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Pacific Tortuga
11-23-2009, 12:25
I didn't feel threaten but was almost to the top of Clingmans.Triped on a root, went flying towards a sharp turn of the Trail. Thought for sure I was going for take off down a steep cliff, when my ULA belt buckle popped loose. I was able to stop and gain my balance, didnt know that a buckle would do that under pressure.

North Cascades, headin to Stehekin on a west loop trail, stopped to enjoy some blue berries. Didn't hear, see or smell anything of the big black bear that I had disturbed from what I could only guess was it's nap. As he charged, I could only think about not running and the warm sensation I had in my pritches. In seconds, I was resolved at what was about to happen. He then stopped, stood on his hind legs twirled around and ran off. Tottaly drained, set up camp early and washed out my grainola bars and Dinty Moore beef stew.

Had dinner at Tow's :)

Doctari
11-23-2009, 12:44
Tripped once, caught myself on a handy tree just before going "over the edge".
Hypothermia once bad enough that I had the slurred speech & had stopped shivering. Saved by some hikers just past Rich Mt fire tower, they made me stop & set up camp, thanks guys.

Gray Blazer
11-23-2009, 12:46
Had dinner at Tow's :)


That was a near death experience? :eek:

ShelterLeopard
11-23-2009, 12:50
Well, one time I ran outa bacon...

But seriously, never "near death", but I was so dehydrated and tired going SoBo into Lehigh Gap that I easily could have fallen, and a dayhiker gave me a whole bottle of water, which helped. There were a couple times (in that descent) where I almost lost my footing and could've easily fallen and hit my head. But no adrenaline rush bear charging near death, just near injury and very much at frustration level.

One time (not hiking, but walking) in Carmel, California, however I did. I was on a very high cliff over the ocean, and these enormous waves were actually sweeping over the cliff. And as I stood about five feet from the edge, looking very far down at all the sharp rocks, a huge, very powerful wave came over the cliff and swept me off my feet, and to the very edge of the cliff, and I was almost swept over. FREAKED ME OUT. I was 12. If I'd fallen, I probably would've hit the rocks and died.

Many Walks
11-23-2009, 13:25
In Georgia I was in shorts and Crocs putting up a line to dry clothes. Walking through the leaves to the trees I heard a close hiss and got a strike in my Croc as I raised my foot. Copperhead was gone in a flash. He got a mouthful of rubber, I got lucky!


In PA we were rock hopping. I take the tops and look for rattlesnakes sunning, while the wife likes to walk between the rocks. She was about to step in some leaves and it registered there was a pattern to them. She caught her balance and withdrew her foot. The copperhead was poised and ready to strike. She avoided stepping right on it by just inches.


Ascending Mt. Washington was cold, foggy, windy, with ice on the rocks. We hung in Lake of the Clouds hut for a while before heading down to Pinkham Notch to let the weather clear before ascending again. On the way down Tuckerman's Ravine the wife was leading and we came by a hiker sitting on a rock near the edge. It was so steep it was really hard to see exactly where the trail went. She went around him on the left and I proceeded to the right by the edge. A very sudden stop next to him and a look down told me one more step and I'd plunge to the abyss of the headwall. There is another thread about someone falling there. I can see how it could happen. There are places on the trail that every step must be evaluated. That moment of one extra step comes to mind every now and then.


Wife was leading again in the 100 mi wilderness and out of nowhere a mother moose and her calf came running across the trail at full speed just a few feet in front of her. They appeared to be spooked by something. We didn't see each other till the last second. They took off without a problem and we didn't feel threatened, but potentially being run over by a moose could be an adventure for sure.


On the other hand we saw lots of bears. Some huffing and gnashing of teeth, but no other threats. Just lot's of great memories.

Kerosene
11-23-2009, 14:42
March 24, 1975 on north slope of Mt. Everett (southern Massachusetts): Clouds in the valley held rain that started as a mist as we climbed Mt. Everett, then turned to a moderate rain, then rain mixed with sleet, then blowing snow as we reached the top. We were in ponchos and pretty wet as we neared the summit and tried to find the old lean-to that used to be there. The woods road was entirely ice, forcing us to crawl in places. A decade later I learned that we were in the first stages of hypothermia, but we were fortunate to have dry sleeping bags, hot soup, and the rain/snow wasn't blowing into the shelter.

March 25, 1975 at Sages Ravine: Successfully crossed the overflowing stream on a small tree trunk, only to slip on the sheer ice while ascending the other side. I 'turtled' while sliding down the iced-over slope down to the rushing water. I managed to just stick out my boot on the thin trunk of the last bush to stop me about 5 feet from the edge.

the goat
11-23-2009, 14:53
chased by a sow black bear in snp. still surprised i'm alive.

jersey joe
11-23-2009, 15:30
It felt like I was near death when I got caught on an exposed ridgeline on Stone Mtn. and a wicked storm blew through. Lightning crashing everywhere.

Manwich
11-23-2009, 15:36
Slid maybe 200' down a 35 degree angle while descending St. John's ledges (right before the easiest 6mi stretch along the AT, the CT River Walk, HAH) a couple weeks ago.

The leaves were so dry and I couldn't tell what was rock and what was not. Ended up slipping on leaves on a rock and down I went.

Alligator
11-23-2009, 15:59
Slid maybe 200' down a 35 degree angle while descending St. John's ledges (right before the easiest 6mi stretch along the AT, the CT River Walk, HAH) a couple weeks ago.

The leaves were so dry and I couldn't tell what was rock and what was not. Ended up slipping on leaves on a rock and down I went.The last two miles of the river can be real difficult when your heart's in afib. Not exactly life threatening though unless you get a blood clot.

Made it down the ledges the night previous in the dark and rain. Thought I could die there but since it was so dark I figured what I couldn't see couldn't hurt me:datz.

makoboy
11-23-2009, 16:28
I had a scary moment going down The Trough on Longs Peak last summer. I was tired, cold, numb fingers and toes, and suffering from Flatlanders Disease / AMS. I missed a step, slipped and lost my balance. Somehow I manged to recover and not fall and split my head open. Next time I climb that mtn Im wearing a helmet.

neighbor dave
11-23-2009, 16:46
ran into some armed guerrillas in the jungle of northern guatemala back in 1981

Manwich
11-23-2009, 17:16
did you have guerrilla spray or have to hang your food bag at night?

Grinder
11-23-2009, 18:13
a guy with the trail name shadowcast, who I met in Maine, got bitten by a spider (brown recluse IIRC) somewhere around Pennsylvania or New York and ended up with blood poisoning.

Spent about a week in the hospital, but finished his through hike.

