Any Near Death's While Hiking ?

[Pacific Tortuga]

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]

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]

Had dinner at Tow's

That was a near death experience?

[ShelterLeopard]

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]

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]

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]

chased by a sow black bear in snp. still surprised i'm alive.

[jersey joe]

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]

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]

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.

[XCskiNYC]

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.

[Manwich]

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...



...then I remembered: I almost did.

[makoboy]

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]

ran into some armed guerrillas in the jungle of northern guatemala back in 1981

[Manwich]

did you have guerrilla spray or have to hang your food bag at night?

[Grinder]

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

[Daydream Believer]

did you have guerrilla spray or have to hang your food bag at night?

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.

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.

[Egads]

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.

[Feral Bill]

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]

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.