I am bored so I will tell you a story about the summer I spent working in Yellowstone. My friends and I spent a few of our weekends off in the Tetons. (those mountains up there) During one of which we had a terrifying and dumb adventure. The four of us had planned our route and stocked up.
When we had hiked a little over six miles, three out of the four of us voted to bushwhack our way over this certain ridge. As anyone can tell from that picture up there, any certain ridge in that range is not bushwhackable. The one of us was right, it was not a great idea. We learned that sloped ridges are much higher and more sloped than at first glance. At times the 300 foot slope was about 75 degrees of loose rock. Since the angle was more than we anticipated we had to travel more horizonally than planned. The slate was way to loose and trying to go back was out of the picture.
We had quickly moved into survival mode. No chatting, all maneuvers. Informing the person following of where to step and how to lean. We chose to go in pairs up and around a blind spot. There was a huge jog in the rock and we couldn't move right anymore so the only way out was up. By this point we were over our heads and all nervous but no one admitting to it. About 15 seconds after the first two left we heard a yell and load of rock flew past us. I thought they had fallen and landed on the cliff above us. My stomach was burning. This was not happening. They didn't answer our yells. We were just out for a day hike, how did we end up in this insane situation? Since we had arrived in the park we had spent all of our time off in the backcountry. We had gotten too comfortable in that space.
We yelled to them and didn't get an answer for a few minutes. We realized they were probably up much higher than we thought and finally caught their voices when the wind shifted just right. I was starting to stare and my legs were mush. I knew we had to move fast but I was numb with fear. After a short adjusting talk we decided my partner would go first and I would move quickly behind her up to the first ledge in case she fell I could pull her left. She would continue up, how far we still didn't know. It was a blur and then suddenly I was perched on the ledge and she was running up an almost vertical slope for about 30 quick and straining climbing steps. I had to look down. The drop was unbelievable. We had trekked something crazy. 500 feet below me was a glacier-fed lake the size of new jersey. We hadn't been able to see that when we had our brilliant initial plan.
We could all see each other now which was good. Since I was the last one up I knew my footing would have to be perfect. I have never felt so pushed to do something right the first time. I thought each upward movement was going to land me buried in the lake. Every step up my foot hold just dropped out and I had to run to make sure my next foot space didn't wash away before I touched it. Panic does something crazy things to your motivation. As my friends were screaming at me to hold on only a few more feet I had to race against the possibility of losing my support and dropping off the mountain. After I clung to the top and they helped me up we all just stared at how far we had come up and didn't talk for about ten minutes.
We still had roughly ten miles to hike out. We hadn't packed any overnight gear. Luckily we were high enough for drinking water but we were all exhausted and emotionally drained. We coached each other out of there because by the end I swear we were seeing double cheeseburgers in the trees. As I was walking my eyes were shutting on their own but the adrenaline made me feel awake. The last two miles was past a lake. I wanted a Big Gulp of lake water.
And the last mile of all long adventures your legs are on auto pilot. It is the strangest thing. Your mind is long gone but your feet know what needs to happen. As though they smell the trailhead getting closer. After falling into the car we drove directly to Burger King and I ate the most guiltless whopper I will ever eat. And I am pretty sure we all had some snicker pie to celebrate the fact that we were alive and at BK. We felt strange and tired.
We didn't bushwhack much after that.