Don't you just love happy endings

Feral Bill
11-23-2009, 18:58
Took an off trail route suggested by a ranger in Jasper NP. Ended up crossing a glacier without gear for it. Foot went through into crevasses twice. Then we crossed a very steep scree slope on a 2" wide goat path. One slip would have been the end. That night I couldn't get to sleep for fear of dreaming myself back up the route.

That was the only time I've been seriously scared in the backcountry.

sasquatch2014
11-24-2009, 11:16
I was hiking in the Big Horns in Wy back in the mid 90's. Not really backpacking as much as fishing some small lakes when I decided to go up through the pass and try to fish the lakes on the other side of the ridge. At this point I was already 6 miles from my truck which was parked at Bighorn Resivor and 4 miles from the last trail or road. I was basicly bushwacking my way along the creek and valley floor. This got much easier as I got closer to tree line. I figure I was somewhere about 10,500 ft at this point. This was over the 4th of july but there was still tons of snow in the headwall. This was Cross Creek Canyon for those of you who know the area at all. As I was about halfway up and noticed that no one had been up through as the snow was completely undisturbed the snow step that I had kicked in let loose and I slid for a little bit. It seemed like a long way but was not much more than 5 to 10 feet before I was able to use the butt of my fishing pole to slow my slide. I am not sure how long the snow field was, a couple of hundred feet or more, but I know that if I had fallen and not stopped I would have been moving really fast as I slammed into the rocks at the bottom.

Even if I didn't die from that making it the 6 miles back to where my vehicle was would have been doubtful at best. For the rest of the time that I was out all that kept going through my head was a conversation I had had with a co worker who years before while coming out of Geneva Pass one valley over tot he west had found a body in the scree field at the bottom of the pass with a very clearly compound fractured femur. I just keep thinking of how that could have been me. I took a much longer but more traveled and gentler route home. I will never know for sure it it was just clouds setting in but the high peaks seemed much more dark and forbidding the rest of the day.

Cheers
11-24-2009, 20:12
My buddy slipped and fell on the PCT north of Stephens Pass in the Cascades. I was right behind him and luckily had enough time to dive and grab his pack strap, then haul him back up. It was a looooong way down!

Same buddy became hypothermic (as did i) on the JMT, same hike as above. Luckily we had the resolve to follow a pack train from Mt Ritter to a road close to Mammoth Lakes, a good 15 or more miles. It was total torture, but we made it to a road and were able to flag down a ski resort bus. The guy took us for free because he could see the $h*t state we were in, totally soaked, not even shivering, just numb all over and glassy eyed. We finally hit a motel in town, $150/night but so what, we were alive. I opened my pack and EVERYTHING was soaked through, everything. So glad we carried on and didn't risk trying to set up camp somewhere. The very same night my buddy broke a tooth on an oreo, from a bumper pack of double stuffed we'd just bought. I guess it just wasn't his day.

Cheers

Franco
11-25-2009, 00:44
One of my walking companions was so annoying that he risked falling off the side of a cliff , several times.
Does that count ?
Franco

JoshStover
11-25-2009, 01:21
The closest I have ever came was when I got charged by that HUGE pig in the Smokies. I have had Mutiple close calls while rafting/kayaking but not to many while hiking... Knock On Wood...

Dogwood
11-25-2009, 02:24
Pacific Turtuga, sure that was black bear? Grizzlies ar sometimes found up there.

Feral Bill, ever see that episode of Man verse the Wild where Gryllis climbs down into a crevasse? It was even freaking him out! Not a place I would want to fall into alone or without gear or ever!

So many trips and falls that could have been fatal for me, and because of the two stories that follow, that I now try to carefully consider my footwork especially on perilous parts of trail.

Two near death, probably would have been slow deaths too, that stand out for me invlove "keepers." In Arches NP was seeking a short cut down off a very remote rock formation by myself and without climbing gear. Scouted out the route ahead as best as I could. Descended one pour off that I knew I could get back up if I absolutely had to. Came to a second pour off that I didn't think I could get back up but could very dangerously go down. I thought I could see everything that was ahead. I decided to go for it. Got to a third 80 ft high hidden absolutely impossible to descend without climbing gear pour off. Took me 3 hrs. and taking absolutely insane risks to free climb and chimney up that second pour off to get up to the first pour off. At the first pour off it was much more difficult than I had anticipated having to go up. I repeatedly fell sometimes as much as 20 ft. Fortunately there was sand at the base of this pour off. By the time I had finally shimmied, climbed and chimneyed up to the top of the first pour off it looked like someone had taken a belt sander to my body and clothing. Stupid!

At Oheo Gulch(Seven Sacred Pools) on Maui I swam, climbed waterfalls, and hiked upstream to a 40 ft high waterfall with a deep 40 ft diameter pool at the base of the falls. This was in a seldom(nearly never) visited area of Seven Sacred Pools, which should be obvious because of the way I just described you have to get there. No big deal so far but the waterfall pool was in a depressed stone bowl. I wanted to jump into the bowl. I knew that I would have to get back out. The surface of the pool was only about 4 ft below the ledge that I would jump off and I would have to reach up to to pull myself back out of the pool. In I go. Out I didn't, at least not as easily as I thought I was going to. When swimming in the water I could not reach up 4 ft and get a firm hold to pull myself up out of the deep water(I couldn't touch bottom anywhere in the pool). I swam around in the bowl treading water for 1 1/2 hrs yelling thinking someone somewhere might hear me. There was no place to go. The walls of the bowl were vertical or undercut just below the water's surface. I was getting tired. I wasn't sure if it was possible but I looked for ways to climb up the vertical coarse volcanic waterfall. Repeatedly, over and over, I would find a smidgen of a toe or finger hold but I couldn't manage to pull myself up out of the water into the powerful waterfall. Finally, I would get myself out of the water only to make it 5 ft up the waterfall and then be swept back into the deep pool. This happened over and over. I realized the power of the water was catching my clothing so I stripped it all off and threw it over the edge of the bowl to where my pack was waiting. I was now naked, cold, getting dangerously fatigued and bloody. With one last thrust I mashed myself up into and onto the abrasive vertical 40 ft face of the powerful waterfall. I got 20 ft above the pool clinging to the waterfall face with no place left to go. I could barely see and hold on because the water was so powerful, but I did notice a small 4 inch notch sticking out inside the waterfall 4 ft above my head. I jumped for it. Fell, gashed and bloody, back into the deep pool 20 ft below. Seriously in danger of drowning now. I made it up one last time. Jumped. Held on with three fingers(I'm not really a climber). Reached up with my other hand and pulled, scraped, molded myself to the rock to make it up to the top of the now slippery waterfall. I then had to hike naked all the way around through the thick junglelike forest back to where I could renter the stream and swim, hike, and climb myself back to the pool's edge to get my pack.

Both those times, I was even more grateful than I usually am, to be alive at the end of the day!

