In US most people prefer to go out on long weekend. I am talking about the long weekend of 4th July. We started planning for this weekend. Of many options we chose to go to smoky mountains, we said that we will prefer to do hiking and camping there. We were a group of four from St. Louis and some of my friends were coming from Chicago who were to join us directly at Smoky’s. Due to some reason my friends cancelled the plan to come to Smoky Mountain. This left us with no option. Our all plans for long weekend seemed to be sinking, then Avinash told me that no matter what we two will definitely go for an hiking trip.
We were now targeting a nearby place, and the search began for a nice hiking trail. Of all the possible places we chose to hike in “Mark Twain National Forest”. I asked my other friend “Bhupi” to join us and he was ready and some how we forced Gagan to come with us as well. It was Thursday 7:00 PM when our place and the participants were decided. We had to start for the trip on Friday so we rushed to REI (sporting goods shop) to take the bagpack and other things required for the trip. Somehow REI seemed to be a very costly affair to us, so we turned our wheels to Walmart (we sell for less) and tried to fetch all that was required for the trip. After shopping for about 2 hours we were able to get all things required for the hiking trip.
About the trail: The trail we choose was a 22 mile trail called “Ridge Runner trail”. It was a long trail ….. but we never intended to complete the whole trail. We decided that we will do the hiking for about 13 miles during the day and reach the camping ground, and after that we will return. While browsing people suggested that a normal person can hike for about 1 – 1.5 miles in an hour. We thought it’s way less and we people should be able to hike about 2.5 miles in an hour. (mistake here !!).
We all dispersed at 12 AM (after all shopping) and said that we will meet at 7:00 AM and there we will start for the trip. As you know all Indians move with the IST (Indian Stretchable time), so we were late and finally we left for our trip at 9:15. We also took some fruits from Schnuks for our trip. This place was at distance of about 180 miles so it took us 3 hours to reach the hiking place.
We thought we will book the camping grounds and also take necessary information from the information center. To our surprise there was no information center. Also there was no parking at all. Near the trail head there were 3-4 families came there to enjoy there vacations. We talked to one of the family, they came there on 30th June and were planning to stay till 7th July (Ghosh !! how do people get so much time?). anyhow they said that you can park your car near there tent and they will take care of it.
Hiking starts: In the midst of all uncertainties we started our hiking. We chose to hike about 13 miles. We packed our bags (each one carrying about 40 lbs of weight on his back), and started around 1:30 on Friday (4th July 2008), the trail was in the dense forest and all across we were moving on the hill. The slope of the track made things more difficult, and we were passing through at a very slow speed. Since had huge load at our back so we were not able to move at good pace. We took several halts on our way and drank lots of water. After hiking for about an hour we reached to a place where we had to cross the lake. The water in that lake was overflowing and water reached up till abdomen level. We thought of getting rid of our pants and then cross the lake as it becomes difficult to walk in went trousers. Anyhow we crossed the lake, we sat there for about 5 minutes, the water in the lake was crystal clear ( I was reminded of Gangotri in India). So we then started moving further, we would have hiked for about 45 minutes or so when the next lake was in our way. This lake was not deep so we easily managed to cross it.
First Stop: After hiking for another 45 minutes we reached a camping area. This place was at a distance of 3.3 miles from the trail head. By now things were clear to us that we can not reach the 13 mile mark that we discussed. So we targeted our place to another shorter area which was another 4.7 miles from the place we were. That was sounding reasonable as we wanted to start camping by 7:30 PM (before dark). So at this place we ppl sat for some time, had our lunch and did some rest as well.
Since the destination was far so we guys were moving at a fast pace after having our lunch. All the way we were consuming large amount of water such that we can stay hydrated. Gosh at 5:00 PM we saw that we are running out of water. We were left with only a litre of water and that was needed to cook in the night. So we all decided that we should not drink any more water and if any one wants to drink something then he should drink soft drinks. All that trail was fully deserted and we did not meet any other human on the trail. The trail was least used and in last 4 months only one family had come for the hiking on that trail.
It was 5:30 in the evening that we started loosing the trail, there were not sufficient marking for the trail. In search for the next mark we guys were running everywhere and we were traveling minimal distance. Our search lead us to the dense forest where the grass was as high as our shoulders. As we were passing by many insects stick to our body and our skin also got rashes. By 6:00 we thought that it is not possible to reach the next camping area and we need to return back to the safe place (First camping area). Since we had traveled for 2 hours from that place so we thought that if we hurry up and push to our limits then we should be able to reach that place by 8:00 PM.
So we turned back and started heading to the camping area. Then what happened was not at all expected. Avinash got the cramp in his leg and thus he was not able to walk with the load on his back. In ideal scenario we had to wait for about half an hour till he feels fine and then we can start, but here the scenario was different. We were running out of time and it started getting darker. So we all shared the Avinash’s luggage and started walking. This was a panicking situation as because of this our speed reduced by a great amount. Also we all were feeling thirsty as we were out of our water stock. After walking for about half an hour Avinash started feeling better and he was now able to walk with the load on his back.
Another Hurdle: It is said that the nature comes with all surprises and it tests the skill and determination of each person. Similarly this time the forest was testing us. On our way back we missed the trail and could not find the way back to our destination. We were all running in different direction but no success. Luckily we were getting signals in our cell phones. It was 7:30 PM by then and sun was setting down. We started calling the park rangers to come and rescue us, but no one responded to our calls. So the option left to us was only to find the trail such that we can make to the safer place. After running in all directions for about half an our we saw one mark that lead us back to the trail.
Finally reaching the camping area: All throughout we were running out of time and water. We somehow ran across the jungle with all the luggage and finally reached the camping ground at 8:30 PM. There were only some last rays of sun left. We had to do two most important work before sun sets, they were a) Putting the tent b) Collect wood from the jungle to light the fire. Me and Bhupi started preparing the tent and Avinash and Gagan started the search for dry woods. For got to tell you, it rained very heavily in the morning, so it was getting difficult to find the dry woods. Somehow we managed to get the woods and started fire.
Nice Dinner: The sun was set now and we were all by ourselves in the whole forest. We planned to make Rice and Rasam for the dinner. But since we were running out of water we made rice and rasam together in the same vessel. All food preparation was done by our mummy (Avinash) in the dark. In dark mummy put a lot of spices into the dinner. Now since all of us were hungry we ate the food with the good taste, but what we really missed was water. Without water it was becoming difficult to eat it. Somehow we all managed and went to our tents by 10:00 PM.
Dravani Raat: It is said that the wild animals generally hunt at night and that was getting true. We heard a group of dogs/fox barking at some distant. We were scared if they head their way towards us. All throughout Raccoons were passing by now and then. We hold the knife in our hand and were mentally prepared to handle the worse situation. Many a times we heard that some animal was around, our luck was with us during this time and no wild animal attacked us. We sprayed insect repellent on our tent sides perhaps that protected us.
Night passed by and we all were safe and sound. We got up and had our breakfast. Now there was nothing much to worry about as we had to trail only 3.3 miles today. Me and Avinash played frizz-be for some time and then left for our way back. We crossed 3 hills and couple of lakes to finally reach the trail head.
We were all drenched in sweat and had small mosquitoes stuck to our skin. So we decided to have a bath in Noblett lake. The water in the lake was very cold but it served a stress reliever to all of us. None of us had water for last 18 hours and irony was that there was no drinking water nearby. We hurriedly headed back on our way to home. On our way we went to pizza hut and there only we could get some water.
It was a memorable, adventurous, mysterious and agonizing experience.
Lessons learned: Always carry ample of water, there is no need of soft drinks. Carry hand held GPS with you for the trip. Also target short distances for such hiking.
