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Below: |
Be Prepared |
Be Careful |
The land of Beyond is a beatutiful place to hike, from casual walks in the woods to serious full-day or multi-day hikes in the mountains.
For casual walks, if you'll be wandering even a short distance away from roads, you should have decent walking shoes and a minimum of equipment (see Be Prepared, below). You can twist an ankle 10 minutes away from the road, or get confused in an unfamiliar area, and without a minimum of precautions, a simple mistake can become a major problem.
For serious hiking, you need good foot-ware, proper equipment, and experience equal to the hike. If you're new at it, or new in the area, a local guide is well worth the cost.
Be Prepared
The weather can change extremely rapidly in the mountains,
and you can get snow in late Spring or early Autumn.
Even if it's warm and sunny and clear, take a few precautions:
There's more, of course. But the idea here is to keep it simple enough that
even the less-fanatical people take a few precautions.
Be Careful
Much of the Beyond region is wild and beautiful, and potentially dangerous. No park rangers, state police, barriers or saftey nets are out there guiding your every step. Enjoy yourself but take care of yourself. Do not confuse difficult and dangerous.
Difficult passages can be fine, even fun, as long as the results of a mistake are not harmful.
You can get into dangerous situations easily if you are not aware of what you are doing. The difference is in the possible results of a mistake. If you take an easy path along a grassy slope, it is dangerous if a slip means that you slide over the edge and fall a hundred metres. Climbing a simple-looking rock is dangerous if a short fall means that your head will bounce off rocks only four or five metres below.
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