JoshStover
11-25-2009, 03:14
Wow! You need to count your blessings man. Im glad you made it out. I bet you won't jump off that waterfall again. lol

Pacific Tortuga
11-25-2009, 03:26
[quote=Dogwood;924623]Pacific Tortuga, sure that was black bear? Grizzlies ar sometimes found up there.


Yes I'm sure. Would love to have seen a griz, the Forest Service had been asking for sightings and I had kept an eye out for almost two years up in that area.
Never saw one or any sign of them.

ShelterLeopard
11-25-2009, 11:54
Forgot- in Canada I had a bear IN my tent. (I was with a group) I wasn't freaked out, but the group leaders sure were.

I was not in the tent at the time, by the way.

Saffirre8
11-25-2009, 17:58
Dogwood, man that was some great stories. I feel like i was watching "Man VS Wild". AWESOME!!!

Daydream Believer
11-26-2009, 14:21
did you have guerrilla spray or have to hang your food bag at night?:D:D:D

Thanks for the laugh! Having been in Central America years ago in my stint in the US Army I had a really good laugh. We once had someone shooting into our compound in the middle of the night...not a nice way to wake up when the walls are tent canvas! Our biggest threat, however, was scorpions, snakes, rats, and ants...the ants were unbelievable.

Most of my near death experiences involve horses...generally parting company with them in some painful abrupt way. :eek:

My one hiking near miss was on a day hike in Utah years ago. We, several friends and I, were hiking along the side of a mountain on trail...some cliffs and overhanging rocks on one side and steep drop on the other side. There was a thunderstorm moving in and we were hurrying to get back to our car.

Suddenly the hair stood up on our heads...straight up...and there was a crackling noise. A bolt of lightning lifted off from the ground to the sky about 10 feet beside us. The pine needles were smoldering. All of us just stood there with this "huh...deer in the headlights" look for a second until someone said "did you all see that?" We made a quick decision to seek shelter and headed towards the cliffs post haste.

We found a small abri or rock overhang to sit under and we watched the storm safely from there. I remember looking up at the ceiling and seeing Indian paintings on the walls and had a weird deja vu flash...realized in kind of a overwhelming way that we were not the first people to shelter there imaging what it must have been like for the others before us. It was an eerie feeling sitting where someone had maybe thousands of years ago taking shelter from the elements.

ShelterLeopard
11-26-2009, 16:41
Lightening- powerful stuff. I love lightening, but that is one thing that worries me on trail. On top of a bald, nowhere good to go, all you can do is cross your fingers not to get hit- I like lightening a whole lot more when I'm snug and in a shelter. Or even better yet- the Palmerton Jail Hostel. A concrete bunker is the place to be!!!

Hiker8261
11-27-2009, 11:36
Hiking on AT this summer, first time using my MP3 player w/ earbuds. I got to the top of the mountain and heard a strange buzzing noise. I stopped walking and as I looked around, I popped out the earbuds. The noise was from the 4' timber rattler that I missed stepping on by 4 inches. It was stretched out along the trail and I stopped by the tail. One more step and my foot would have been in perfect distance for it to take a nip. I was 2 miles from the nearest road crossing but at least it would have been downhill.

In the Smokey's (Russell Field Shelter), a black bear (w/ two cubs) did a bluff charge. I yelled at it and she skidded to a stop about 25' from me. I was amazed at how fast she went from standing to running at me. Somewhere out there is a video of it that the kids shooting it promised to post .... still looking. Later that night she was up on her hind legs pounding the fence on the shelter trying to get in. She had to be content with gnawing the end of someone's hiking poles that were sticking through the wire.

chris

Daydream Believer
11-27-2009, 13:32
Lightening- powerful stuff. I love lightening, but that is one thing that worries me on trail. On top of a bald, nowhere good to go, all you can do is cross your fingers not to get hit- I like lightening a whole lot more when I'm snug and in a shelter. Or even better yet- the Palmerton Jail Hostel. A concrete bunker is the place to be!!!

To this day, I will not venture out of a building/shelter if there is lightning anywhere around. The craziest thing about that day we were nearly toasted was that the sun was shining and the storm was not that close yet. I think I read somewhere that there is more lightning on the leading edge of a storm than the middle or end so that may explain it.

I was caught out horseback riding once in a fast moving storm and I went into a thicket of trees, dismounted, tied the horse up and moved away to crouch and wait it out. I'd hate to see my horse struck and killed but worse with me on it. :( ..horses are natural lightning rods being grounded on four legs often with metal shoes on their hooves.

Egads
11-27-2009, 14:26
My one hiking near miss was on a day hike in Utah years ago. We, several friends and I, were hiking along the side of a mountain on trail...some cliffs and overhanging rocks on one side and steep drop on the other side. There was a thunderstorm moving in and we were hurrying to get back to our car.

Suddenly the hair stood up on our heads...straight up...and there was a crackling noise. A bolt of lightning lifted off from the ground to the sky about 10 feet beside us. The pine needles were smoldering. All of us just stood there with this "huh...deer in the headlights" look for a second until someone said "did you all see that?" We made a quick decision to seek shelter and headed towards the cliffs post haste.

We found a small abri or rock overhang to sit under and we watched the storm safely from there.

Uh, you weren't safe at all under a rock overhang, just lucky.

sbhikes
11-29-2009, 11:05
On a resupply day, I ate contaminated food and then spent 2 days purging myself. All I could do was lie naked in the shower. I guess that wasn't near death, but I wished for it.

Montana AT05
12-03-2009, 20:57
I stayed a shelter in Maine with an AT Purist once. Wasn't sure I was going to make it till morning. He quizzed all other hikers in the area all night long--testing their purity against his. He was a real gem.

In the morning, glad to be alive and not guilty of a felony, I informed the purist of my dislike of the hard climbs ahead of us. I told him I had a helicopter scheduled to airlift me to the next resupply point. He laughed but looked suspiciously at me. He started one of his purist quizzes but I set off down trail during it, leaving him talking in the background.

Not a mile in, on the first climb of a day, a helicopter flew ahead. It's true. I laughed so hard imagining that guy's face that I didn't notice the difficulty of the climb.

Pony
12-03-2009, 21:16
When I was about 12 I led two younger children bushwacking throught the woods in Ontario. We came down the side of the mountain and one of the other kids stepped on a yellow jacket nest and got stung like 30 or 40 times. We had to flag a boat down to get back to our fishing camp. Both of the other Children were from Quebec and spoke little english. I was so sure that my life was going to end when my Dad found out.

John B
12-03-2009, 21:21
My wife drove me from Lexington, KY to Amicalola. 6 nonstop hours in the car with her made death seem like the better option.

