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Alpine Bomber

Driving Vs. Hiking

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One of my more memorable moments from last years sobo adventure occurred in some god-forsaken place in the hundred mile wilderness, while crossing yet another rickety, slippery, rotted log that the MATC considers bridges over mud pits– hikers refer to them "affectionately" as boardwalks. My hiking partner "Deadfall" had (as always) scampered across it sans even the slightest inkling of difficulty and as I gingerly teetered across, about half-way the thought crossed my mind, "We have cars..." Thusly, I burst into hysterical laughter. Deadfall turned around and stared in helpless dismay as I laughed uncontrollably (still perched precariously on the boardwalk) for the next 10-15 minutes. I knew that if I stopped laughing I would instantly start crying, and the only line repeating over and over in my head for the duration of this outburst was "We have cars."

I LOVE driving. I've done more driving than the average trucker. I'm a walking, talking GPS. I probably spend more time in my car than I do with friends. I bought a brand new Mazda2 on New Years Eve this year and it already has 5000+ miles on it. I LOVE driving. So, naturally, I thought I'd skip the approach trail. Plugged Big Stamp Gap, GA into google maps, hit navigate, and headed out with my mom and my trusty new, 99 horsepower car around 9 AM. Long story short, the road we took up was paved with landmines- of this I am absolutely certain. Not to mention, it was more than ten miles of landmines, on a very steep incline, single lane. I was just begging my car to keep going and then I'd see a pick-up barreling down the mountain towards me. I'm pretty sure we almost died about 4 times. So when we finally found the parking lot for Springer around noon I was pretty elated to just be out of the car.

I had the perfect hike today. I was slacking, so it was easy, I got to summit Springer, meet some cool people (Euke, Noodles, Tripad), and knock out a fun 8.6 miles of trail. It was crisp- no joke, there's still snow on the trail- and clear, with cool icicle structures and beautiful rhododendrons lining the trail. Not to mention the fact that I was flying so I felt pretty awesome about myself. Seriously, not a single person passed me today which has happened, oh, right, um... never. I planned to meet my mom around 6:30. I got there at 3:37.

My mom was about an hour away when I called to tell her I was early, so I went to work cleaning up the trail head there. At around 6 I started to get uncomfortably cold, and more than a little worried. I checked my phone- no battery. And I didn't have any of my gear. I couldn't put on more clothes, or jump into my sleeping bag or hammock. Heck, I didn't even have a lighter to build a fire. By 6:30 when the sun went down past the ridgeline, I was freezing, and had scoped out a ditch where I might be able to sleep if I covered myself in a thick layer of leaves as insulation. As I was considering the best way to layer the natural elements to stay the warmest, I considered that this wouldn't be an issue if I had just taken my gear with me. I would have continued to the next shelter, hung my hammock, cooked dinner, built a fire, and I'd probably be on my way to sleep. Now, let me tell you, forest service roads are pretty terribly maintained, but they're even worse when it comes to marking them. My mom had been waiting for me at a different trail head about .4 miles away for literally hours. She showed up around 6:50, while I was on the verge of another hysterical outburst, this time centered on the thought "Why am I driving when I could be hiking?!"

Comments

  1. Teacher & Snacktime's Avatar
    Great story...you're style is inviting....there could be a book in this.
  2. Alpine Bomber's Avatar
    Thanks, And thanks for reading!