Rim Trail Hike, Stoic Inversion Process

Next thing I did was to do a “How Would I Fail to hike the TRT solo” analysis.  I took this idea from the Stoics inversion process – it makes it super easy to figure out what you DO need to do after you’ve figured out what NOT to do, all the ways you could fail to meet your objective.  Here’s what failure analysis looked like for hiking the 173-mile Tahoe Rim Trail.

 PLANNING & TRAINING

***Not prepping for the route enough

***Injury – before I even start – pushing too hard, wearing crappy boots, getting a ski or snowboarding injury

***I don’t actually train

***Not starting to train early enough

***Not working up to enough miles

Bad weather – starting at the wrong time of year

###Fail safe test – not knowing what that test of safety is, and I don’t go if I haven’t met the conditions of the test

-I can hike X# of miles, every day in a row, for X# of days in a row

-???

EXPERIENCE – SOLOING, TESTING EQUIPMENT

Not being comfortable going alone – solo camping trips

Not going alone enough

Not testing equipment thoroughly enough; equipment failure

Don’t know how to use my equipment

Not taking adequate food/water/shelter/clothing

Not accounting for bears, cougars, bad people and extreme temperature changes (hot and cold)

Not being able to get adequate sleep (fear of being alone, uncomfortable and can’t get to sleep)

Not having appropriate insect protection

Not knowing if there are dangerous snakes

Getting hurt on the trail (drink bad water, fall, ankle, fracture, hit my head, fall off of something, blisters, heat stroke, hypothermia) – and not being able to let someone know

No one knows where I’m at

I can’t get permits

Not dealing with my fears – of people, animals, abilities, getting lost and hurt and not being found

Can’t get a fire going

Get lost

Not figuring out how to get my handgun out here, not knowing how to carry it legally (getting thrown in jail)

Not being able to find a place, and an affordable place, for Dave to stay for support

 

***This analysis then allows me to find full or partial solutions to each potential failure point.  Knowing that I’m going to tackle each of them, in order of likelihood and importance, will also start to give me confidence in my abilities to achieve this outcome.