One of the toughest decisions is knowing when to quit and when to hold on. Sometimes good experiences come out of adversary, you can’t just always walk away when things aren’t going your way. Things sometimes breakdown and fail; sometimes we all make a mistake.

This past weekend out hiking, I really wanted to end the day camping in the Adirondacks. I didn’t bring a lot of gear for the cold, I figured long johns and a change of socks, jeans, and long johns would be fine. I should have dressed warmer and been prepared, but I wasn’t. When I saw the deep snow of the Adirondacks, I should have turned around right away, but I didn’t.

I got invested in the idea of camping this weekend. I had a lot of fun camping last weekend on Irish Hill, and figured it would be a nice evening in the woods. I figured I could just get changed in the heated tent, and camp at the site I knew was plowed out. But that site is now closed. And there was a lot more snow then expected.

As soon as I saw how deep the snow was going to be in the Adirondacks, I probably should have quit. When I got lost and burned up a lot of daylight, I should have quit. But somehow in my mind, I thought I would be fine. I didn’t quit until I drove all the way up to camp, found the bad site and then started setting up at another site. I only quit when I found I couldn’t get the heater working right.

I think I should have quit earlier on. But I thought a nice campfire under starry skies would be a great way to kick off the New Year. Maybe not New Years Eve, but still a nice evening. I was going to shoot off fireworks and light sparklers. But it was not to be. No stove meant it would have been a very cold night with too little firewood. I should have quit earlier before I drove all the way up north, but I did not.

It probably was silly to have gone all the way north. I could have and should have quit earlier, when I saw the snow and how much trouble it would cause. I knew the propane wouldn’t work well, once it got chilled from the snow. But I thought I could do it. I guess there was no harm done besides the wasted gas and time, but I wish I had abandoned my plans for camping sooner.