Medicine on the sea: Overprepared

There's hardly such a thing as over prepared in medicine. You can always double or triple check that prednisone dose. Do one more sponge count after a delivery. Hell, why not ask to make sure the patient doesn't have chest pain today?

Other places in life, though, may be a different situation.

This beautiful Thanksgiving weekend I went to Gros Morne National Park (!!!) with a few coresidents. We went in two groups: the competent hikers and the less-than-competent. Guess which group I was in. The others did Gros Morne Mountain in about half the time it's predicted to take. I did a bunch of smaller trails instead.

Not that I minded. Green Gardens was the place of fantasy. Lookout hill permitted a spectacular view of the Tablelands. Although Lookout was so muddy from maintenance construction that I sank about knee deep in bog/mud more times than can be counted. There were so many shoe-stealing bogs that I almost face planted half a dozen times. Came out with mud stains to my knees and soaked feet despite heavy duty hiking shoes. I have new sympathy for the soldiers at Passchendale.

I'm already dreaming of my next trip back to Gros Morne. A summertime visit, staying in Rocky Habour or Norris Point. Nothing but hiking, boat tours, and picnics in scenic ocean fronts.

For this particular visit though, I may have over prepared on food. I also made a detailed Google map with every hiking point, scenic area, information center and gas station, but that's beside the point. That's just my normal trip preparation. I also may have packed three pairs of pants for about 8 hours of hiking, but also my normal level of prep. I didn't even bring a nice dress and heels to change in case of dinner, thanks so much.

In the case of food, for only two, maybe up to four of us hiking (and other people all bringing their own food!), I brought 4 boxes of granola bars, 2 bags of chips, 1 box of cooked chicken strips, 1 package of cold cuts (proscuitto >> ham), 1 bag of pears, 1 box of cut fruits, 1 box of cut vegetables, 1 box of cherry tomatoes, two kits of tuna salad/crackers, 3 sandwiches, pallet of water, energy drinks, 2 bags of dried fruits and various other smaller snacks. For 2 people. Maybe a little much.

We did NOT end up needing to eat it all, as it transpired, despite walking so much my legs are still sore today. So now my fridge is full.

I think the need to over prep for trips come from some unfortunate mishaps in my younger years while travelling with parents. In no particular order they've forgotten to pack cold weather clothing, started a 3 hour drive (not including Toronto traffic) for a day trip at about 2PM, didn't know there's more to a national park than the visitor's center, forgotten to pack food other than candy for me (guess who got carsick?), thought they could book day of beachside cottages, figured to see salmon swimming upstream they just needed to drive in the general vicinity of water, and many more...

My parents no longer have any hand in planning trips out with me. I book everything. I plan everything. They show up where I tell them to, according to the destination I put in on their GPS. Works out well for everyone. Not once have we ended up without reservations for the night, or needing to find a restaurant on the fly, since I took over.