This is probably case study material about not being dumb. I decided to just head over to Galena Peak since I was told to take the day off and didn't want to just do nothing. However, I told the wife I'd be at work so I would not need to ask permission with all that goes into that. To not arouse suspicion, I left my hiking pack at home and went with a small pack and one bottle of Diet Mountain Dew. Anybody who knows anything about hiking, especially alone, or generally anybody with any sense at all knows to at least let someone know where you are going, just in case you have problems. I did have my GPS though and what I thought was a good track so I wasn't too worried about it. Going off-trail isn't a new thing for me. The GPS track I have did look like it was going off-trail right from the start so I decided to go around and up instead of following it straight up the mountain side. There are mountain bike trails all around there so I took one of those way out of the way. I also had to park further away since the road is blocked off now where you could have normally parked and started. I went off the mountain bike trail when I saw it was not going the right way and started going up the pretty steep side to get back to the original GPS track I didn't follow in the first place. About half way up I slipped and dropped my Mt. Dew which fell several hundred yards down the side of the hill. My options at that point were 1) go and get it and keep going up, 2) Go and get it and just go back down, and 3) Leave it and find out if the GPS track was in fact accurate and there was a real trail there, and then go back down. I really didn't want to go back down and back up the get my only liquid, so I went for option 3 knowing I would not make it up all the way. It was still too far up, in the sun that was just coming over the mountain, with no water of any kind. The only good news (besides just not dying in some crazy random accident) was that that GPS track was going on a bad but easy enough to follow trail, so I went up it a short way and then headed back down. I always say that the mountain isn't going anywhere, I can do it next week or next year. For the next time around I will know where to park to get a little closer and how to get on the real trail and start heading up without wasting my time trying to find another way. I will also bring my standard hiking gear and it will be a normal weekend with people knowing where I'm going. Oh well, I was due for a 2019 fail and this was it, mostly because of not bringing water and losing the only stuff I did have with me.
Galena Peak Attempt (2019)
