Thursday, March 29, 2012

Nikon guided me to safety on the A.T.



In February, I hiked 11.6 miles on the AT one Saturday afternoon, got started at 2:30.   Only packed food for a day hike, a hammock and a mag lamp for my head.   2 bags of trail mix, a bag of beef jerky, and 2 big bottles of Gatorade.  I knew it would be dark around the time I made it to blood mtn but didn’t expect what was going to happen once I got there.   My plan was to hike from Woody Gap to Neels Gap (11.5 miles).  I parked my car at http://www.mountaincrossings.com which is a store right along the AT, it is a famous store mainly because this is at the 35 mile marker from the start of the trail back at Springer mountain, through hikers usually bail out at this point or they dump 60% of their gear they originally packed.   After parking my car there I hitched a ride with a local guy that does shuttles for hikers.  He charged me 10 bucks to take me over to woody gap, 25 miles by road.
 
My thought was to go light and hike hard to get to blood mtn and watch the sun set.  Blood mtn is the highest peak on the AT in Georgia and the most strenuous hike along the AT in Georgia’s 74 miles of trail before hitting NC.   I met a guy at the halfway point at Jared’s gap and hung out with him for about 30 minutes. He had a nice warm fire going and was more than willing to let me rest and enjoy the warmth.  His trail name was Freestyle, simply because he raps and freestyles it.

We talked a good bit, the guy did the complete trail from Georgia to Maine back in 2008, and he started in February and finished in mid September.   He passed out in Pennsylvania from lack of nutrition and had to get some rest for about 3 weeks before starting back up.   We exchanged emails; he actually works up at the mountain crossings store and is one of their certified guys to get people set up for hiking the AT.  He was impressed with my light load and my pack, he said the key is to stay light on this trail; most people pack to much stuff only to realize it about 10 miles in.


I trekked along the trail and got to the base of blood mountain around 5:45-6:00, 9 miles into my hike.  I was in good spirits; my body was surprisingly holding up to the distance, 11.5 miles on the AT is not equal to 11.5 miles walking on a road or flat ground.   Anyway I got to the top of blood mtn, the highest peak on the AT in Georgia right at dusk, after the sunset with hardly any light.  Only to find out that my head lamp’s batteries were dead, I thought to myself at this moment, oh crap, what I have done, what have I gotten myself into.  Here I am alone in the wilderness with no light at the top of the highest peak along the AT in Georgia, the backside of the mtn (north side) is the most strenuous trek along the AT in Georgia, it goes from 4461 feet down to 3109 in a mere 1 mile stretch.   1350 feet elevation change in only a mile.    I didn’t pack a sleeping bag, only a hammock.  The temp was 40 during the day dropped to 30 and eventually mid 20s later that night.   There is an area called rock garden that is pretty much huge boulders of rock everywhere and the trail skirts around over the rocks, one side to the next and with no light I knew I would get lost trekking down.   It wouldnt take much to get lost off the trail at this section of the A.T.

Panic started to creep in my head and at that point I realized I had my camera, my old faithful digital camera.  I knew if I turned it on that the view finder would light up and give me some light.  I turned it on and could see for about 3 feet but very dim, it was just enough light to get me down the mountain.  I got lost twice during the rock garden section but just took my time looking for the white blaze marker which lights up well.     The only light I had was the back view of my digital camera, the light it produced when I turned it on.   I held it low around my knees, I could see about 3 feet with that light, just enough.   It took me 2 hours to trek down that mtn and finally to neels gap.   My little Nikon pocket digital camera was guiding me to safety.

I finally made it down the mtn and got to soft trail ground and at that point I knew I was home free.  I made it to Neels gap took a victory pick with my trusted camera then trekked a quarter mile down the road to the long term parking lot where my car was.

My camera saved my life, I have really thought about my adventure Saturday and I feel a sense of rebirth, I felt alive out on that trail and my skirt with stupidity really made me feel alive.   The moral of my story that I learned is to have back up stuff in case of an emergency always be prepared.   I felt like a Chris McCandless when I was trekking down blood mtn in 20 degree weather with only my back screen of my camera as light to guide me.

Here is to life, may I walk along this earth and the day I die I can say, that I truly lived life.