Montana AT05
12-03-2009, 21:22
My wife drove me from Lexington, KY to Amicalola. 6 nonstop hours in the car with her made death seem like the better option.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

Whew, I wasn't drinking at my keyboard when I read that one.

srestrepo
12-03-2009, 23:01
i had my scoutmaster tell me about a time he was hiking in a storm near a low ridgeline. i guess one the trees closest to him must have gotten struck by lightning, he told us that when it was struck it literally popped and sprayed him with splinters and branches... i'd never seen the guys eyes well up like that before. i think it really rattled him.

whisperingwind
12-04-2009, 11:08
Near Death Experience?? I had to move from the shelter to my tent, after 2 guys blew me out with a farting while they sleep contest. The odor was enough to make maggots gag...:eek:

njordan2
12-04-2009, 23:31
This is an interesting little story depending on how you interpret the events.
Around 3 years ago, or so, two of my uncle and I were on our annual week long hike of the Appalachian Trail. We put in somewhere around muskrat and were headed to Springer.
A few days in, it began to rain buckets and did not stop for, like, three days. We stayed on top of Blood Mountain during the worst storm of the trip, (and incidentaly, the worst storm of my life). But man, let me tell you, that is the shelter to stay in when there is a terrible storm. It is made from rocks and huge timbers.
The next day we hiked to Gootch Gap shelter and a man was there who had claimed the entire top half of the shelter as his own. He had hung up a tarp in front like a wall and seemed to have been there for a while.
There was also a gentleman at the shelter of very slight stature from Austria. He did not speak English well, and for the most part just kept to himself.
Talking to the man who had been there for a while seemed to be revealing. Not of anything specifically about him, but that in general, everything he said was a lie. For instance, when asked how far he was going, of course his reply was "all the way. Full 2,000+ miles". This did not agree with the general state of his equipment. For one thing, he carried his water in a milk jug. Also, he claimed to be from New Jersey. Not being from the area, I would judge his accent as pure Northern Georgia or surrounding areas. Of course, he claimed to have just arrived at the shelter the previous day and was waiting out the storm. There was the smell of a skunk in the area and he said "that old skunk shows up day after day just looking for a free meal". That comment seemed out of place for someone who had been there less than 24 hours.
In general the guy just seemed weird and shifty, but hey, the way I see it, big deal. Nobody is perfect.
That night he did not sleep, but stayed awake rustling around up stairs, listening to the radio, brewing coffee and smoking some stinking cigars. (That in turn kept me awake!!)
Come morning, my uncles were suited up and off to the trail while I was still finishing breakfast sitting at the picnic table in front of the shelter.
I thought I heard someone jump behind me, so I stood up and there was ol' stinky cigar smoker standing, head cocked to the side and back, with a bowie knife in one hand and a frying pan in the other looking at me. He raised the knife pointing over my shoulder to my backpack hanging on a nail and said,
"That's a mighty nice pack ya got there."
"I like it" I replied while making the note not to turn my back on him.
He jestured again the knife toward the pack and asked, "Is that a Kelty?"
"No, it's a Gregory" Just like the emblem you can read from where your standing says, I thought to myself.
"Oh, Gregory. That is a nice pack" He took a step closer to me and struck with his knife the bottom of the pan he held in his other hand in a sharpening type of motion while he maintained direct eye contact with me. I thought to myself, "Man this is gonna hurt." I do not know any fighting skills and had no weapons near by.
He took another step and I heard over my left shoulder in the gruff voice of my uncle
"This is f#%king b#llsh#%t!" I turned to look and it was, indeed my uncle.
A little about this uncle of mine. Unlike me, he is a trained fighter. Skilled in several forms of martial arts, very large at around 230lb and of very imposing presence. Often times he's the one who scares the others away.
I then wipped back around just in time to see ol' stinky cigar smoker split and run off the other direction.
To my uncle, I was all like, "Oh dude, I am glad you came back! I was just..."
Mid sentence he cut me off and said "Yea, this is f#%cking b*ll*****. I put on all this rain gear, hit the trail and it stops raining. I figured I needed to reconfigure my pack anyway and this picnic table is here, so I came back to change out of my rain gear"
He had no idea what was going down at the moment he re-arrived at the shelter. It was shear "luck" that he was there when he was.
Once we regrouped and discussed the events, we remembered a few days before, when we dropped our car off at Amacalola, the park ranger had a police wanted poster and said to be on the look out for a guy who fit this description between Springer and Neal's Gap.
A couple of years later, I was shown a picture on the internet of a man and I said that it looked alot like the weathered man I ran into at Gooch Gap. Only this time it appeared he had shaved his head. I was then informed that that was the picture of a man from that area who was arrested for the murder of a girl in that area.
I have always wondered what ever became of the young man from Austria who we left behind.

just my take on the story...

JoshStover
12-05-2009, 02:40
Wow. You are lucky that your uncle came back man...

dgaf169
12-05-2009, 14:00
I wasn't hiking when this happened but its definitely scariest time I've ever had outdoors. I was out deer hunting in eastern W Va a few years back. After hiking about an hour to get to my stand I noticed to temperature was dropping quickly, extremely quickly! I was in the middle of a HUGE pine grove. As the temperature got lower and lower the sap in the pines began to freeze, as it froze it expanded. Every once in a while I would here snapping and popping from the sap exanping, it them became more frequent and much louder. After about two hours it sounded like gunshots going off all around me. Then all at once the tops of the pines began falling, everywhere around me trees were falling. I began to run to try to escape the falling trees, not long after I started running a large gust of wind came through and it sounded like every tree in the forest was getting blown over. I was lucky enough to find a huge boulder that I hunkered in close to until the storm blew thru. There was so much damage that it took me almost two and a half hours to get back to my truck.

I pray to God that nothing like that happens to me or anyone else ever again!!!!!

GrubbyJohn
12-15-2009, 13:13
going up floyd mnt nobo this summer. buddy in front pissed off a rattler i was 10 feet behind him by the time i got to mr snake he was ready to strike.... 'bout 6 inches away from him. i jumped up 3 feet in the air and 4 feet backwards. screeeeeming like a little girl.....

ShelterLeopard
12-15-2009, 14:08
I stayed a shelter in Maine with an AT Purist once. Wasn't sure I was going to make it till morning. He quizzed all other hikers in the area all night long--testing their purity against his. He was a real gem.

In the morning, glad to be alive and not guilty of a felony, I informed the purist of my dislike of the hard climbs ahead of us. I told him I had a helicopter scheduled to airlift me to the next resupply point. He laughed but looked suspiciously at me. He started one of his purist quizzes but I set off down trail during it, leaving him talking in the background.

Not a mile in, on the first climb of a day, a helicopter flew ahead. It's true. I laughed so hard imagining that guy's face that I didn't notice the difficulty of the climb.

Brilliant story! I'd have loved to see the look on that guy's face...

