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OfflineGrav
 User Gallery

Registered: 02/06/02
Posts: 4,454
Last seen: 11 years, 3 months
My hiking experience (if you got the time)
    #1568768 - 05/22/03 09:29 AM (20 years, 10 months ago)

I just had an interesting few days out in the woods. Figured I'd let you guys hear about it, since its an experience that's definately changed my life.

Me and three friends and a dog hiked Barren Mountain.  It's in an area in northern Maine, along the Appalachain trail. 
We had meant to bring some mushrooms but couldn't hook up with any. But more about that later :wink:

Oh yea, the night before the trip, I went to the ocean and twisted my ankle badly on the rocks, so I had a minor handicap the whole time. It didn't hurt much, but I just had to be careful where I stepped.

We camped at a site below the mountain the first night. Pitched the tents, chilled out, made a fire, just got used to being out in the woods and away from society. Already I could feel this huge weight lifted off my shoulders.
So after eating and admiring the stars for awhile we all crashed. I can't say there are many more things relaxing and meditative than a fire at night under an open sky.

In the morning we started our 8 mile hike up the Mountain.  We were following the Appalachain trail up a few miles past the summit, to a Lean-To where we were going to spend the night again.
God damn, that was rugged.  I am not in good shape at all, and was carrying a heavy ass pack. My legs and back were already killing me about halfway up.  This was more excercise I'd gotten in the whole past year combined.  I used to go hiking alot when I was younger but hadnt for awhile. (because i was a lazy bitch)

We reached the summit above the tree-line, where there is a 30 foot radio tower.  What a view.  You can see the earth stretch on forever in every direction.  It's like looking at photos of the surface of the moon.  So freakin beautiful.  And hardly a cloud in the sky. It is quite a feeling being ontop of that tower, ontop of a big ass mountain. a timeless altitude.

A couple miles later we were at the Lean-To which is right next to a pond.  We camped up there. Very nice quiet area.
So we headed back down in the morning. I was moving slowly because of my ankle and sheer exhaustion, so the other 3 would go on without me and then wait for me at a break spot.
a couple hours pass and we are nearing the end of the descent.

Now I must have been just a mile or so from the road back to the vehicle. And I was on my own, and I look around and suddenly I noticed I'm not on a trail.  Kind of freaky huh?
But I wasn't sweating it at all, because I knew how close I was to the bottom.  And I heard a stream running close by.  Thats where I made a really stupid decision.  I remembered that we had crossed a stream on the way in, so I figured that if I followed this one, in the direction I thought I was heading before, then I would run into the road.  Bad assumption.

Let me tell you I am not experienced in the woods at all either.

So I was already exhuasted and had no idea where I was, but was just blindly following this stream.
An hour passed.
Every time the stream began to bend around a corner, I would think to myself, 'the road must just be around that', and I would follow it around and it would stretch on farter until it turned again.
The woods were so dense I could barely walk through them.  And my pack was killing me.  So I threw it down and kept going.  I felt good having the weight off my shoulders, but before I knew it, I was exhuasted again. 
It was really hot out, so I eventually just leaped into the stream and began wading down it.  It got deep in areas and I found myself swimming.  This was such a weird feeling.  Swimming down this fuckin stream in the middle of nowheres. I felt like I was in the amazon or something.  I remember climbing up over beaver damns and leaping back in.

Another hour passed....
The stream kept going.  The sun was going down. I was alone and had NO FOOD on me. Not even in my pack a couple miles back. I had no clean water either. I had to drink from the stream which is not good for you because of beaver shit, but I decided I had to risk it rather than get dehydrated and pass out.
I was panicking badly now.

panick came in levels.

The first level was "Oh shit, I'm off the trail, It's gonna take me some time to find my way back.  I'm gonna piss everyone else off."
the next one was "Damn this stream is gonna go on for like a couple miles before I hit the road, this is gonna take forever and I'm tired."
the next "Shit, I actually dont know where the fuck this stream goes.  I could be heading in the complete wrong direction."
the next "I'm gonna be out here alone at night.  They're gonna have to call in a search and rescue team to find me which might take days."
and the last "I'm gonna get myself more and more lost, with no food, and am gonna starve to death."
Now looking back, it would have been very hard to starve or whatever before a search team found me, but it's alot different when you're alone out there.

So i'm experiencing a total break down of my spirit or whatever you call it.  I keep falling down, it hurts to take every step.  I was exhuasted before I even got lost and now this shit.  I remember eventually starting to mumble and moan to myself, starting to cry, screaming for help. I was really losing my shit.  Nothing like this had ever happened before. I was genuinely fearing for my life.

I was hallucinating voices from the stream. I thought I was seeing things move around in the woods.

Then I decided to climb a really tall as tree, to get a view of where I was.  I don't know how I did it, but I'm really tall so i managed to get way up in this tree and all I could see were woods all around me.  No sign of any clearings at all.  Right around this mountain is an area called the '100 mile wilderness'.

I remember having visions of a branch snapping, and me falling and breaking my leg, and really being fucked.  So I quickly got down, and decided this stream was leading me even deeper into the wilderness. I was fucking myself over with every step, but it was such a long ways back.  I screamed in frustration when I made decided to turn around.

It seemed like an eternity by the time I got back to my pack. I kept collapsing under exhaustion. I had a sausage for breakfast awhile ago, and was starving. I would almost fall unconscious and then make myself get up and keep going.  Now I had to carry this fucking heavy pack.
So finally I got back to the spot where I initially got lost, and saw that I was in fact on the appalachian trail, just not on the trail that led back to the road.  So I calmed down a little. I was about ready to call it quits and wait for someone to find me, then I just got up and started to walk up the trail a little ways.
And then I see the dog that was hiking with us.  I thought I was hallucinating him, and then I see two of my friends walking towards me.  The ordeal was over.  And there was much rejoicing.

So we go back to our campsite.  My body feels like complete shit, but I am in total bliss.  Now that I was safe, the horrifying experience seemed like the most beautiful thing to me.  More powerful than any hallucinogenic trip I'd been on.  I had experienced myself broken down to what I think is the very core.  The part of you that just wants to survive.  All other worries seemed like an illusion to me now, and still do.  I am alive and breathing.  This was just the jolt I needed to get on with my life and stop worrying about things.  I feel like mother nature blessed me by getting me lost.  It really and truely put things in perspective.  A perspective so hard to find in society.

So then,  some very strange luck stumbles our way. We end up getting this paper acid from these kids that were camped a little ways away.  Fucking out here in the woods, and we find acid, after not being able to find anything in town.  i hadn't seen any acid for over a year.

So my body is telling me to crash but my mind is so awake and aware, so me and Chris drop a few hits while the other two go to sleep.

I wasn't expecting much off blotter, but I think the set & setting gave a huge boost.  We sat around the fire tripping deep into the night.  It was so beautiful.  I can't explain how I felt.. being there in that mindstate after my already life changing experience.

We took flashlights down to a stream and watched the water flow.  I saw such vivid visions when I closed my eyes.  Scenes of the wilderness with strange made up creatures jumping around. Dancing plants...  There was much laughter and silliness as well. I didn't get to bed till like 3 in the morning. I remember watching these strange patterns on the walls of the tent as I drifted off to sleep.

The next day we re-entered society.  We went to Wendys.  It was fucked up seeing the contrast of how things worked. All these strangers walking by each other, not giving each other a glance.  It's so different and real out there away from the streets and houses.

I feel so healed by this experience.  I realize the concrete power of stretching your limits and breaking mental boundaries (intentional or not)  And I will be very prepared next time I'm out there.

hope you enjoyed reading this lengthy post.

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Anonymous

Re: My hiking experience (if you got the time) [Re: Grav]
    #1568851 - 05/22/03 10:13 AM (20 years, 10 months ago)

Pretty cool Grav.  :smile:

I liked it.

Cheers,

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Invisiblebuttonion
Calmly Watching

Registered: 04/04/02
Posts: 303
Loc: Kansas
Re: My hiking experience (if you got the time) [Re: Grav]
    #1569138 - 05/22/03 12:26 PM (20 years, 10 months ago)

Awesome! Good for you.


