The good news is....were alive. True story: You may have seen pics posted of me and Ashley Caples camping trip. Theyre all amazing fun pics. But they only tell half the story. After 2 miles of hiking through the trails we wandered off cutting a corner up a mountain expecting to be back on track immediately. After an hour, we realized we were dead wrong, and now lost. We hiked back down the way we came from, and found ourselves even more lost. We climbed up steep embankments on all fours, and down into rivers, not ever having flat ground to walk on. It was beyond exhausting. This went on for 5 HOURS, 4 of which were in the dark with nothing but a light from my iPhone with no service. We tried everything from calling 911, to yelling for help, to using the the stars and a compass. Nothing really worked. We had one bottle of water and a small bag of trail mix, AND it was getting colder, and we were not dressed for cold weather. On top of that, Ashely was getting light headed, making the steep rock climbs even more dangerous. Luckily through persistence, a lot of breaks, not running into any bears mountain lions or snakes, and working together through this disaster, we saw a very tiny headlight miles away, and somehow we managed to find our way back to the highway. We hitchhiked in the back of a truck of two nice spanish speaking gentlemen on a hunting trip, got back to my truck and back to the campsite 8 miles away, and were able to change into warm dry cloths, eat and drink. We came back with soreness, hundreds of scratches, and the scariest experience of a life time. But knowing we successfully made it through without fighting, freaking out, or fainting is something to be credited. Moral of the story: Dont just read the signs that say stay on the path. Actually, follow them?
Posted on: Tue, 11 Nov 2014 05:11:15 +0000