Aug 16, 2006 18:28
So, here's a funny story, you know one of those funny stories that's actually really awful:
Shayna and I decided to go on a short overnight backpack from monday afternoon to teusday. Got off to a great start, drove up there, packed in about 5 miles through beautiful forests and mountain meadows to a lovely lake, are greeted by no people, only 2 lovely loons that keep making that eerie but wonderful loon noise over and over again. Have a great time (although my attempts at fishing were met by horrible, disappointing, disaster, and I pouted for a good 45 minutes) Woke up to a nice sunrise, take our time and decide to head back out to reality around 10. leisurely hike back over the same 5 miles. Feel good to be back at the car and on our way to the Arby's outside of missoula to get some curly fries....
And then start to feel really horrible when it is noticed that the car is not functioning properly, and is in fact UNDRIVEABLE, and realize we are 16 miles from the tiniest SMIDGEN of civilization by which I mean, a sketchy taxidermist shop that is still in the middle of nowhere
By this time it is approximately 3 pm. It gets dark around 9:30, and we hike an average of 2 miles per hour (give or take) so this means that to get down to "civilization" (reminder - its a taxidermist) 16 miles away, we will have to walk for 8 hours, and won't get there until...11 pm. Another reminder, this 8 hour walk would be over a maze of logging roads, that pretty much nobody drives on except an occasional hiker, in a huge expanse of nothing but mountains, and there is no fucking way I am walking in the dark with who knows what out there. so we try to stay calm, and decide to put our backpacks on...again...and take our tent, leftover food ( 10 triscuits, a tablespoon of margarine, and 4 dog treats) and as much water as we can sanitize out of a nearby stream and carry with us. Then just walk until we can, set up the tent and hike the rest of the way in the morning and hope we can find some commuter to take us into missoula.
No curly fries.
Well we ended up hiking 12 miles down the logging road in record time (making it a grand total of 17 miles of backpacking yesterday) at that point it was getting dark, and we had to set up camp even though we were only 4 miles from our destination. The dog is practically dead, we are in pain, and very hungry.
But then.
We had just set up the tent when we heard a noise....a noise we had not heard all day....the noise of a car traveling over a dirt road. We hoped and prayed that it was actually on our road and not passing on one of the other lonely roads above or beneath us....we saw it round the corner, and shayna waved it down.
It is our extreme fortune, that the driver of the vehicle was an extremely kind man named Scott who just happened to be driving down to missoula that night! He had been up in the mountains picking huckleberries (lots of berries in the back seat) And gladly took us and the dog home. The strangest thing is that we found out he lives, literally, 2 blocks from where we live and has seen us walking our dog by his house before.
I've never been so glad to plop down in front of the tv and eat food in my life.
We are very lucky that we didn't have to spend the night camped out, because a major storm passed right through the area and it would have been both miserable and dangerous.
Now of course, I am dealing with the aftermath i.e. $300 car towing expense and who knows how much to repair my car. I think its time to trade in the golf for something with a bit more clearance - we hit a rock on the way up (assumedly) and it damaged the oil pan, causing all the oil to drain out, thus keeping me away from my curly fries.