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Concepts which have been proved to be useful in ordering things easily acquire such an authority over us that we forget their human origins and accept them as invariable.- Albert Einstein

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Offlinecerebral gortex
Prying open my third eye.
I'm a teapot User Gallery

Registered: 09/30/02
Posts: 472
Loc: Patriots Nation
Last seen: 1 year, 3 days
Re: My hiking experience (if you got the time) [Re: buttonion]
    #1569193 - 05/22/03 12:46 PM (20 years, 10 months ago)

thats awesome...
very nice story.

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OfflineMurex
Reality Hacker

Registered: 07/28/02
Posts: 3,599
Loc: Traped in a shell.
Last seen: 16 years, 6 months
Re: My hiking experience (if you got the time) [Re: cerebral gortex]
    #1569286 - 05/22/03 01:15 PM (20 years, 10 months ago)


A good read. :laugh:


--------------------
What if everything around you
Isn't quite as it seems?
What if all the world you think you know,
Is an elaborate dream?
And if you look at your reflection,
Is it all you want it to be?


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OfflineLOBO
Vagabond

Registered: 03/19/01
Posts: 655
Loc: NY
Last seen: 17 years, 5 months
Re: My hiking experience (if you got the time) [Re: Grav]
    #1569308 - 05/22/03 01:21 PM (20 years, 10 months ago)

Very nice story, most of my best times were when I went hiking.
Just one peace of advice for those who want to trip and camp, be aware that rangers will go and visit the lean-tos, will check you out for alcohol.
So hide the stash away from you camp, and trip after it get dark, (they wont be around)
:smile:


--------------------

Edited by LOBO (05/22/03 01:22 PM)

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Offlinedjd586
Underpants Gnome

Registered: 02/03/03
Posts: 1,655
Last seen: 14 years, 1 month
Re: My hiking experience (if you got the time) [Re: Grav]
    #1569327 - 05/22/03 01:26 PM (20 years, 10 months ago)

Wow... that's a pretty groovy story man! When's the after school special due out?! lol, just kidding. Glad you found your way out safe and unscaved.


--------------------

Phase 1... collect underpants... phase 2...??? ... Phase 3 - PROFIT!

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InvisibleRebelSteve33
Amateur Mycologist
Male

Registered: 05/28/02
Posts: 3,774
Loc: Arizona
Re: My hiking experience (if you got the time) [Re: Grav]
    #1569521 - 05/22/03 02:15 PM (20 years, 10 months ago)

That was great!!  Thanks for sharing!!! :smile:

Haha... Who needs drugs??  Just go out in the wilderness and get yourself lost! :laugh:

By the way, I've actually read about The 100-Mile Wilderness in a book called A Walk in the Woods, which was about a guy who tried to hike the whole Appalachain Trail.  I want to do that, someday....

Thanks again for sharing!

Peace,

RebelSteve 


--------------------
Namaste.

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OfflineGrav
 User Gallery

Registered: 02/06/02
Posts: 4,454
Last seen: 11 years, 3 months
Re: My hiking experience (if you got the time) [Re: RebelSteve33]
    #1569964 - 05/22/03 05:22 PM (20 years, 10 months ago)

your welcome

when I was out there I kept thinking about a story I heard about a kid getting lost on Mt. Katahdin, and how fucked up it made him.

i do feel humbled more by the mind now, and the power it has without the aid of drugs.

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InvisibleShroomismM
Space Travellin
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Registered: 02/13/00
Posts: 66,015
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Re: My hiking experience (if you got the time) [Re: Grav]
    #1570302 - 05/22/03 07:58 PM (20 years, 10 months ago)

Amazing...nice revelation...

Keep on keeping on


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OfflineMeph
Synesthesiac

Registered: 09/01/02
Posts: 1,568
Loc: Qu?bec
Last seen: 19 years, 6 months
Re: My hiking experience (if you got the time) [Re: Grav]
    #1570372 - 05/22/03 08:29 PM (20 years, 10 months ago)

Beautiful. You have good writing skills. Thanks!


