You see, I have been to this place before but the hikes we have taken were along a bluff. That scared me to death since we would have several small kids with us. Therefore, I set out to find a wonderful trail that passed waterfalls and was easy and steered away from the bluffs. According to all the things I read online, this trail met up with the network of all the other trails that looped back around to the parking lot that we started out at. Great.....sounded like a good plan.
Sunday morning, we met up at around 10:45 and headed off for the woods. It was windy but beautiful outside and since we had a torrential downpour and tornado warnings the day before, I was all happy and stuff. All was going according to plan....there were four adults and five kids in our group and we were meeting up with two more adults and two more kids at the trail head. We had a picnic planned, plenty of water, and snacks in our back packs. We were following behind our friend "Trooper" in his truck. As we were getting off of the interstate, we see a big puff of smoke and some commotion up ahead......turns out the van in front of Trooper busted a transmission spraying his truck with transmission fluid. Still not that big of a deal but we had to get the stuff off of there none the less and Mr. H.B. was panicking in my car because my gas tank wasn't on F. He thinks that if you don't have over half a tank that you are on E. Since we had to stop anyway, we filled up and trooper got some change for the car wash and proceeded to wash the truck. I should have seen this as an omen but no.....we pressed on.
We all met up at the trail head and had lunch as planned. Yay.....now on to the woods. I picked up the map and actually looked at the trail description of the trail I had been wanting to take. I didn't actually look at the trail on the map....you see where this is going - no where good. Anyhoo....we all suited up and headed down the trail. Did I mention that we had kids with us....ages 5 to 18........and my short little weiner dog??? Yes ma'am, we did! Now Mr. H.B. must have heard that there was a buffet at the end of this trail because he shot out into that trail like a man on a mission. Funny thing is that the 5 year old and the 18 year old hung in there with him.....they led the pack and left us in the dust. We hiked and hiked and hiked and hiked....all the while trying to keep up with the Magellan's that were leading the pack. After a few short stops and a few hours, I started thinking.....we should be outta here by now and the kids were really getting tired. We had been hiking steady at near break neck speed and we were now skirting the edges of the Savage Gulf. I was starting to see land features that surely the indians were the last to see. Mr. H.B. and two of the boys had been almost flattened by a falling tree and my dog was giving me the evil eye. So, I pulled out the map. Now why I didn't decide to do this an hour or so before was beyond me but I didn't. The more I looked at the map, the more worried I got. Everyone was snacking and resting all around me and my heart was racing wondering how in the hades I was gonna tell them that we had been headed not in a loop but straight into the middle of a network of trails that stretched on for miles and miles and nowhere near civilization. Well, there was a primitive campground a few miles up ahead but it was Sunday afternoon. We had only passed one lone sole in the last two hours. It was 4:00....p....m....! WTH!! I finally summoned up the courage to tell everyone and the panic started. There were all manners of peeps that we should have been in contact with by then and we were stuck on the top of a mountain with no cell service 5 miles or so in on a hiking trial that led nowhere. We did manage to get some spotty service on one phone so we called and left a message for one of the daddys that stayed home with a sick young 'un and called the ranger's station. The ranger's station had an answering machine that said to call the sherrif's dept. but what were they gonna do? By the time all that had been accomplished it would have been dark. The only thing we could do was head back...and fast. After walking on a little to make sure we were correct about where we thought we were, we all sucked it up and turned around and hauled butt. I must admit that I felt the evil glares being thrown my way and I am sure that Mr. H.B. and a few others entertained the idea of throwing me off of the mountain. However, we did manage to get out in 2 1/2 hrs and before dark. I was never so glad to see that ranger's station....it was like Christmas morning when you are a kid. All glittery and stuff.....or maybe that was my exhaustion kicking in.
So now I must use this blog for good and apologize to all my wonderful hiking buddies who toughed it out with me (and who didn't throw me over the edge of the mountain). I will forever be in debt to these people and I am now obligated to find some way to make it up to them and their tired feet. I know that most of us are more sore than we ever thought we would be. All in all, we guess that we walked at least 10 miles. I am pretty sure it was more but we don't know exactly how far into the trail we were. I think the tick tally is like 50, including my little doggie who had 10 on her. I may never get Mr. H.B. on a trail with me again and I think it is safe to say that my friends are out too......*sigh* I guess it is a good thing I am moving to the beach. We really did have a good time though. The kids and adults were fabulous. There wasn't too much complaining and everyone hung in there like troopers. Even the 5 yo who waited until almost the end before he collapsed and cried, "I just can't go anymore!".
I take the full blame for this death march from hell......and I promise I will never lead another hike that the path is not verified by at least two other people. I am now thinking though that if I can ever get Martha Stewart to go hiking with me, I will take her here and "get lost". Maybe I can pick her brain for all her ideas along the way. I mean, what could be the harm in that?
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