Your "Trip from Hell"

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Carne_DelMuerto
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Re: Your "Trip from Hell"

Post by Carne_DelMuerto »

I have been lucky that I have never experienced a trip from hell. I've had a scary night in a storm, but never anything that ruined an entire trip. However, let me share the story of my friend's first time backpacking which I know is his worst trip ever.

My two longtime backpacking partners and I talked our friend (who I'll refer to as "C") into joining us for our 2004 trip to Vee Lake. C was very excited to be invited, and procured some gear including a ridiculously heavy one-man tent and a new pair of boots a week before the trip. I warned him he was playing with fire, but he said he'd be fine. Also note, at this time C was 30 lbs overweight and a smoker. Camped out along Bear Creek at the end of the first day, C's feet had blisters front and back. He had no other shoes with him, so I reluctantly gave him my Teevas to wear around camp. The next morning he used all my moleskin. As we climbed up the drainage from Vee in a July snowstorm, C realized his cotton shirts were not going to cut it. We scurried around the lake, found what cover we could, and broke out the warm gear. At this point C decided to light up a smoke. Worn out after a long day of slogging that tent up the hill, and sitting at 11k, his body revolted. Within 10 minutes he was sick. We put him in his tent and bag, made him some broth, and decided that first thing in the morning, one of us would head downhill with him while the other two stayed back to fish a bit before heading down as well. The three of us had a pleasant evening while C slept it off. The next day he couldn't handle his boots any longer and hiked down in my Teevas, continuing in those all the way back to the trailhead. Needless to say, C was the butt of many jokes and we thought he'd never go backpacking again.

These days, C no longer smokes, is in great shape, and frequently leads the pack as we head out on our trips. While not terribly "hellish," it was a pretty harsh introduction to backpacking.
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Jimr
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Re: Your "Trip from Hell"

Post by Jimr »

I’ve never had a “Trip from Hell”, but certainly a few days in that place. By far, the worst was down Goddard Creek to the Middle Fork Kings River, then over the Monarch Divide to South Fork Kings River. This was 1989, before internet research. I could find no writings of anyone going down Goddard Creek in the 20th century. Since we were dropped off at Wishon Reservoir, there was nothing to turn back to and this stretch was the weak link in my plan.

We had to drop our packs and recon ahead of every move to get past the numerous ledges that seemed to be viable access to the stream, but all ended in cliff. Once down to the creek, we boulder hopped for hours, often becoming rocked and forced to move up the bank into the hillside forest full of brambles. The banks were roughly 15’ and very crumbly, so it was no easy effort to get out of the creek bed. Once on the hillside, the brambles (very spiny) would grab at you from all sides, so we had to stop numerous times to peel ourselves out of the needles on a whip. Many times, back and forth from creek, which was flowing fairly well for August, back into the hillside. Each of us had our turn at being dunked in the creek and at one point, we actually used a loose tree root to pendulum across a rock face to the opposite boulder. We bivouacked on a gravel berm next to the creek with nowhere to hang our food, so foolishly, we used our food sacks for pillows. It took roughly 16 hours over two days to get down to the Middle Fork Kings.

If that weren’t enough, that night at Simpson Meadows, we spiked out water bottles with Wild Turkey to knock off the physical damage from the past two days. The next morning, we forgot to dump the booze and headed up and over the Monarch Divide. This was the driest, dustiest trail I’d ever been on and it soon became evident that we made a huge mistake in forgetting to dump the booze. It became almost unpalatable to drink the water we had and there was no water to be had until we reached to top of the divide. On the last leg of that day, we considered dumping our packs and going for the water, but each time, decided to push on. Finally, we reached the top and I could hear a stream. We dumped our packs and raced toward the stream, face planting ourselves in the cool, clear water until we felt capable of going back for the packs. We soon ran into a packers camp complete with log benches and firewood. Comfort that was well deserved.
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Re: Your "Trip from Hell"

Post by quentinc »

It's funny thinking about the label "trip from hell." I've reported in the past on a trip where I had to hike 5 days off-trail with a dislocated, torn-up shoulder, and one where I worried about possibly bleeding to death from a non-healing cut on my shin. And yet, except for a few hours of misery, on balance I considered both of those to have been great trips, even while I was still finishing them.