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I'm a bipedal carbon-based pseudo-random number generator.

Demonstration: 152.


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OfflineOrganic
Lloyd

Registered: 04/14/02
Posts: 5,774
Loc: Overlook
Last seen: 14 years, 9 months
Re: My hiking experience (if you got the time) [Re: RebelSteve33]
    #1570489 - 05/22/03 09:18 PM (20 years, 10 months ago)

I'm hiking the whole Appalachian trail this summer (or trying to :wink: ...)

Awesome story Grav


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OfflineMalachi
stereotype

Registered: 06/19/02
Posts: 1,294
Loc: Around Minneapolis.
Last seen: 14 years, 9 months
Re: My hiking experience (if you got the time) [Re: Organic]
    #1572451 - 05/23/03 02:45 PM (20 years, 10 months ago)

I know exactly what you mean man... emotional ordeals are the missing factor for most people looking for 'perspective' from drugs. there's a reason why traditional use of psychedelics were a component of a trying set of experiences - - i.e. sweat lodges, fasting, drumming, running, etc. I think that running in the woods is the best way get a profound drug experience, or even just a profound experience.

park rangers are bitches though.... you've got to get really far away from designated 'camping' areas to go nuts on drugs or they'll bust your ass.


--------------------
The ultimate meaning of our being can only be fulfilled in the paradoxical leap beyond the tragic-demonic frustration. It is a leap from our side, but it is the self-surrendering presence of the Ground of Being from the other side.
- Paul Tillich

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InvisibleLucidDream
Hungry BlueFiend
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Registered: 05/09/03
Posts: 1,496
Loc: Planet of the Stupid Peop...
Re: My hiking experience (if you got the time) [Re: Malachi]
    #1573503 - 05/23/03 10:22 PM (20 years, 10 months ago)

What an experience. I've had long hikes where I wasn't sure where I was nor if I could make it back to camp, though nothing as desperate as that. It's definitely an interesting feeling. Groups separate at their peril in the wilderness.

Another great feeling is getting lost in a cave. It'll put the fear of god in you to find yourself two miles from a cave entrance, no idea which path to take and no one else in sight. And after 5 or 6 hours in pitch blackness you'll be hallucinating freely, perfect sense-dep mode. There was a civil war veteran named Shelah Waters who was exploring solo in Cumberland Caverns when his light died. When his friends found him three days later, he thought they were demons come to take him to hell. He fought them every step of the way as they dragged him perilously around deep pits and out into the light. He was never the same again.


--------------------
Sarcasm just one of my many talents.


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Invisibletekramrepus
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Posts: 2,253
Re: My hiking experience (if you got the time) [Re: LucidDream]
    #1573655 - 05/23/03 11:20 PM (20 years, 10 months ago)

awesome experience....its amazing when you realize how much of shit is really in your mind. You feel so horrible about your life till something actually life-threatening comes along and makes you so thankful for what you have. WHile its happening you feel HORRIBLE and so scared, but afterwards you are grateful it happened.

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OfflineMurex
Reality Hacker

Registered: 07/28/02
Posts: 3,599
Loc: Traped in a shell.
Last seen: 16 years, 6 months
Re: My hiking experience (if you got the time) [Re: tekramrepus]
    #1573726 - 05/23/03 11:36 PM (20 years, 10 months ago)


Yeah, you definately learn from your experiences. Good ones and bad ones.


--------------------
What if everything around you
Isn't quite as it seems?
What if all the world you think you know,
Is an elaborate dream?
And if you look at your reflection,
Is it all you want it to be?


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InvisibleShroomismM
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Re: My hiking experience (if you got the time) [Re: Murex]
    #1573759 - 05/23/03 11:50 PM (20 years, 10 months ago)

Fear and 'negativity' exist for a reason


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Invisibletak_old
Endo Smoke

Registered: 05/31/02
Posts: 609
Loc: State of confusion
Re: My hiking experience (if you got the time) [Re: Shroomism]
    #1574353 - 05/24/03 10:19 AM (20 years, 10 months ago)

:laugh:

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OfflineDogomush
Barbless Aryan

Registered: 10/05/02
Posts: 1,286
Loc: The Canadian west coast
Last seen: 19 years, 25 days
Re: My hiking experience (if you got the time) [Re: tak_old]
    #1574586 - 05/24/03 01:24 PM (20 years, 10 months ago)

That was a rad story.

