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<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\nYou see the dike above. Waterfalls turned back a lot of people trying to climb it, and there were a lot of people on the mountain that day, heck it\u2019s probably what saved me, in the end. The climb itself didn\u2019t disappoint, with countless edgy, exposed, vertical sections where falling would be invariably catastrophic – but I\u2019m also a good, experienced climber when it comes to unroped ascent and descent. There\u2019s a certain indelible thrill about tackling these problems and solving them on your own, especially if it\u2019s a unique solution and you break a few unwritten rules in the process. Sure it\u2019s been climbed by a lot of people over the years – but not if you climb it like no one else has before you – and surely I did.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Climbing directly up a waterfall – about fifteen vertical feet high halfway up the dike, steep and slippery jagged rocks below, nudged along by an intrepid climber before me but also fairly self-assured I\u2019d be able to descend it if need be – was a critical instigator, essentially committing me to the route. And with an hour-and-a-half of followup effort and ingenuity, plus tiny, blessed, life-saving pools of drinkable water on the steep, sun-drenched upper slopes, I progressively wriggled my way to the top. By then I was breathing hard, heavy, but was also relieved, satisfied, and reinvigorated much like after last year\u2019s climb, having had to wait a year to return and finally do this.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I was entirely sated – got my fill – and while tired, I had no real doubt at this point that I\u2019d be able to reach the bottom, find the lodge, and return to my car and head home. Regardless all other factors I hoisted myself into this situation, and now would have to hoist myself out of it. I would take the easier (but considerably longer) route back down, on the opposite side of the mountain, never having actually been there before but helped along by hikers en route aplenty. Most were from New York – I knew this from the license plates of the cars stretched roadside for miles at the entrance, at the far end of which I parked – another few added miles to hike, but surely I was glad I had arrived in the morning – and surely I\u2019d reach the lodge before nightfall.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Or so it seemed. As hikers gradually disappeared, extreme tiredness slowly crept in, due to the energy expenditure, iffy fitness, on-the-spot strained improvisation, and being scorched by the direct midday sun for two hours straight. It didn\u2019t matter how much water I carried or drank, how much or little I ate, or how many layers of clothing were applied or removed – shirts, pants, shoes, and socks got soaked and I grew increasingly dehydrated, starting at the bottom of the dike, spiking at the waterfall and steadily upwards till the summit. Simply standing in the sun to let clothing dry afterwards was not an option because I needed to descend swiftly, get out of the danger zone as quickly as possible. So I tumbled through swaths of boot-sloshing liquid mud while deftly rock-hopping for five long miles as the trail slowly wound down and around the mountain, and finally flattened out, returned to civilization.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On one of countless boulder-strewn muddy uphills I reach my absolute limit –\u00a0shit<\/em>, I can\u2019t. I\u00a0can\u2019t<\/strong>.\u00a0<\/em>Okay then, break-time, hydrate, eat. Now finally some passersby again, beautiful – I should be fully out of trouble soon enough, right? They pass right by with a warm greeting and no inkling of concern, me putting up a tough and self-sufficient front, and yet just minutes after they vanish into the distance, the smothering cold envelops – and just when I was feeling all fine and secure again! If I intend to accomplish this alone, then there is absolutely no stopping from here on out, except for emergencies. Okay then, fine, so be it, play by the mountain\u2019s rules. I continue descending.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I made a critical error along the way, which I still have absolutely no idea about, why the heck it happened – following trail markers vigilantly, the signposts, easily and without incident, until suddenly I end up at a place that looks dangerously familiar – except much darker and more foreboding. Shit, I\u2019ve gone in a circle. And it\u2019s nightfall and there\u2019s no one around for miles. <\/em>Well that explains all that grueling reascending I just did – even more ruthless energy invested though, muscles whomped, profoundly cold, dehydrated, laboring. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Okay, don\u2019t panic. Check the phone, see if there\u2019s service. <\/em>One bar, barely. Only in the most wide-open and higher areas and yet I\u2019ve got five miles <\/em>of thick lowland forest between me and safety. No sense in calling 911, because it\u2019s not quite that severe yet – I can probably still get myself out of this. A few calls are made to the lodge, but by now it\u2019s already closed, and my phone\u2019s got 5% charge and dwindling fast.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Okay, save it, use it only when necessary. <\/em>It is possible to charge it using my flashlight, but sure as hell I\u2019m gonna be needing that for its illumination. Photos taken earlier confirmed, frighteningly, that I\u2019d somehow taken a wrong turn back up the mountain – where no one in their right mind would go intentionally, this late in the day and with energy reserves sapped and no sleeping bag packed. Okay, calm down, just check the map, turn around, find the right trail again. <\/em>And then\u2026 ahh, here we go, descent again, finally\u2026 I must be heading in the right direction now\u2026 just be patient, don\u2019t sweat, try to let clothing air-dry as I go.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Muscles are getting thoroughly milked, with night\u2019s dark enveloping chill and pure and plain fear setting in. Check the phone again. <\/em>No service. If I use it again it will lose power completely, not that it\u2019s much use when calls can\u2019t even be made\u2026 but okay, fuck it, just go go go <\/em>but at a pace sufficient enough that won\u2019t make things worse. <\/p>\n\n\n\n It was a combination of the cold, the soaked clothes, exhaustion, and the ragged, deserted terrain all around – soon enough life hinged upon a single working flashlight, which I\u2019d even considered not bringing along at all. If it failed, for whatever reason, I would be lost in the woods in the darkness and succumb to hypothermia over the course of the night, wet clothing sapping the heat from my body like a sponge. I\u2019d truly, finally met my match, but as long as I could keep putting one labored foot in front of another, I would keep going, and going, and going. <\/p>\n\n\n\n I came to a crossroads, and then to a trail I didn\u2019t recognize, and the one I was on – which was supposed <\/em>to lead to the lodge – gradually grew thinner and thinner and started going uphill again for a long ways, just like before. Okay, this is it, for real, I\u2019m finished. <\/em>I turn around once again, heeding my crumbling intuition, and in a moment of utter resigned, exhausted desperation, start heading back towards to the last recognizable signpost, a staggering two miles more to travel. I was doubling back, going in circles, terminal circles, running out of energy, running out of options.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Then, as if heaven suddenly brought down to earth, eureka<\/em>, a group of hikers, probably the last of the day, approaching in the distance, with powerful headlamps, perfectly timed as if divinely ordained. They calmly inform me where to go, and so I continue on – it turned out I was less than a mile from the lodge, and yet was heading in the opposite direction. I lurch over the final uphills, towards their headlamps, breaths agonizingly heavy and audible, until the lights of the parking area – not just a mirage – appear, salvation at last. The adventure was finally over, but had whittled me down to the utter core.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The tears came as I later sat alone in my car, heat on full blast – tears unlike any other – short, powerful, gushing bursts as I realized how close I just came to leaving the world permanently. It\u2019s humbling, harrowing, and also makes you deeply glad. Again I let you be the judge though, whether I\u2019m primarily to blame for the grave dangers experienced, but it was, in any case, a hardcore adventure in the mountains to be forevermore remembered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Maybe a few of you came over here from my recent YouTube video – see below or hit \u2018previous\u2019 above – but this is a post about the wild and dangerous adventure that happened directly afterwards, by far the greatest … Continue reading