Running behind

Okay, so I took the opportunity to play on my day off rather than catch up on work. No surprise there. As a result of my "play day", however, I am a bit behind schedule and it's just Monday!

So, what did I do on my day off? I went back to the Sipsey Wilderness Area. This time I was determined to stick to established trails, as I did not want a repeat of my "blaze your own trail" experience from last time. The plan wasn't bad, but two things went wrong:

1. I was WAY too ambitious in planning my route. I didn't want to backtrack over the same trail, but the loop I decided on was much too long for a day hike.
2. Though I tried to stay on trails, twice I was forced to bushwhack. The first time I just thought the trail had disappeared so I needlessly climbed out of a canyon and then spent half an hour trying to get back down to the creek. The second time the trail really did disappear, right in the middle of an entire hillside of downed trees. I looked and looked, but there was no good way around. Finally I just gave up and crawled around, over, and through giant tangles of trees. Given my deathly fear of snakes, I'm not sure just how I managed to do that, but I did.

Eventually I made it through the tangle of trees and picked up the very faint trail (this was not a high traffic area) on the other side. Someone had been kind enough to tie blue surveyor ribbons on occasional trees so I was able to keep the trail after that. It's amazing how quickly a trail through the woods disappears if it is not traveled much.

That, though, did not solve my biggest problem -- the fact that I'd planned a much too long route. I finally made it to the trail that would take me back to the parking area, but I was still 2.92 miles from the car, I was exhausted, I was hungry, and there was only about half an hour of daylight left. Despite my planning, I seemed to again be the DON'T BE LIKE THIS IDIOT guy from the hunter safety films. The worst part was that I could see it all coming, but I was out in the middle of nowhere and I couldn't really do much about it. I had taken my usual gear along with me, but I seemed to have misplaced my flashlight and I hadn't packed enough food or water. By the way, despite what they say, you can in fact drink water from streams in the Sipsey. Just make sure it's running water, preferably coming out of a hillside rather than a free flowing stream.

So, I was 2.92 miles from the car and it was getting dark. How do I keep finding myself in these situations? Basically I think it's because I don't really mind being in these situations. I don't pretend to be Davy Crockett (though I did go to David Crockett Elementary), but I can get by in the woods. Plus, I knew the moon was almost full and the final trail I was on was a former forest service road so I figured it would be easy to follow. All these assumptions turned out to be true and I did make it back safe and sound. Along the way, though, I did get spooked a time or two -- a couple of times when I startled critters (don't know what kind, don't want to know) in the undergrowth and once when I heard a bunch of coyotes howling.

The downside: I was completely and totally exhausted. The hour spent fighting through the thicket of trees almost did me in. I wasn't really able to move without grunting until sometime Sunday afternoon. Though I cursed the route I took at the time, I'm now eager to get back and explore some areas I just could not get to on Friday. I really want to see the giant poplar tree and the East Bee Branch Falls. Plus, I've now caught the camping bug. I plan to go spend a night or two out there over Christmas break. Thanks to a co-worker's concern, though, in the future I will tell someone where I'm going. Given my penchant for getting into scrapes, I figure that's not a bad idea. In the meantime, my day sure beat sitting around the house watching TV and grading papers: