Appalachian Trail
Yesterday, I went geocaching in the Poconos. I wanted to find a more difficult cache - and I almost died in the process of finding it. I started around 4:00pm on the bottom of the mountain, which turned out to be one of the highest mountains in this area with 1800'. After an 1/8 of a mile, I was already soaked from top to bottom and had to stop to rehydrate and rest. The slope towards the summit was fairly steep, considering that it went up 1 ft for every 2 ft of hiking. I arrived at the summit around 6pm and got lost, because my GPS showed that I was off by about half of mile. I ignored the GPS and continued and... got even more lost. Next time: Listen to the GPS!! By that time the sun was already about to set and I had used up my water supply in the 95 degree weather. As I hiked back to an intersection, I noticed that the trail had a Y crossing at some point. Duh! I arrived at the cache at 6:57pm and I knew that it would be an extreme challenge to get back down without water. The problem was not the fatigue (I consider myself a fairly experienced hiker), but the brutal temperatures and lack of water and preparation. I thought it would be an easy 30 minute hike. By the time it was time to get back down, I already started to shake, because of the dehydration and I noticed that my vision started to get blurry. I knew that was a bad sign, but I kept on going, because I needed to get off that mountain before it got completely dark. I talked to myself to take it slow and lift my feet, but the descent was actually more challenging that the ascent, because of the loose football-sized stones that pretty much formed the trail. I stumbled a few times and thought to myself: If you twist your ankle now, you'll not going to make it. I was already pretty far out. As I was ready to give up, I approached a natural spring. It was the best cold water that I have ever felt. Refreshed, but exhausted, the eyes almost swollen shut from the salt that kept on creeping in from the sweat, I arrived at the parking lot at around 8:30pm. Four and half hours of hiking doesn't seem long, but it appeared like an eternity to me.
When I arrived at the camp site, Bob told me that I looked like a ghost with my face all fallen in and shaking from the heat and lack of hydration.
I was great fun though - afterwards! All of my fault. I shouldn't have even started to hike with that weather and without enough water. Lesson learned ;)
My greatest respect goes out to those hikers on the Appalachian trail!
