[pct-l] H & B 101: A Plunge in the Night

[ned at pacificcrestcustombuilders.com]

[ This is the first installment in a series of first-hand accounts of acts of heroism and/or bravery experienced on a thru-hike. 
It is our hope that through these stories hikers will be more aware, chose to be more prepared, and have a safe time out there.
Names will be changed, if requested, and wherever possible, the author's own words will be used. Enjoy. ]




Snow-1:


This is a very typical account of an accident in the snow. What sets it apart is that it happened at night.


What Happened:

"I didn't make it very far past where the deep snow started, about 10-15 miles past the climb out of Weldon, (I'd have to look at a map after all of these years) which was *very* lucky for me. I had never snow shoed before, and was way overconfident, a combination that would have made me one of the first fatalities of the PCT had i made it much farther before getting injured. 

"Embarrassingly enough, i had to leave the tent in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom and postholed right into a branch under the snow and fell over the hidden log, tearing up my knee. ...crawled back to the tent, wrapped the knee up, and eventually limped back to Lake Isabella, and then Mohave."


The Details:

"Well, i guess that the biggest mistake that i made, other than being young, bullheaded, and way overconfident, was not having any guidebook. I'm not even sure that i was aware that there *was* a guidebook. I had the USGS topo maps, the June 1971 national geographic article, and a roadmap from a gas station. 

"The first thing i did when i got back to the tent after i stopped cussing was to wrap it in an ace bandage and prop it up on my pack. It really, really hurt and all that i had was some aspirin and that helped keep the swelling down, but i remember having to untie the bandage when it got too tight. 

"I know it was at least one whole day that i stayed in the tent, since it was snowing, and it may have been two: not really sure after all of these years. I remember waking up in the morning after the storm was over, and the sun was out, and i thought, well, nobody's coming up here, and if i don't get going I'm going to eventually run out of food and then I'll be too weak to go, and I'll die. 

"So, i pondered what to do with 15 days of food and fuel, and decided it'd be really stupid to leave some behind, because something even *worse* could happen, and then I'd die for sure. I made a crutch out of a branch, and tied my pack to my waist with paracord and dragged it on my pad, but that didn't work so great, so i ended up carrying it, which really hurt. I was *so* glad to get to where the snow ended, cause then i knew i could make it out, even though going down that steep grade hurt just as much as the snow. 

"I think that i was probably delirious for quite a while, but i seem to have a guardian angel, or two or three perhaps, that saves me from my own stupidity, because I've been in similar jams in the Grand Canyon and on the Barrier Islands and in AK, and have somehow survived. I think that a perhaps overlooked mortality factor may be when someone like myself is lucky over and over again, it's tempting to think, 'hey, i can (jump that gap-ford-that-river-pull-in-front-of-that-tow-boat) do that: it didn't get me last time, or the time before. 

"I think that i was a little too full of myself on the PCT, since I'd gone GA->ME on the AT the year before, and had spent many, many weeks in the GC by myself, ever since i was 16, so i thought that i could do anything. I'm much more objective now. 

"As you already know so well, disaster can strike like an unseen, angry rattlesnake, but carelessness and hubris are like magnets that crash into each other when they get close together. It's amazing how something so simple that we all learn in first-grade can save us from ourselves: Stop, Look, Listen....to which we have to add: then think about what's going on.... Hey,,,,i think that i may have just plagiarized Buffalo Springfield...!  ooops."


Footnote:

"I obviously only sprained the knee severely, didn't tear any ligaments completely out, although, it's bothered me off and on ever since."