Gray Blazer
12-15-2009, 16:06
I had sleep apnia on Cow Rock Mountain one time.

Sir-Packs-Alot
12-15-2009, 17:44
In North Carolina a few years ago on the AT near Max Patch I turned around when I heard a "honking" sort of sound to see a bear cub scurrying up a tree just behind me. He kept "crying" - so I watched him for just a moment before getting out of there before his Mom showed up. I hiked about 10 feet before "Mom" did show up - coming down the trail slowly and intently towards me. I didn't want to back up towards the cub (as a threat) and didn't want to advance on Mom - so when Mom got too close for comfort I slid of the edge of the trail (a real steep slide) and hung onto a tree down the slope until the bears left - then climbed back up. Not exactly Rambo - but nobody got hurt.

Powder River
12-16-2009, 03:19
I was hiking in the Big Horns in Wy back in the mid 90's. Not really backpacking as much as fishing some small lakes when I decided to go up through the pass and try to fish the lakes on the other side of the ridge. At this point I was already 6 miles from my truck which was parked at Bighorn Resivor and 4 miles from the last trail or road. I was basicly bushwacking my way along the creek and valley floor. This got much easier as I got closer to tree line. I figure I was somewhere about 10,500 ft at this point. This was over the 4th of july but there was still tons of snow in the headwall. This was Cross Creek Canyon for those of you who know the area at all. As I was about halfway up and noticed that no one had been up through as the snow was completely undisturbed the snow step that I had kicked in let loose and I slid for a little bit. It seemed like a long way but was not much more than 5 to 10 feet before I was able to use the butt of my fishing pole to slow my slide. I am not sure how long the snow field was, a couple of hundred feet or more, but I know that if I had fallen and not stopped I would have been moving really fast as I slammed into the rocks at the bottom.

Even if I didn't die from that making it the 6 miles back to where my vehicle was would have been doubtful at best. For the rest of the time that I was out all that kept going through my head was a conversation I had had with a co worker who years before while coming out of Geneva Pass one valley over tot he west had found a body in the scree field at the bottom of the pass with a very clearly compound fractured femur. I just keep thinking of how that could have been me. I took a much longer but more traveled and gentler route home. I will never know for sure it it was just clouds setting in but the high peaks seemed much more dark and forbidding the rest of the day.

Sasquatch,

I've been up and down Geneva pass several times and up Cloud Peak twice. I've been there on "busy" weekends and there are very few people more than 4 miles out from the trailhead. You definitely would have been in trouble- glad you made it ok! God I miss the Bighorns.

Your story kind of reminds me of a stunt by Edward Abbey in his book "Desert Solitaire." He climbs a mountain and then sleds down it on a big flat rock.

Powder River
12-16-2009, 03:57
Hiking out of Kent, I got a real late start and only went a couple of miles, a few miles short of the shelter. Luckily there was an established campsite there, complete with a privy. (the open air kind with the great view!) For some reason, I decided to walk waaaay to the back and picked the farthest tent site from the trail. I was alone, but about 9 pm I heard some hikers arrive closer to the trail. Recognizing the voices, I was excited to see some of my good friends. They had no idea I was camped there, since my tent was so far back. Retiring to my tent for the night, I was writing in my journal when I heard that bone chilling sound of a falling tree- directly overhead. It seemed to happen slowly, as I had time to conciously curl in the fetal position and await my fate. I could hear each branch break as the tree neared closer. It was definitely headed right for me. After the loud crash I opened my eyes to discover I was alive and unhurt. I heard one of my friends yell POWDER!!! It took a few moments to unzip my tent, stumble out and assess what had happened. At first I couldn't tell if anything was different. There had been a sitting log nearby when I pitched my tent. After a moment I realized that this log had moved closer. Rather, there was a new one just two feet from my tent, and perfectly parrallel to it. It wasn't a whole tree, but the top 15 feet or so of the one overhead. The tree looked perfectly healthy down low, but apparently the top was rotten and toppled with no wind. I estimate the weight of the log would have been enough to kill or seriously injure me, and it fell from a height of 30+ feet. Thank the good lord it didn't! I was also glad my friends had arrived, as it would have been some time before I was discovered so far from the trail.

Powder River
12-16-2009, 04:03
This is an interesting little story depending on how you interpret the events.
Around 3 years ago, or so, two of my uncle and I were on our annual week long hike of the Appalachian Trail. We put in somewhere around muskrat and were headed to Springer.
A few days in, it began to rain buckets and did not stop for, like, three days. We stayed on top of Blood Mountain during the worst storm of the trip, (and incidentaly, the worst storm of my life). But man, let me tell you, that is the shelter to stay in when there is a terrible storm. It is made from rocks and huge timbers.
The next day we hiked to Gootch Gap shelter and a man was there who had claimed the entire top half of the shelter as his own. He had hung up a tarp in front like a wall and seemed to have been there for a while.
There was also a gentleman at the shelter of very slight stature from Austria. He did not speak English well, and for the most part just kept to himself.
Talking to the man who had been there for a while seemed to be revealing. Not of anything specifically about him, but that in general, everything he said was a lie. For instance, when asked how far he was going, of course his reply was "all the way. Full 2,000+ miles". This did not agree with the general state of his equipment. For one thing, he carried his water in a milk jug. Also, he claimed to be from New Jersey. Not being from the area, I would judge his accent as pure Northern Georgia or surrounding areas. Of course, he claimed to have just arrived at the shelter the previous day and was waiting out the storm. There was the smell of a skunk in the area and he said "that old skunk shows up day after day just looking for a free meal". That comment seemed out of place for someone who had been there less than 24 hours.
In general the guy just seemed weird and shifty, but hey, the way I see it, big deal. Nobody is perfect.
That night he did not sleep, but stayed awake rustling around up stairs, listening to the radio, brewing coffee and smoking some stinking cigars. (That in turn kept me awake!!)
Come morning, my uncles were suited up and off to the trail while I was still finishing breakfast sitting at the picnic table in front of the shelter.
I thought I heard someone jump behind me, so I stood up and there was ol' stinky cigar smoker standing, head cocked to the side and back, with a bowie knife in one hand and a frying pan in the other looking at me. He raised the knife pointing over my shoulder to my backpack hanging on a nail and said,
"That's a mighty nice pack ya got there."
"I like it" I replied while making the note not to turn my back on him.
He jestured again the knife toward the pack and asked, "Is that a Kelty?"
"No, it's a Gregory" Just like the emblem you can read from where your standing says, I thought to myself.
"Oh, Gregory. That is a nice pack" He took a step closer to me and struck with his knife the bottom of the pan he held in his other hand in a sharpening type of motion while he maintained direct eye contact with me. I thought to myself, "Man this is gonna hurt." I do not know any fighting skills and had no weapons near by.
He took another step and I heard over my left shoulder in the gruff voice of my uncle
"This is f#%king b#llsh#%t!" I turned to look and it was, indeed my uncle.
A little about this uncle of mine. Unlike me, he is a trained fighter. Skilled in several forms of martial arts, very large at around 230lb and of very imposing presence. Often times he's the one who scares the others away.
I then wipped back around just in time to see ol' stinky cigar smoker split and run off the other direction.
To my uncle, I was all like, "Oh dude, I am glad you came back! I was just..."
Mid sentence he cut me off and said "Yea, this is f#%cking b*ll*****. I put on all this rain gear, hit the trail and it stops raining. I figured I needed to reconfigure my pack anyway and this picnic table is here, so I came back to change out of my rain gear"
He had no idea what was going down at the moment he re-arrived at the shelter. It was shear "luck" that he was there when he was.
Once we regrouped and discussed the events, we remembered a few days before, when we dropped our car off at Amacalola, the park ranger had a police wanted poster and said to be on the look out for a guy who fit this description between Springer and Neal's Gap.
A couple of years later, I was shown a picture on the internet of a man and I said that it looked alot like the weathered man I ran into at Gooch Gap. Only this time it appeared he had shaved his head. I was then informed that that was the picture of a man from that area who was arrested for the murder of a girl in that area.
I have always wondered what ever became of the young man from Austria who we left behind.

