Observations of Behaviour, Awareness and Decision-Making on the Trail
Most hiking incidents don’t begin with a mistake. They begin with something nobody noticed.
A slight drop in pace. A decision to push on when the safer option was to stop. Familiar terrain that stopped getting the attention it deserved. Small things, operating quietly in the background, until the margin runs out.
These essays explore the human factors behind hiking safety. Not what to carry or where to go, but how fatigue, psychology, momentum and environmental pressure shape behaviour and judgement in the field.
I’ve spent decades walking in the Australian bush and years working in Search and Rescue. The pattern I keep seeing isn’t recklessness. It’s capable, well-prepared people who didn’t recognise how the situation was changing around them.
That’s what this series is about.