I plant trees for a living and have done so for 4 years, so I spend a lot of time way out in the middle of nowhere. Lately I've been planting in the interior which is pretty tame wilderness by my standards. The weather's fairly mild. It doesn't really rain hard or often. The sun will get you sometimes, but all in all easy planting. The trees they take of the cut blocks (clearcuts) are small, so they don't leave much debris (slash) to climb over.

Planting on the coast (west coast of BC) is very different though. Some areas on the coast are so totally isolated. Strange islands nobody would be on if there wasn't logging to be done. One evening on Broughton Island (East of Port Mcneil on Vancouver Island) a couple planters and I decided to hike to a lagoon we could see on a sunny day from the top of our cut block. We took a dog with us. The way in was a fairly easy route. We got to the lagoon and smoked another joint (you're always smoking "another" joint when you plant trees). The sun was starting to set and we decided to free style a way home. We knew that if we went in approximately the right direction we'd end up at least on a road or a cut block from where we could navigate our way home.

Some of you may be familiar with a kind of underbrush known as (sp?) Solal. maybe slal. It gets extremely thick. It's kind of like willow in the type of woodyness. It's very prolific and makes moving very difficult. The light was fading. The canopy was cutting out what little light was trying to get to us, and we were tunnelling through thick solal. We could only see a few feet in any direction. We'd been walking for a long time, and we couldn't hear anything or see anything to give us our bearings. We weren't worried though. I grew up in the woods, so I was comfortable enough even though primordial coastal forests are very different from the inland boreal forest of my experience. One of the guys I was with is a Kayak guide, and the other is a guy who's been working in the bush doing various jobs for at least ten years. The dog's a competent malamute, so there was no panic going on.

There we were pushing through the endless underbrush when we saw a log lying on the ground in front of us. As it fell it landed on all the solal and pushed it all down, creating a highway for anybody who wanted to climb up on top of it and run the length of it. We got up on it and walked a few feet until the solal gave way and we found ourselves in an open area. There was more light than in the undergrowth tunnels and we found the source of the log we were standing on. Although it was the size of a tree, it was actually just the rotted branch of a giant red cedar. Its circumference was enormous, but hard-blowing winds out of Kinkum Inlet had long since torn its top off. Tree-sized branches from this tree were scattered all around us holding the solal at bay. When it died the tree must have been four hundred years at least, and its probably been standing there slowly rotting and falling apart for at least half a century.

That was the last of the light on that bush whack. We decended into the solal again and never came out until we were back at camp. Our direction sense had been right on. On that last stint we'd decend into pitch black gulleys and then come up over rises where we'd look over a drop wondering if there was ground where we were looking or bottomless pits. Sometimes we were on our hands and knees. Whenever we could we'd get up on a fallen log and walk along it over ground that may not have been there.

Anyway, that was one of my first experiences with those crazy coastal forests.

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InvisibleLe_Canard
The Duk Abides

Registered: 05/16/03
Posts: 94,392
Loc: Earthfarm 1
Re: My hiking experience (if you got the time) [Re: Grav]
    #1574653 - 05/24/03 02:16 PM (20 years, 10 months ago)

Grav: I'm glad things turned out well for you! I have hiked the AT extensively, mostly in the Tennessee-North Carolina-Georgia area (although not recently because, like you, I'm a "lazy bitch"  :grin:)and I must say, there's NOTHING comparable to tripping in the woods, regardless of an ordeal beforehand!  :ooo: Having said that, I'd love to hike the extreme northern part of the AT around your neck of the woods...perhaps I shall, someday! :laugh:

Paranormal: Trust me, you're going to love it!  :laugh:

LucidDream: Hmmm that sounds somewhat familiar...I wonder why??  :wink: 

Edited by Le_Canard (05/24/03 02:17 PM)

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