just my take on the story...

njordan2,

This is a chilling story. Are you saying you think you ran into Gary Hilton?

mweinstone
12-16-2009, 10:05
me and chaco fought over sardeens and almost died

Ender
12-16-2009, 10:26
My scariest experience was on Cheoah Bald. I set up my tent on top, on a nice clear night. I'm awoken in the middle of the night by a huge kaboom, and I'm now literally in the middle of a rain and lightning storm. Lightning was going from cloud to cloud above me, beside me, and below me. Lightning was hitting the ground further down the mountain. Still not sure why it never made contact with the ground on top of the mountain, but luckily for me it didn't.

I spent that night curled up on my ccf sleeping pad, expecting to be hit by lightning. It was awful. Only pure luck got me through that night without being cooked.

Ender
12-16-2009, 10:33
...I didn't want to back up towards the cub (as a threat) and didn't want to advance on Mom - so when Mom got too close for comfort I slid of the edge of the trail (a real steep slide) and hung onto a tree down the slope until the bears left - then climbed back up. Not exactly Rambo - but nobody got hurt.

You did exactly the right thing. I had a similar thing happen to me with a cow moose and her calf. The mom was not happy that I was between the two of them. I slid off the side of the trail and hid behind a large tree (I'm sure they still knew I was there, but the tree gave me comfort). Still the closest I've ever been to a mosse, and man are they huge.

Manwich
12-16-2009, 11:02
I should add... two weeks ago during the snow, I was climbing across wolf rocks and it was impossible to tell what rocks were sturdy, which weren't slanted... and which were actually there. Long story short, I stepped on an unsturdy rock and fell a good distance. My back still hurts from it :-/

Manwich
12-16-2009, 11:03
http://photos-f.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc3/hs118.snc3/16564_1189762901196_1142063659_30510152_3607997_n. jpg

part of wolf rocks in the background, to illustrate my problem. (this was the "end of it" though)

ShelterLeopard
12-16-2009, 11:14
Man, Wolf Rocks is kinda hard not to fall when there isn't snow!

Powder- glad you're alive, and I like your tag line quote!

CrumbSnatcher
12-16-2009, 11:22
my dog almost died on cat rocks NJ. we made it to the top going nobo, then on the way down i climbed down to the boulder below, then lowered my dog down. then i went down another boulder &she thought i was on the ground already but i was still 20 feet or higher. she jumps and instantly i stuck out my arms and caught all 75+lbs of her in mid air. pure luck or not, i always could read her like a book. i sensed it was going to happen. it helps on a long hike to be tuned into each other.

Blue Jay
12-16-2009, 11:34
This is an interesting little story depending on how you interpret the events.
Around 3 years ago, or so, two of my uncle and I were on our annual week long hike of the Appalachian Trail. We put in somewhere around muskrat and were headed to Springer.
A few days in, it began to rain buckets and did not stop for, like, three days. We stayed on top of Blood Mountain during the worst storm of the trip, (and incidentaly, the worst storm of my life). But man, let me tell you, that is the shelter to stay in when there is a terrible storm. It is made from rocks and huge timbers.
The next day we hiked to Gootch Gap shelter and a man was there who had claimed the entire top half of the shelter as his own. He had hung up a tarp in front like a wall and seemed to have been there for a while.
There was also a gentleman at the shelter of very slight stature from Austria. He did not speak English well, and for the most part just kept to himself.
Talking to the man who had been there for a while seemed to be revealing. Not of anything specifically about him, but that in general, everything he said was a lie. For instance, when asked how far he was going, of course his reply was "all the way. Full 2,000+ miles". This did not agree with the general state of his equipment. For one thing, he carried his water in a milk jug. Also, he claimed to be from New Jersey. Not being from the area, I would judge his accent as pure Northern Georgia or surrounding areas. Of course, he claimed to have just arrived at the shelter the previous day and was waiting out the storm. There was the smell of a skunk in the area and he said "that old skunk shows up day after day just looking for a free meal". That comment seemed out of place for someone who had been there less than 24 hours.
In general the guy just seemed weird and shifty, but hey, the way I see it, big deal. Nobody is perfect.
That night he did not sleep, but stayed awake rustling around up stairs, listening to the radio, brewing coffee and smoking some stinking cigars. (That in turn kept me awake!!)
Come morning, my uncles were suited up and off to the trail while I was still finishing breakfast sitting at the picnic table in front of the shelter.
I thought I heard someone jump behind me, so I stood up and there was ol' stinky cigar smoker standing, head cocked to the side and back, with a bowie knife in one hand and a frying pan in the other looking at me. He raised the knife pointing over my shoulder to my backpack hanging on a nail and said,
"That's a mighty nice pack ya got there."
"I like it" I replied while making the note not to turn my back on him.
He jestured again the knife toward the pack and asked, "Is that a Kelty?"
"No, it's a Gregory" Just like the emblem you can read from where your standing says, I thought to myself.
"Oh, Gregory. That is a nice pack" He took a step closer to me and struck with his knife the bottom of the pan he held in his other hand in a sharpening type of motion while he maintained direct eye contact with me. I thought to myself, "Man this is gonna hurt." I do not know any fighting skills and had no weapons near by.
He took another step and I heard over my left shoulder in the gruff voice of my uncle
"This is f#%king b#llsh#%t!" I turned to look and it was, indeed my uncle.
A little about this uncle of mine. Unlike me, he is a trained fighter. Skilled in several forms of martial arts, very large at around 230lb and of very imposing presence. Often times he's the one who scares the others away.
I then wipped back around just in time to see ol' stinky cigar smoker split and run off the other direction.
To my uncle, I was all like, "Oh dude, I am glad you came back! I was just..."
Mid sentence he cut me off and said "Yea, this is f#%cking b*ll*****. I put on all this rain gear, hit the trail and it stops raining. I figured I needed to reconfigure my pack anyway and this picnic table is here, so I came back to change out of my rain gear"
He had no idea what was going down at the moment he re-arrived at the shelter. It was shear "luck" that he was there when he was.
Once we regrouped and discussed the events, we remembered a few days before, when we dropped our car off at Amacalola, the park ranger had a police wanted poster and said to be on the look out for a guy who fit this description between Springer and Neal's Gap.
A couple of years later, I was shown a picture on the internet of a man and I said that it looked alot like the weathered man I ran into at Gooch Gap. Only this time it appeared he had shaved his head. I was then informed that that was the picture of a man from that area who was arrested for the murder of a girl in that area.
I have always wondered what ever became of the young man from Austria who we left behind.

