Somewhere in between. Take my last trip for example. I went with my husband and two friends to Grand Teton and Yellowstone National Park for 8 days. I researched every hike we went on. I had back-up hikes in case the weather changed or there were recent bear sightings. I had way too much weight in gear for our day hikes. However, I forgot underwear. Yep, underwear. I even bought the expensive quick drying, travel underwear. Only to leave them at home, under my pillow (which I also forgot). I also quickly realized that my 20 degree sleeping bag was not going to be warm enough. Especially to spend any time in the backcountry. My gear, while it was wonderful and expensive. It was not what I needed for this trip. I needed a warmer sleeping bag and a pack that would hold the bag and my other necessities. My pack is not big enough. It was a 35L Gregory pack. I fell victim to a pack on clearance that fit me. My pack is great. I really like it. It just wasn't perfect for this trip. Now I know why hikers have multiple backpacks.
Underwear....yes, I forgot my underwear. This put me slightly over the edge when I made the realization. It put me over the edge because I was on day 3 of no shower, my feet hurt like crazy, I was exhausted and cold and had a bit of sickness resulting from a overzealous 8 mile/4000ft elevation change hike we had just completed. The thought of heading to a shower with warm water, changing into clean underwear and warm clean clothes was just thrilling. Then the thought of no clean underwear was just a bummer to me. So what did I do? I took my husbands clean underwear, sported those and demanded that we make a trip into town for underwear. Luckily, my friends and husband were more than willing to head into town and enjoy the heater in the car for a few hours.
So while some aspects of our trip I was over-prepared I failed to do one important step. I failed to make a packing list. My sister who was house/dog sitting while we were gone got quite the laugh out of my underwear that remained on my bed under my pillow that I dearly missed. Luckily I had a throw in the car that we used for a pillow.
Our plans changed a couple of times when hikes we wanted to take were no longer accessible. Luckily, my over-planning with regard to trails worked out in our favor. I did end up with a brand new package of underwear that we purchased at K-Mart along with some cough drops and much needed Vitamin C. We all remained healthy, happy and most importantly hiking!
Here's a few photos from our hiking trip. I would recommend the Grand Tetons and Yellowstone National Park to everyone!
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