The Last Thing

[Cuffs]

What is THE very last thing you do, hiking related, before you walk out the door.

Im not talking about making sure you turned the coffee pot off or locked all the windows...

After I have checked, rechecked and re-rechecked my gear, checked, rechecked and re-rechecked my food, checked rechecked my route,

My very last thing is actually 3 things
1.  Cut my toenails.  Yea, gross, but it sure beats losing one after bashing it on downhills.
2.  Check the weather via internet for the area I will be hiking in.
3.  Call the ranger station that covers said hiking area for any updates.  (road closures, trail closures, fire bans, hunt seasons, tourons...)

[Mountain Dog]

I check the weather.  I do not know why because what you see on the internet is not necessarily what you will see on a mountain but I do like to worry about the weather.

[Woody]

The last thing I do is fill my water bottles, pat the dogs on the head, and say bye to the Mrs.

[Nalgene Ninja]

I'm just happy to be getting out of the house. It'll probably end up biting me one day.

[Rob]

I always do a visual sweep of the house to be sure I'm not leaving anything behind, then I check my pockets for I.D., Debit card, and/or cash stash. Call me paranoid but I usually take a spare key for the Jeep to stash too.

[Joshua Szulecki]

Cuffs,

I wish I always cut my toenails... I've busted more than my share (really BIG big toe) and ruined dozens of socks.

[PastorLarryT]

Last thing I do before locking the door is check over "my stuff" - do I have water, food, all my gear, maps, etc.  and leave a note to DW & DD of where I'm planning to hike that day.

[ednotmilkman]

Some of us are just a bit disorganized when packing.

I start at one end of the house, open every closet, look on every shelf, in every drawer, under every bed, inside every bag and box, and throw out in the middle of the floor what I need to pack from that room.

Repeat for 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, 2 hall closets, back porch, garage, outside pump house.  If I still had a GF, then I might repeat in a couple more rooms there, if her daughters or mother let me in when she's working ;-)

Then divide into a necessary pile and a "if there's room" pile. Then carry my pack around and start putting stuff in.

Good thing about this method is : if you have 1 hour to pack, you can do it fast and be satisfied if not complete, if you have 8 hours before you plan to leave at 6am, you can easily take 8 hours and this bypasses the irritating problem of tossing and turning in bed when I'm too excited to sleep.

There is no last thing; its a carefully planned circular sweep.

[McDowra]

Hmmm never thought  about it, guess it would be making sure I have the gps and it is loaded.  The hikingmobile is always loaded and ready to go, so really add food, water and people and it is ready.

[sam4msu]

The very last thing I do as I head out the door is turn off the cell phone so that there is no way in HELL that they can reach me from work!!!

[ednotmilkman]

Bearleader,

I never thought about making a list !  I should try that next time.

Thanks and karma to you

[cwhiker]

The very last thing I do as I head out the door is turn off the cell phone so that there is no way in HELL that they can reach me from work!!!

Me too or I would answer and the words sure I'll come in or sure I will come do a virtual tour for you before I even think about it.

[MoBill122]

 I need to make a list for sure.    Last trip to Mobile, I remembered at about Montgomery....

1.  I should have brought along my property tax records, so I could renew my Alabama hunting license while I was there, even if its doubtful I'll use it.

2. Then I remembered,  I had a Florida lottery ticket that needed to be cashed in... that would have paid for half my fuel cost.

3. Later remembered I forgot to pick up air mattress pump out of basement....  gawd....

Getting old is getting to be a real pain....

[Lostsheep]

Check everything off my lists
Place my itenerary on the fridge for the wife (w/ contact numbers)
Check the house one last time for misplaced gear
Kiss the Mrs.