I am certainly not an expert, but I have spent my fair time in the woods. I know there is always a careful balance between carrying extra weight for something you don’t use and finding yourself in an emergency and really wishing you had something that would help people find you.

Here is a list of several things to consider:

1. Create a clear plan on where you will start and end, with a time line for the trip. Leave a copy with people outside your hiking group.
2. Everyone carries a map and compass with the trail marked on it, and clearly showing where the water located and where are you going to camp.
3. Everyone carries a whistle and at least one other signal device.
4. Everyone in your group should have the contact numbers for all the people on the team and their designated emergency contacts.
5. Everyone carries identification in more than one place.
6. Medical conditions that could cause complications on the trail should be shared with your group.

God just told me loud and clear that he doesn’t want me to be a hammocker.

Sure enough about 10:45 tonight, I could see lightening in the distance.  I didn’t care much because lightening is pretty typical on these humid nights.  Besides, the sky looked clear to me.  Well, the wind picked up and thunder joined the lightening, then it started raining a bit.  My tarp flopped here and there, but I figured the storm would pass and didn’t much care.  At this point my wife came out to tell me there were warnings of tornados touching down and that I should come in.  I told her that I needed to test the hammock.  She literally started crying, reminded me of our two kids, and went back in.  I stayed in the hammock.

We drove up from Colorado Springs, through Estes Park and into the main entrance to Rocky Mountain National Park (aka "RMNP"" or just "Rocky". For those that have never been to or looked into RMNP, it is located in North-Central Colorado, about 2 hours North/NorthWest of Denver.

The Continental Divide runs through the middle of the park. For those who don't know what the Continental Divide is, it is basically the dividing line for North America where water that falls on the west side of the Divide runs west to the Pacific Ocean, water that falls to the east runs south and east to the Gulf of Mexico and Atlantic Ocean. Needless to say, the mountains in RMNP are BIG. There are more than sixty (60) peaks higher than 12,000 feet, including Long's Peak at 14,259...

Sometimes you have to be a little more specific when telling children to pack for a camping trip. Especially when it comes to their younger sisters. This was from our trip in April to Fall Creek Falls. For those unfamiliar with it, Fall Creek Falls is the tallest waterfall east of the rockies.