The only unmitigated time from hell was my first Mt. Russell climb, where (not on Russell itself, which went great, but choosing an "optimistic" alternative route coming down from the plateau) I was literally a "Hail Mary pass" away from certain destruction. Somehow I caught the pass (a knob on a ledge I was forced to slide, head-first as it turned out, down to); if I had missed I wouldn't be typing this. I wrote this story up here several years back when it happened. It was one of the pivotal moments in my life.
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Re: Your "Trip from Hell"

Post by East Side Hiker »

I had one trip from hell that didn't involve a bear (when I took my daughter when she was 5 on a trip out of Tuolumne, a bear got our food, and I had to hike out to the Tuolumne store to get food for a week).

I can't even remember the trail, but I hiked up from Kern Flat (I believe), to the east, and it was something else - couple thousand feet in the summer heat. I believe I wound up on the PCT. I also hate that stretch of the JMT in and out of Bear Creek.
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Re: Your "Trip from Hell"

Post by Snow Nymph »

2 hrs on a crumbling wall because my arms and legs weren't long enough to reach to the next handhold. We took a wrong turn coming down from Mt Baldwin. My friend got across a ledge but when I followed my arms and legs couldn't make it across the last big step. I tried going back, and couldn't reach (not sure how I made it across). I tried going up and that was worse. The rock crumbled in my hands, and I also couldn't go back down (also ~1000' drop). My friend was going from all sides trying to figure out how to get me out of this. My legs were like rubber and I felt like my foothold was going to break off everytime I tried to get in a better position. Once I got out of it, it was a long hike out. I think it was 16 hrs round trip.

there's a few others, but too tired to think.
Expose yourself to your deepest fear; after that, fear has no power, and the fear of freedom shrinks and vanishes. You are free . . . . Jim Morrison


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hikerchick395
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Re: Your "Trip from Hell"

Post by hikerchick395 »

Well, along with a lot of you..."trip from hell?" Wouldn't necessarily call them that because I have fonder memories of such experiences once they are over, than feelings of regret. Some situations will test you and you come out, maybe more experienced or triumphant or just plain relieved. But there is some satisfaction in being challenged.

I guess the one trip that comes to mind that might qualify was in the summer of 1990. We arrived at Onion Valley On Friday the 13th of July. Thunder, lightning, pouring rain. 13 people had been hit by lightning in the hut on the top of Whitney. Still the next morning, we headed out on the trail...our destination was home at Pine Creek. We ended up being out for 8 days. This storm lasted the entire time. At Rae Lakes, we holed up early. We were laying in the tent, eyes closed, and a simultaneous lightning/thunder hit very close. You could "see" the light through closed eyelids and the concussion was like a dynamite blast. On Pinchot Pass, we were caught in the lightning storm and had to run down the creek of a trail. I think that in all of these years, that was the time that we most feared for our lives. The storm continued, and although we rarely bail out on a trip, we opted to hike out at Bishop Pass.

This was supposed to be a continuation of the previous year's hike, Mount Whitney to Pine Creek. We also had to bail out there (Mount Whitney to Onion Valley) because we had giardia (a litlle more hellishness?)
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Re: Your "Trip from Hell"

Post by East Side Hiker »

When my kids were little, we would always go to Pacific Valley for our vacations - the river is mild and easy, perfect place for kids, not too many people, enough bears to make it exiciting as long as you have a dog...

I remember the July of 1990. We were in Pacific Valley. We had three families and one couple, camped for the month (though the requirement is 14 days max). Canoes, Lake Alpine, sunshine, Pacific Creek winding gently and beautifully through the lower valley before it cascades into the Mokelumne River; and then the "hell" broke loose, as hikerchick395 described. Lightning, rain, excessive runoff...

But in late July 2005, there was a really "hell" one. I was driving from South Lake to Independence with my beautiful woman. There was rain, lightning the whole way, but the previous days just before had been in the upper 90s. We saw fires start in several places between Big Pine and Independence. We were headed for our secret spot in the Alabama Hills, before going to Horseshoe Mdw, but got to Independence and decided to get a room at Ray's Den. Then we heard about the Boy Scout troop being hit by lightning. They had a trip fron "hell." We wound up doing our entire plan for the Cottonwood Basin, Mt. Whitney (when the permits were easyier (spell?)), George Creek, Onion Valley, and Oak Creek without mishap.

I do remember when I worked for the Toiyabe, maybe in 1983, or 82, there was an electrical storm that was recording scores (more like 100s) of lightning strikes an hour. I was on a huge horse leading a pack mule. I had at least 6 miles to go. And what would it have mattered when I got to my cabin - horse and mule still exposed to the lightning; all running around crazy? Rodeo city. The animals held steady. Kept going. Made it.

But I guess thats really not a trip from hell. That's a normal outcome from a day in the Sierra.

My worst day, but it was not in the Sierra, was a peak bagging trip in Rocky Mtn National Park, where I made a huge, huge x-country blunder, that people should be aware of not making. I'd climbed a couple of the Shoshone Pks. Coming down, I dropped into a drainage where I couldn't go down any further. It took hours to figure out how to get out of there.
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Re: Your "Trip from Hell"

Post by quentinc »

Ironically, and probably as punishment for having posted that I enjoyed all my trips from hell, I just had one this weekend that I did not enjoy!

I did a stretch of the PCT near Lancaster (it was actually more scenic than that makes it sound). There must have been at least 30 downed trees, many of which were extremely difficult to get by because the trail is generally cut into steep hillsides. (It could easily go along the ridge top, but the masochists who designed the PCT could never allow that).

Even when there weren't trees on the trail, overgrown thorn bushes regularly assaulted me.

I saw probably over 200 empty Bud Light cans (must have been a thru-hiker special last season).

Because so much of the trail traverses steep hillsides, I never really found a flat spot to camp (the official "campsites" were not located anywhere near where I ended each day).

On the way back out, both of my feet and my right knee hurt (old age?), my hands and one elbow hurt from gripping hiking poles, and I had a bizarre rash from the pressure of my backpack.

Although I checked for ticks constantly, I later discovered one that had already burrowed rather far into my calf.

After all this fun, I couldn't wait to get back to my car. Of course, then I couldn't find my keys. I dumped every single item out of my pack on the side of the road, searching furiously and cursing to no avail. I do carry a spare key in my wallet, so I figured at least this wasn't the end of the world. Except it turned out that using the spare key only opened the door and not the ignition, and that using it set off a car alarm that I couldn't turn off! At this point, I was hoping a large truck would come by so that I could run into the middle of the road and be put out of my misery. ](*,)

Eventually, I found the real car key. But I don't think I'll be back to the PCT for a while.
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Re: Your "Trip from Hell"

Post by jimqpublic »

There are so many... Not bad trips so much as days. Here are three:

Thought it was a good idea to climb 13,000' Mt. Goode on skis. Got too icy for double camber tele skis so left them and proceeded on foot. Coming down slipped and slid for a long, long time (500 vertical maybe?) before flying off a snow-covered boulder and into the only soft drift on the whole mountain. Worst part was I had to climb back up a few hundred feet to get my skis.

In a snowstorm headed up from Paiute Pass to look out through a window to the East side, quick jaunt just wearing a jacket (no food, water, compass...). Coming down whiteout kept me wandering in circles for something like three hours before finally finding the pass & my pack.

Headed from JMT up the Shepherd Pass trail for last night of a trip from Horseshoe. My first time on this trail, but companion was ahead and would stop well before the night's stop at Anvil Camp. (No map). Kept going over the pass, stopped at what looked like a good spot but buddy not there. Anvil Camp must be farther. Reached Mahogany Flat and found out from some inbound hikers that Anvil Camp was behind me. Asked them to tell my companion that I was going to trailhead and I'd see him the next day. Got to trailhead near dusk and saw Independence looking close. It wasn't. Kept walking and got home dead tired around 10:00 PM. Planned on 7 miles and ended up at something like 25.
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Re: Your "Trip from Hell"

Post by RoguePhotonic »

Other then my first backpacking trip ever that completely destroyed me physically the closest thing I have to a trip from hell was in my very early days of backpacking. A friend, my dad and I hiked to The Devils Bathtub in a late May heavy snow storm. The trip first went wrong when we were only a mile into the trail and my dad that had been trailing behind took a wrong turn and did not cross a creek when he was supposed to. Finally we see him and he sees us but he ignores all our efforts to tell him where to go and starts off in the wrong direction once again. Finally in total frustration he jumps off into the creek with his boots on and then says he can't go on because of his freezing feet so we camped out.

After making it to the lake the next day it snowed all day and night and we were supposed to stay another night but decided to go home. Unfortunately it had never crossed our minds the simple fact that with all this snow there no longer was a trail at all so we were forced cross country through thick bush that was flooded at every turn. Only my boots kept me dry while the other two got completely soaked. After a few hours of fighting through the forest and some careful navigating we picked up the trail about a mile before the trail head and made it out.
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