or toss a case on the roof in winter and the roof would be icy and the case just slide to the opposite side of the truck and out onto the road. Had that happen too many times.

    We need our own thread for this one. I can tell you about killing rats in sugar storage. Sugar was stored on top of pallets in the basement below the bottle washers so it had about 8 or 10 inches of water standing all the time. We had some 2Xs that were shaped like large paddles. One guy would drive the fork lift through the water and one guy would ride on the forks and clobber rats swimming through the water. That was great fun until a rat decided to climb up on the forks with you. Then everybody went running through the water. It's a wonder I'm still alive.
    Tracks Across the High Plains...Death on the Bombay Line...A Touch of Death and Mayhem...Dead Rock...The Griswald Mine Boys...All On Amazon Books.

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