[shanemhansen]

I think you are right.

But a gentler answer is that if you don't know what you need to do the hike, you ask around for best practices and probably end up following some that are overengineered.

The people like you during your hike, in my experience, fall into two groups. Either they've had so much experience that they know exactly what works and what doesn't work for the conditions or they kind of got lucky.

[timtimmy]

Thank you for the gentler perspective, and I do think it plays a role.