So, i set out today to go hike up some waterfalls in the Lake Tahoe Basin, but the road to the trail head was so crowded with tourists that I just gave up. I ended up driving around aimlessly, determined to hike the next Trail Head I found. I ended up on the Pacific Crest Trail, and set out to hike a few miles into it.
The hike was going pretty well. I was trying to hike to a point that was about 2 miles out. It was apparently a very nice meadow. As I Was making my way down the trail, I ran into some other people who told me that I had way overshot the trail, and was on my way up some steep grades. I decided just to go with it and hike onwards and upwards.
It started getting a little overcast as i was hiking up, and some cold drafts of air started coming through the area. I didnt think it was going to rain any time soon.... but everyone else seemed to be heading down the mountain... I joked with a lot of people about it raining while I was passing them.
Turns out the Joke was on me. I eventually got to a certain point, a few miles in where it didnt look like I Was going to see anything too cool in the next half hour of hiking, so I turned around and started to head back... And just a few minutes into my return trip, it started to get disturbingly cloudy and nasty out. Then, the thunder started.
I knew that once the rain hit, I would have to be walk very very slow not to slip and fall and break my skull on a rock. I also knew that once it started raining, I was going to get WAYYY to cold, possibly dangerously cold to the point where I might start to suffer some ill effects. Despite reading an article in the paper just the other day about the recently high number of Search and Rescue teams dispatched into the trails on account of un-prepared people, I did not have any cold weather gear. Just a very light button down short sleeved shirt and some camo cargo pants.
So, I decided to start running down the trail, which is a pretty dangerous thing to do, but was a justifiable risk. As i was running down the path the sky got darker, and the thunder got closer. I was still about 45 minutes away from the base where my car was parked.
On my way down, I ran into another couple that was packed for a few days trip, and were just on their way into the forest. They were debating weather or not to continue on... or to call it off.... After some discussion with me, I think they decided to turn back. I wished them well, and sprinted off towards the base.
About 10 minutes later, I started to see the first drops of rain, they looked massive, too big to just be rain... And then it started. The rain started to downpour, as it started hitting me I realized, it wasnt rain, it was FUCKING HAIL. It was coming down entirely too hard, and started to hurt, so i took refuge behind a giant pine tree... within minutes the groud was covered in White Hail. The hail stones were hard little motherfuckers, and they were a little smaller than grapes. I was at about 7600 feet, and for a second, I found myself wishing i had a nice glass tumbler and some bourbon.
So, the hail let up a bit, and in the interest of getting back to the car before i started to freeze, I made the choice to start hiking back again. Now, i had to go slowly and cautiously so i didnt slip and fall....
The path got a little difficult to see as the normal worn trail was covered in ice like everything else. I thought I Was following the path, but about 10 minutes later i realized i was wayyy out in the woods, well off the path. Luckily i had my GPS on, and had it set to record my trail. when I checked it, i was about a third of a mile off track, and the trail was straight up another hill. I managed to get back to it, and start heading back the right way.
about 20 minutes later I made it back to my truck. I hiked about 5 miles in just a few hours up some damn steep grades.
It was a hell of a good time, who would have thought that some tourist traffic would have re-directed me from where I set out to go to, and put me back on the path of a completely EPIC journey!
--------------------
PEACE
 zippoz
"in times of widespread chaos and confusion, it has been the duty of more advanced human beings - artists, scientists, clowns, and philosophers - to create order. In such times as ours however, when there is too much order, too much m management, too much programming and control, it becomes the duty of superior men and women and women to fling their favorite monkey wrenches into the machinery. To relieve the repression of the human spirit, they must sow doubt and disruption"
"People do it every day, they talk to themselves ... they see themselves as they'd like to be, they don't have the courage you have, to just run with it."
|
Threaded
Previous
Index
Next
Shop: Golden Teacher Liquid Culture For Sale
ZippoZ
Edit 
Reply 
cisole
trev
ivi
1 2 all )
ZippoZ
Supernova
kadakuda