Zealand and the Bonds with Alex, Feb 3-4, 2012

[KathyC]

Anna and Bob, my two cheer leaders...
I Love that Moutain.

[TrishandAlex]

Kathy, I apologize, I just saw the other messages on this thread now.

Thanks for your kind words! Though I think you would've been fine in that situation. We could see the scrub and trees to the left (on lower cone of Guyot) and, looking back, we could see where we'd come from. We'd gone in more or less a straight line. All I needed to do was backtrack (with help from a compass, if needed) if I couldn't figure out the way. Would've been easy enough to do -- it wasn't a true white-out. Just a world of difference from the below treeline world.

What I do is panic before every hike. I barely sleep the night before, I go over every single disaster scenario in my head multiple times, I freak out about everything...then when we actually hike, I'm in the moment and, if something unexpected happens, I act without hesitation. I think the freaking out in anticipation beforehand enables me to be 100% rational and logical while we're on the trail. Unless it gets dark outside, then my logic flies out the window and imagination completely takes over. Rabid jackalopes exist, I know they do!! And they're out to get people who are trying to get hike out in headlamps!! Especially on the Lincoln Woods Trail!! But I digress...