Learned a costly lesson about water crossings on the High Sierra Trail last summer

I was hiking the High Sierra Trail in late July and hit a creek crossing near Kern Canyon that was way deeper than I expected. The snowmelt that year was still cranking, so what was supposed to be knee-high turned chest-high real quick. I didn't have a dry bag for my sleeping bag, and it got soaked through. Took me two days of stopping early to dry everything out, and I ended up cutting my trip short by a full day. Since then, I always pack a lightweight dry bag for my quilt, even on routes where I don't think I'll need it. Anyone else had a water crossing ruin a section of a trip?

2 comments

2 Comments

hayden5872d ago

Dude, same thing happened to me on the JMT a couple years back. I thought I could just rock hop a creek near Muir Pass and ended up chest deep with my whole pack submerged. Had to bail a day early cause my sleeping bag was basically a sponge and I couldn't get it dry enough to not freeze at night.

henry_palmer242d ago

Why not just pack a dry bag next time, @hayden587, a wet sleeping bag is just bad planning isn't it?