just my take on the story...

My take on this story is that it really must be told around a campfire with a flashlight held up under the story tellers face. A real "3 fingered Willie" story, thats my take.

Manwich
12-16-2009, 11:46
my dog almost died on cat rocks NJ.

So we'd have to change the name to "Only Cats Rocks"

CrumbSnatcher
12-16-2009, 11:53
it would of been ugly. thank the lord im a big guy and had the ability to catch her! my dog must of thought she was superman or something. she only ever did that once thankfully. the sun must of been in her eyes? i've missed a few ground balls, probably because the sun was in my eyes!:rolleyes:

IceAge
12-16-2009, 12:25
Crumb, that reminds me of the time my crazy dog almost leapt over the edge of a 75 foot cliff.

We were hiking by Lake Michigan north of Milwaukee, the entire shoreline is cliffs in that area. He saw the water (he loves water) and took off running to go jump into the lake, apparently not realizing he would have quite a free-fall to get to it. I yelled "STOP!" and he hit the brakes, stopped about 10 feet short of the edge.

CrumbSnatcher
12-16-2009, 12:41
Crumb, that reminds me of the time my crazy dog almost leapt over the edge of a 75 foot cliff.

We were hiking by Lake Michigan north of Milwaukee, the entire shoreline is cliffs in that area. He saw the water (he loves water) and took off running to go jump into the lake, apparently not realizing he would have quite a free-fall to get to it. I yelled "STOP!" and he hit the brakes, stopped about 10 feet short of the edge.
just the right tone in your voice probably? saved him. my dog bear knew what no and stop meant! you say stop and she'd stop on a dime & give you change. we were heading for deep gap shelter once and there was only one other hiker there, i knew him and we were shooting the s*** we see her heading towards the shelter he looks at me i look at him. he had his sleeping bag layed out, and bear headed straight for it about 3 feet away i yell no! and she looped back out of the shelter. she thought it was my bag. she never messed with anyones gear or food or anything,but alot of hikers shared with her anyway jerky,blanket,water,etc.

XCskiNYC
12-16-2009, 13:49
Slid maybe 200' down a 35 degree angle while descending St. John's ledges (right before the easiest 6mi stretch along the AT, the CT River Walk, HAH) a couple weeks ago.

The leaves were so dry and I couldn't tell what was rock and what was not. Ended up slipping on leaves on a rock and down I went.

I think I did that descent a few hours after you.

It was challenging. In quite a few places it was necessary to hang on with one hand while swinging feet/body/pack down to the next spot where a toehold could be got.

In fact I was thinking it would probably make a good rock climbing course. I read later on that it is, in fact, used for a rock climbing course.

Parts of it I did slide down, on purpose, because it was the optimal way to go. With all the leaves, it was too steep to descend normally so I squatted down in the leaves (which were about a foot deep in spots), with my pack almost touching the rock, and let gravity do the work.

Clearly the trail was run down this particular descent as karmic pre-payback for the easy part ahead.

clodhopper
12-16-2009, 16:54
Great thread. Got an adrenaline rush from just reading all the posts.

Airborne3325
12-16-2009, 17:38
I was looking for some firewood around a fallen tree and felt something cold slap against my leg. I looked down and saw a big Eastern Diamondback coiled between my feet. He had just struck my shoe and sprayed inside the toe of the shoe, but not breaking the skin. The inside of my shoe and sock were soaked with venom. Inside of my pants...well, you know...

Manwich
12-16-2009, 17:53
I think I did that descent a few hours after you.


You did. We stayed right outside Mount Algo on the same night.

I'm looking at my GPS log and wondering how I made it down that debaucle in just 10 minutes without killing myself...

http://imgur.com/Jyr8K.png

...then I remembered: I almost did.

earlyriser26
12-16-2009, 18:17
A few bad times with no water for a day in hot weather. You know you are dehydrated when you can drink a whole 12 pack of coke and not have to go to the bathroom.

ridgerunninrat81
02-19-2010, 22:31
In 1981 while on my AT hike in tenn. While looking for an obscure trail to a waterfall for a lunch break, I surprised a moonshiner with a shotgun. It took a few minutes to convince him I meant no trouble. After he calmed down he gave me a sample. It was terrible. Later in Virginia on top off Priest mountain I smelled a dry burning sent, the hair on my arms and neck was standing up. All of a sudden lightning struck a tree so close I felt the tremendous heat. I tossed off my pack and crouched for hours. OK maybe 15 minutes until the storm passed.

tr3n1ty
02-20-2010, 02:50
While hiking Gold Mint Trail in Hatcher's Pass Alaska (someday I'm going to have time to get to the Bomber out on the glacier there) a couple of years ago I had a scare.

It was the first hike I had been on after recovering from a protracted illness and discovery that I could no longer eat wheat, among other too many other things to list. My meals were mostly potatoes and peas and tuna or chicken, but I had this great recipe for pancakes made with teff flour.

Things had gone quite well on the hike in, Gold Mint trail is pretty easy for the first seven miles, just a long low upslope with lots of mild PUDs and only one sometimes (depends on the snowfall the previous year) treacherous river crossing. The beavers had taken over some parts of the trail, so there was interesting brushwalking in swamp and alders that year, but it was still pretty easy.

The tail end of the trail has a hilariously fun marmot-infested boulder field that still has old gold mining equipment rusting away and a goat track (literally) up a cliff face, and these put you out into a hanging valley. Beautiful views from here. We camped in the valley and the next morning I realized that I really couldn't stomach the pancakes. Trying to force myself to eat them resulted in heaving. The dog loved them. I didn't have enough backup food to make more breakfast, my partner's breakfast was NOT something I could eat and we really needed to pack up and go to get back to the car on time so I just ate my last rice breakfast bars and pushed on.

