Guest Post by Genevieve Hillmer: Always carry Duct Tape

   

Stephanie fixing her boot

So we get ready for a day out into the wilderness of the Swan Valley. I am not really sure what to expect since this is my first time hiking like this. I feel prepared. I struggle a little with the thinner air but eventually make it to the site. I listen for directions and start my work. I am enjoying my time in the woods and the work I am doing. I catch on quickly and am confident in the process and my work.

Lunch time! I can eat and the view is awesome so I find a log and sit down. Oh Snap! (you though it broke, that would have been better) My pants tore. There was a missing branch that was sharper than expected and it tore my pant right on my bottom. 

What to do? What to do? Hmmm. Duct Tape!  No one has any. Nothing I can do except tell everyone to stay in front of me. After all it is really too big of a hole to cover, just enough to be embarrassed. Finished lunch and went back to work. I squat down and it’s all over. The not too bad hole becomes a huge rip. We walk down the terrain to the cars when the job is done and look for duct tape so I can tape them before the next stop. Nope, still no tape until the next stop and then the hole gets worse. Someone has to tape them, I can’t. 

Boot is fixed! For now...

Oh well life in the wild is not for the modest, I guess. Moral: always carry duct tape, it fixes everything, and there is always someone there to help you just need to ask.

Stephanie was lucky and only lost part of the sole to her boot. And she found duct tape.