that which giveth life can also taketh away
So I thought that I would share with you all an event that happened in june of this year. I had gone on this 6 hour hike with isak, perry, and gaelan in celo and a few weeks later I tried to go on the same trail. This time aaron came with me.
We hit the trail or creek I should say at 12:30 saturday afternoon. The zietlow's dog decided to join us on our hike which turned out to be a great blessing later. The hike was great, we had plenty of food and water and it was a beautiful day so we were both in shorts and t shirts. We rock hopped, hiked, free climbed for a few hours up the creek. It was alot wetter than it had previously been but we managed to not die while climbing upwards to the top of the ridge. When we finally reached the top of the ridge the sun was beginning to go down and the fog was quickly moving in. I didn't think anything of it, although that should have been a major warning sign. I thought I knew where the trail was which would take us down to the truck. However, in the dense fog and underbrush we quickly found ourselves completely backwards and confused. We had no compass so we could not determine any direction and visibility with the fog was about 15 feet give or take. At this point we realize that at best we have 2 more hours of light before it gets completely dark and we will be forced to spend the night on top of the ridge. With the dropping temperatures and the pouring rain, this is an increasingly bleak future.
I look at my cell phone and I have one bar of battery power left. Myself being stubborn and not wanting to admit I had gotten us lost, was not going to call anybody and walk around until I found my way down. Good thing aaron was with me and forced me to call. I probably would not have survived a night up there alone. The first call me make is to my mom at 6:30 telling her that we are lost on top of the mountain and she needs to start calling my dad, searcg and rescue, gaelan, perry, people in the community who know the area and can get locations for the search and rescue. I tell her that I am powering off the phone to save battery power. She says to call back in an hour and she'll update us. an hour passes, 7:30ish i make a call to my mom, search and rescue teams are being assembled, stay put and call 911 so they can get your gps location from a satellite. I call 911 and they get our position. They say that the teams are leaving right now and will be up there to get us in 1-2 hours. I turn my phone off, an hour passes. I call my dad, he is at the bottem of the trail with search and rescue and they are about to send up a 4 wheeler team. He says that they'll be up in 30 min to an hour. My phone dies and we can only wait. an hour passes, and another. 9:30 still no sign of life, it is completely dark at this point and the rain has picked up again. We are completely soaked to the bone and we begin to shiver. This is not a good sign, the first stages of hypothermia are uncontrollable shivering. The possibility of us having to spend the night on the mountain are becoming increasingly real. 11:30 search and rescue isn't coming, we have no idea what happened but we have to spend the night on top of the mountain. Freezing and soaked, the rain has not let down. Shivering is becoming more violent but I am managing to keep it under control. The dog, bodhi saved our lives I think. Using him for warmth and support during the night was incredible. It allowed me to keep going despite being cold and wet, but we were alive. We stayed awake all night, because I was afraid that if I fell asleep that I would not wake up. 5:30 am, we are both sore, miserable, cold, wet, but we survived the night. When day breaks we decide that we pick a direction and take it, because it has begun to sleet and a few more hours on top of the mountain would seal our fate. My legs barely worked because they were so cold and stiff so I had to plow through the briar patches without thinking twice. Through the grace of god or who knows what I picked the right direction and we found the trail. 3 miles to the bottom, but we knew that we could make it now that we had I direction. Half way down the trai we meet up with my dad and search and rescue and immediately get hot coffee and food, jackets, and towels. I look at myself my legs and arms are completely torn to shreds by the briars and I am covered in mud.
It turns out that the gps coordinates that my phone had given them were completely wrong and they had been searching in the wrong location all night long. We were alive and everybody gave us big hugs. It was amazing how many people came to our aid from the community to look for us. I thank all of you for taking your time and effort to help us out. I will never forget your kindness.
celo is a place of beauty but sometimes it can be a place of danger. I found this out the hard way.
We hit the trail or creek I should say at 12:30 saturday afternoon. The zietlow's dog decided to join us on our hike which turned out to be a great blessing later. The hike was great, we had plenty of food and water and it was a beautiful day so we were both in shorts and t shirts. We rock hopped, hiked, free climbed for a few hours up the creek. It was alot wetter than it had previously been but we managed to not die while climbing upwards to the top of the ridge. When we finally reached the top of the ridge the sun was beginning to go down and the fog was quickly moving in. I didn't think anything of it, although that should have been a major warning sign. I thought I knew where the trail was which would take us down to the truck. However, in the dense fog and underbrush we quickly found ourselves completely backwards and confused. We had no compass so we could not determine any direction and visibility with the fog was about 15 feet give or take. At this point we realize that at best we have 2 more hours of light before it gets completely dark and we will be forced to spend the night on top of the ridge. With the dropping temperatures and the pouring rain, this is an increasingly bleak future.
I look at my cell phone and I have one bar of battery power left. Myself being stubborn and not wanting to admit I had gotten us lost, was not going to call anybody and walk around until I found my way down. Good thing aaron was with me and forced me to call. I probably would not have survived a night up there alone. The first call me make is to my mom at 6:30 telling her that we are lost on top of the mountain and she needs to start calling my dad, searcg and rescue, gaelan, perry, people in the community who know the area and can get locations for the search and rescue. I tell her that I am powering off the phone to save battery power. She says to call back in an hour and she'll update us. an hour passes, 7:30ish i make a call to my mom, search and rescue teams are being assembled, stay put and call 911 so they can get your gps location from a satellite. I call 911 and they get our position. They say that the teams are leaving right now and will be up there to get us in 1-2 hours. I turn my phone off, an hour passes. I call my dad, he is at the bottem of the trail with search and rescue and they are about to send up a 4 wheeler team. He says that they'll be up in 30 min to an hour. My phone dies and we can only wait. an hour passes, and another. 9:30 still no sign of life, it is completely dark at this point and the rain has picked up again. We are completely soaked to the bone and we begin to shiver. This is not a good sign, the first stages of hypothermia are uncontrollable shivering. The possibility of us having to spend the night on the mountain are becoming increasingly real. 11:30 search and rescue isn't coming, we have no idea what happened but we have to spend the night on top of the mountain. Freezing and soaked, the rain has not let down. Shivering is becoming more violent but I am managing to keep it under control. The dog, bodhi saved our lives I think. Using him for warmth and support during the night was incredible. It allowed me to keep going despite being cold and wet, but we were alive. We stayed awake all night, because I was afraid that if I fell asleep that I would not wake up. 5:30 am, we are both sore, miserable, cold, wet, but we survived the night. When day breaks we decide that we pick a direction and take it, because it has begun to sleet and a few more hours on top of the mountain would seal our fate. My legs barely worked because they were so cold and stiff so I had to plow through the briar patches without thinking twice. Through the grace of god or who knows what I picked the right direction and we found the trail. 3 miles to the bottom, but we knew that we could make it now that we had I direction. Half way down the trai we meet up with my dad and search and rescue and immediately get hot coffee and food, jackets, and towels. I look at myself my legs and arms are completely torn to shreds by the briars and I am covered in mud.
It turns out that the gps coordinates that my phone had given them were completely wrong and they had been searching in the wrong location all night long. We were alive and everybody gave us big hugs. It was amazing how many people came to our aid from the community to look for us. I thank all of you for taking your time and effort to help us out. I will never forget your kindness.
celo is a place of beauty but sometimes it can be a place of danger. I found this out the hard way.