Going down I did pretty well until I got lightheaded on the goat track. I had some candy and did okay for a little bit, then my vision went fuzzy and I stumbled sideways.

Into thin air.

My partner was above and right to me and somehow managed to grab my pack strap. Kept me from falling 20-30 feet down to the next ledge, assuming I would have stayed there. It was a narrow ledge.

I ended up crawling down the goat track. I kept on seeing double and fuzzing out.

And now I always make doubly sure to pack a lot of extra food I like just in case. Usually I do anyway, but we had packed up kind of quickly that time and we both forgot to pack an extra day's meal that we both could eat. And I was still having trouble finding things I COULD eat. I had liked the teff pancakes at home, just not on the trail. That had never happened to me before.

I doubt 20-30 feet would have killed me but it was pretty freaky.

Tipi Walter
02-20-2010, 10:19
My scariest experience was on Cheoah Bald. I set up my tent on top, on a nice clear night. I'm awoken in the middle of the night by a huge kaboom, and I'm now literally in the middle of a rain and lightning storm. Lightning was going from cloud to cloud above me, beside me, and below me. Lightning was hitting the ground further down the mountain. Still not sure why it never made contact with the ground on top of the mountain, but luckily for me it didn't.

I spent that night curled up on my ccf sleeping pad, expecting to be hit by lightning. It was awful. Only pure luck got me through that night without being cooked.

I've had this "waiting to die by lightning" moment many times over the years. And of course it's always when I'm camping on tops of mountains. Back in '85 it got so bad on an open bald that I ran out in the night and unstaked my tent and dragged it down the hill about 300 yards to a more protected spot. I just didn't want to die.

LTROSS
02-20-2010, 10:28
In New Hampshire i slipped fell off a waterfall. Fell about 15 feet onto my pack and slid/bounced underneath a fallen tree. I laid in the stream, stuck under the tree, for about an hour while i quit life and everything to do with it. After a short nap i regrouped, dragged myself out of the tree, and continued my journey bruised but without serious injury.

JAK
02-20-2010, 10:38
Closest think hiking related was when Margaret and I finished a really long day of hiking at midnight, and I was stupid enough to drive home from Fundy National Park that same night. Nearly hit a moose leaving the park, and was still stupid enough to drive all the way home even though I was in no shape to drive. Too tired and stupid to know better. Now, like when drinking, I plan in advance not to drive after a long day of hiking.

Blue Jay
02-20-2010, 12:50
I'm impressed how many people can take one of the safest activities on earth and make it sound like a combat mission. Fear mongering (terrorism?) continues to be so very popular.

Tipi Walter
02-20-2010, 13:14
I'm impressed how many people can take one of the safest activities on earth and make it sound like a combat mission. Fear mongering (terrorism?) continues to be so very popular.

Obviously you've never tented it up on a high mountain bald in hurricane winds or a lightning storm.

Different Socks
02-20-2010, 13:20
Early 1980's, Sawtooth Mtns in Idaho, really being stupid. Hiking on trail, then decided to leave the trail and have an adventure going up a ragged looking ridge of a huge mtn.

Long story short, after a couple thousand feet of climbing, I crossed over to the far side of the ridge and entered a chute that was wet and had snow. My first step I slipped. Impact of landing on my backside was so hard that it snapped off one of the large ends off a pair of binos in my pack and my glasses fell off my face, never to be found again.I am basically blind w/o them

In attempting to get out of that chute, I fell twice more, sliding a total of approx 300 feet. I got bombarded by a storm of pebbles after my second fall and stopped just short of a cliff on the 3rd slide. From the tips of my fingers, to my elbows I was gouged, scratched, scraped up and bleeding. I didn't know it at the time, but my ass, parts of my legs, and my back were also badly banged up and bleeding. While climbing back up in an attempt to rescue myself, my legs jumped madly from "sewing machine leg". They would move like jackhammers. If I wanted to rest and was hanging on a wall, I had to stand on one leg, hold on with one hand and reach down with the other to hold my leg still for fear of my foot jarring loose my position.

When I finally made it to the top of the chute and over the ridge, I reopened wounds by sliding down a shallow drainage filled with snow, slipping so fast, I nearly careened off the far walls. I was exhausted by the time I made it back to the trail. I had no food, no water, no glasses. Daylight was exiting the sky quicker than a rabbit with a coyote on its tail. And I was still 7 miles away from the trailhead. After a brief rest, I started down the trail. Once I reentered the trees and darkness fell, the only way to "see" the trail was to feel it with my feet and look up to the sky for a break in the trail. Did I mention I had no flashlight? Lucky for me this was a well defined trail.

After 2.5 hours in the dark, I was at the trailhead. I still had to get to my dorm(I was a volunteer for the (USFS). I could take the road around(long way) or hike a short steep, sage brushy hill, then across open land to the buildings. I chose the latter. I stumbled over to the buildings, walked up to the nearest ranger cabin and knocked on the door.

I woke up the next day in the hospital. I'd collapsed at the door and they found me unconscious. I was told I'd lost so much blood it was unbelievable that I had gotten as far as I did and I was incredibly lucky to be alive.

For several years I wouldn't go near a mtn ridge, or even a sand dune. The steepness or movement of the ground under my feet made me hyperventilate and have panic attacks. Then in 1996, I was hiking the PCT thru CA. On one particularly tricky pass crossing in the Sierra's, the trail was washed away and what remained was loose and moved like sand. While struggling to get up to that pass, I said, "ya know, 10 years ago I wouldn't have been caught dead on a trail like this", and then I started laughing. It was at that moment that I realized I'd finally conquered the fear of that mtn in Idaho. I was going to get back to that mtn last year, but other things occurred in my life, so it will have to wait a few more years.

Nuthatch
02-20-2010, 14:35
The next day we hiked to Gootch Gap shelter and a man was there who had claimed the entire top half of the shelter as his own. He had hung up a tarp in front like a wall and seemed to have been there for a while.
There was also a gentleman at the shelter of very slight stature from Austria. He did not speak English well, and for the most part just kept to himself.
Talking to the man who had been there for a while seemed to be revealing. Not of anything specifically about him, but that in general, everything he said was a lie. For instance, when asked how far he was going, of course his reply was "all the way. Full 2,000+ miles". This did not agree with the general state of his equipment. For one thing, he carried his water in a milk jug. Also, he claimed to be from New Jersey. Not being from the area, I would judge his accent as pure Northern Georgia or surrounding areas. ...
In general the guy just seemed weird and shifty, but hey, the way I see it, big deal. That was almost certainly Gary Hilton. :eek: