[pct-l] Hikers over Yosemite falls

[Mark Liechty]

I have NEVER made a stupid mistake on the PCT <grin>

But about 12 years ago I was on a vacation and I took my 10 year old daughter and 4 year old son into what I thought was a 1/2 mile or so lava tube in New Mexico.  It went in then underground a couple hundred yards and popped back out.  We were dressed for New Mexico 110 degree weather.   

Turns out that the OTHER direction in this tube went down several miles.  I took the wrong direction and by the time big brave daddy realized that I had a problem I had already worked the three of us about 20 minutes in with 100% total darkness.  My daughter slipped and gashed her leg on the lava.  My son freaked out and cried for mommy (who was smart and sat in the car).  I quickly realized at this point that a LOT of bad things could happen if I did not figure something out fast.  

Somehow I got turned around and we were facing a wall and not the exit.  I found this out using my face as the leading edge.  Son scrapped his head on ceiling riding my back.  Daughter really stepped up and went from being 10 to acting like a young adult in a hurry.  We took it one step at a time and eventually saw light.  We now know what miners must feel like at the end of a shift.  From the point we saw light it took us another 20 minutes to get out but that was just fine.

Upon exit both kids ran to mom and told on me.  I just walked past the van and headed towards the freeway.  Walking from New Mexico to Sacramento had to be better than what she was going to do to me.  In the end the story is told with smiles.  But the risk of what COULD have gone wrong is unbelievable.  If we come across a rattlesnake or I get knocked out it is likely that it would have taken hours for my wife to know there was a problem, go get help and the help to come get us.

But that was NOT on the PCT so I am just fine <grin>


On Jul 21, 2011, at 10:34 AM, bighummel at aol.com wrote:

> Let's all chime in here! What's your stupidest thing that you've ever done in the wilderness? Maybe we can all learn from each other's mistakes.