"I lie there a broken man, destroyed, but i will rebuild myself. I will Overcome" -Me
Well i guess its actually a good thing no one came hiking with us in the foothills of North Carolina. It was great hiking up. We chose the hardest trail and decided we would be men and take the mountain. We got to the top exhausted and without water with a feeling of satisfaction. Then when we decided to finish the trail as it should loop around back to the park it split. There were no signs no spraypaint no trail markings but a junction. One path up one path down. We decided we wanted down. It turns out that this wasnt a trail at all but simply an access path for the power companies which led us into north Carolina. Without water aching and delirious we marched on for 3 more hours, it took us two to scale the mountain. We came to a stream which was a savior. Without that water we never would have made it back alive and no im not exagerating and if you think i am then fuck you. We had three granola bars and one bottle of water to make it back on. We struggled up and almost vertical incline back up to the summit. By then our bodies had given out and we were running on sheer mental energy alone. Thats also when the worst thing happened it was 7:00 now we started at 12:00. The sun went down behind the mountain and it got pitch fucking black. I couldnt see my hand infront of me let alone the path. Stu had tried earlier to call for help but the phone died. I finally ended up inching alone one foot infront of the other taking pictures in the dark to see if there was more path in front of us. We started looking at previous pictures to verify landmarks and give us a little hope. Finally after being so possitive and giving stuart and myself motivation to continue my body gave up and so did my mind and spirit. I was finished the mountain had torn me down i was defeated. Some how stuart told me we were close and we decided we werent sleeping on that rock we pressed on. We once again heard running water and knew it was almost over. Almost over however took us another two hours to get through with only the light of my lcd screen on my camera to guide us, it was literally the blind leading the blind. We made it though laughing deliriously and exhausted we collapsed in the bathroom and had the best tasting tap water i have ever had in my life. So we crashed in my car and left the next morning not once seeing a park ranger or hiker that would have even noticed us missing.
In the end i look back on it and it was an experience to remember. I feel as though the mountain tore me down to nothing and i rebuilt myself anew. And i am a stronger person now for that. "It is in the face of death and extreme circumstances that we can overcome and do extraordinary things beyond what we can physically handle"-Michael
This is when it was still fun
A bit of rock climbing does the body good
The summit we made it (trip 1)
Here's where shit went wrong fuckin unmarked trails
sweet sweet water a godsend
faces of despair
The peak round 2
This is what we had to look foward to
No the lens cap isnt on thats how dark it was even with the lowlight function on my camera
In the end i look back on it and it was an experience to remember. I feel as though the mountain tore me down to nothing and i rebuilt myself anew. And i am a stronger person now for that. "It is in the face of death and extreme circumstances that we can overcome and do extraordinary things beyond what we can physically handle"-Michael
This is when it was still fun
A bit of rock climbing does the body good
The summit we made it (trip 1)
Here's where shit went wrong fuckin unmarked trails
sweet sweet water a godsend
faces of despair
The peak round 2
This is what we had to look foward to
No the lens cap isnt on thats how dark it was even with the lowlight function on my camera