Badlands – Always be prepared!
One thing that I will harp on is making sure you have backups to your equipment. This especially applies to flashlights. I carry more flashlights than I could possibly need, or so I thought. However, let me tell you a little story about my trip to the Bisti Badlands in New Mexico last year.
The Bisti Wildreness Area, New Mexico has been on my location bucket list for a while. Located 35 miles outside of Farmington, it boasts some of the most colorful and unique sandstone formations. One of the most interesting areas being the hatchery which hosts these interesting sandstone egg formations surrounded by nothing. Literally, there is nothing around apart from a few sparse shrubs and very few landmarks around.
I had selected my dates for this trip because there was no moon. I wanted to shoot the milky way rising over these egg formations. During the day I had walked all over the area taking different landscape shots, scoping out where I wanted to capture the milky way rising in the night sky, and the like. So I had made myself pretty aware of where my car was and familiarized myself with what little landmarks there were.
At dusk I head out to The Hatchery and set up my equipment. At his point I am about 2 miles away from car and I know the general directions of the lights of Farmington and further out Albuquerque. I get my shots that I came for and I am pretty confident that I got what I came out for. The wind had started to pick up and it is getting cold, so I decide to call it night. I pack up all my gear and start to hear noises. Now I am the only person out here, having seen maybe 4 other people the entire day. So I pick up the pace a little, knowing full well that I am hearing the wind blow through the random sandstone formations and slot canyons that are in the area.
I start heading towards where I parked my car and my flashlight flickers and then shuts off. I tap it on the ground, rattle the batteries, and flick it back on. It stays lit for a moment and then dies. I grab another flashlight from my backpack, same thing. I change out the batteries on both flashlights, nothing. Having no other option, I grab my car keys and start hitting the remote start button on my car keys. Knowing that there is nothing between my car and myself, but distance, I start walking myself in the direction of my car. I am surrounded by these strange noises, in the dark, pretty sure I am headed in the right direction. Of course my mind starts to wonder and make up stories. Thankfully, I soon hit the remote and spot my headlights flip on in the distance.
Of course my flashlights worked when I unpacked my gear, but I am sure that had more to do with the temperature than an otherworldly possession. I made sure that I went out and bought a flashlight that was rated for extreme cold and heat. I still carry those flashlights with me and have not experienced any issues with them again. However, you can never have too many flashlights!
What about you? What do you do to prepare yourself for the unexpected when you are out on your adventures?