Making Smart Decisions

Have you ever planned a trip and then cancel last minute?  Was it due to unforeseen circumstances? Was it due to weather? Did you get sick and couldn’t travel?  I’m sure we have all come across a situation where a trip that was planned had to be cancelled.  Well this past weekend was one of those trips.

Myself, along with Camper Christina, The Canoe Collector (Dave Johnstone), and a couple of other folks had planned a one nighter in Kawartha Highlands Provincial Park.   This was a chance for like minded people to try for one more trip before officially packing away our canoes.  As per usual, I was checking the weather constantly for about a week before the trip.  It kept changing from rain, to ice, to snow, to rain, to who knows what Mother Nature would throw at us.

We still planned our trip as if it were a go. You really cannot predict the weather, and we just didn’t want to cancel…. yet…. I packed my gear, got my meal that I was cooking ready, and even got to bed early Friday night.  It was an early rise the next morning.

Little did I know, that even after 11 at night on Friday, messages were being sent back and forth in our chat about the weather. It was not looking good.  It was calling for ice rain, changing to snow (which would be fine), and then WIND.  This was the biggie for all of us.  The wind was to gust above 50km/h on Sunday, the day we were to leave the lake.  There was a decision made to change lakes just because of the rain, ice, snow mixture….Which was the right decision, but now we had to talk about wind.

There are many dangers in planning trips this time of year. The cold is a major deal. You need to know how to keep warm. Then the cold water, you do NOT want to fall in. Now the wind.  Being out on a lake in this high wind was a very dangerous situation. Not only can it hinder your ability to travel in a straight line, but the potential for waves, hence the cold water, and tipping because of these waves gets greater and greater.

So, at 6:30 AM, the decision was made that we cancel this trip.  We were all bummed by this, but as we all agree, it was better to set a good example and cancel, then go out there and put ourselves in a dangerous situation.  We knew we had made the right (SMART) decision.

There you have it. Trip cancelled due to Mother Nature and her wind.  C’est La Vie. It happens. 

There is a plus side to this situation. It was a beautiful morning (at least where I was) and my crew and I drove to the waterfront to catch the sunrise.  It was a glowing beautiful red.  Again, Mother Nature telling us “Red sky in the morning, sailors take warning”.  The other bonus was that my crew got to enjoy the meal that I was to cook on this trip.  So that morning we had pancakes and bacon! They were both super happy 🙂 I mean who wouldn’t be? There was BACON!

I guess the main point I am trying to get across here, even though there was no trip, there are important decisions to share.  You need to know your boundaries and trust that when you cancel a trip, it was for the right reasons.  We know when to be safe and not make those decisions to keep going and regret them in the end.

As for now, there will be more trips planned, and hopefully one with the people from this weekend that never happened. Till next time!