HA HA. If that dog can drive the car and get home alive you've got no excuse for being unprepared for a hike. With all the money that'd get you, you should have nuthin' but time to prepare for hikes! Good one JWP

Oh, and I side with the water bearers.

Ok, You've peaked (no pun intended) my curiousity...when do we find out what you did?
By the way, I'm a very safety conscious hiker and have to side with Tom_Murphy's post on all issues.

You wouldn't have posted if you didn't hike, so I'm guessing you hiked. Hiking without water can be uncomfortable but people do it. I can think of three different hikes to summits I've done sans water. One of them was comparable to Cardigan. I can also think of a few times that I've ran out of water and I think that was actually worse.

First let me say I hope everyone had a great day with flags on the 48. It's important to remember this day and those who died. We couldn't participate due to a reunion with family from the west coast. But we did keep all in our prayers from9/11.

Pepper and I did hike and here is the reasoning used to make the decision. First, Pepper had plenty of water. We had done the nature trails earlier in the week and due to the hurricane and then this weeks four days of rain there was water everywhere. If I didn't have waterproof shoes, I would not have hiked. Second, the weather. I had a good forecast from three sources. I am a roofer and weather is something I know. 70 degrees maybe a shower, but like I said it was clearing snd it felt , yes felt like it was done raining. Third, the hikes length and elevation. Elevation was 3155 or3128 depending on who you believe. Not a 5000footer even. The coldest hike I've done though was an august hike up moosilaukee, so I am aware of the weather changes at elevation. However with the weather report and the fact that is was only cold above the tree line on mooselaukee, I felt the weather would not be a factor. If it was to cold above tree line I would not go there.
Water everywhere and not a drop to drink. On another post some people said they at times drink from streams, I haven't and didn't. I am a bit of a camel. I work outside on roofs all day but don't drink very much, not because it's not available or whatever, I just don't. The water for me was not an issue at all. I hike through the belknaps all the time and don't bring water, it's just me.now if something happened and I was stuck overnight I would want some. But that would mean there are bigger issues at play and drinking from a stream could be the least of my problems. I also am a fast hiker. I average over 2 miles an hour in the whites including breaks, sightseeing etc. It's 6 miles round trip, so the farthest I would be from the truck is 3 miles, that's less than an hour and a half without injury or rushing, for my speed.and the hour and a half is figuring I am at the summit when things change to make me have to hustle off. Not including injury of course.
Lastly and perhaps most importantly, Injury. I usually hike solo. An injury can happen at anytime and anyplace. So having a backpack full of food and water and clothes might be nice, it still would leave me injured in the woods. Yes it will make more comfortable, but remember it was 70 and clearing. I would still have to get off the mountain either by myself or by rescue. I believe anyone this concerned about injury probably doesn't hike solo and doesn't think anyone else should, which seems fair to me. But if injury is this likely we should probably only hike in groups of four or larger. Because just one person will have a hard time getting anyone off a mountain that is the injured and the same size or larger. I can't let fear of injury keep me from doing things. I mean I would have to quit working.
Actually now lastly, I did make a large stupid error. I had cell signal at the base and should have texted my plans to my wife with an eta etc. Very
Dumb, very dumb!
The hike was great. The worst part of it was the weather. It was way to hot for long sleeve 100 percent cotton and long pants. The views up there are spectacular, there was fog and it rolled across the mountain and swept right through me. It was awesome. The firetower is a sad short little one, unmanned of course with all the rain. there were a lot of boulder scrambles and roots along the trail and the trail floor was just soaking wet. All the rivers and streams were at least at full capacity. They have great bridges over the wide or deep crossing, very well kept trails. This is a great hike if you ever get over this way and have your gear with you!

I appreciated you posting your question as it made me think a lot about my hiking philosophy. I hope my post wasn't "too preachy" but you did ask for our opinions.



Most of my dayhikes, overnights, and multiday trips are solo. This includes winter trips and some easy bushwhacks. An injury is my single biggest concern, I would even go so far as to call it a fear. That fear has never stopped me from going, it does make me very cautious.

I am glad you had a great trip.

Not at all preachy Tom. That is why I like this forum. All the different ideas and opinions and I myself am still a novice hiker. And I was/am concerned someone might take my answer as aurgumentative, which is not at all how it's intended. It's simply meant to stimulate conversation and explain my decision to hike.
Now i will say that if my wife or son was with us, we would not have hiked. They both drink a lot before and during hikes and their speed is much slower. It actually wouldn't have even been considered with my wife there. But it is a wonderful boulder summit with great views.