Forced March scheduled

 Winky and the other fire ass warriors want to hike today. So off we will go. Kadizzle is going to mumble walk and let the speed demons take off ahead. Kadizzle's bout with prostate cancer seems to have left him with less energy in the tank. There is a good side to walking slowly, you see more.  The other day when the speed of light hikers were buzzing down the trail they all failed to notice a woman and a dog off in the woods beside the trail. After being a hiker for an entire lifetime there are some skills you pick up. Finding a trail that fades out is certainly one skill. The mind adapts to taking notes that will hopefully get you back. You notice certain things like a strange tree or a little pond in the stream. Kadizzle has learned to memorize the shoe pattern of Winky and the other hikers. Tracking is kind of fun.  You can tell if there are children hiking ahead of you, or some big guy with huge shoes. Learning to read the terrain also is important. One thing Utah in particular teaches you is about getting " clifffed".  You think you can go a certain direction on a cross country jaunt, then you find out there is a cliff that puts an end to your game. This is very bad late in the day when you were counting on a shortcut home. Now, you have to backtrack before dark. The classic hiking mistake is the thought that you are going to take a short casual hike. With this mindset you don't take some of the essentials. Winky decides to go off trail on a wild search. If you had the little two way radios, you could stay in touch, but you don't.  You didn't take enough water, and you don't have the filter.  On it goes. Also by going light the wind gets cold and picks up. Now you don't have a jacket. Kadizzle has adopted a few rules that seem to work. One is always turn around by 1:30.  If you started about nine that should get you back. The last thing you want to do is get lost late in the day. This happened to some friends in Montana on Beartooth pass, and they had a wonderful time with flashlights trying to get back. Kadizzle thought he lost the InReach, so he canceled the subscription. The InReach is a satellite communicator that will get you help anywhere on Earth. Now that it is found perhaps we should pay the 12 bucks a month for the added safety.