Fiery Gizzard
by mpd242@hotmail.com
Angel, My wife and I just returned from our out-of-state vacation with one day left before I had to go back to work. I always wanted to go hiking up around Savage Gulf and the weather for mid August was pleasant. I looked at the radar and it looked like rain til lunch. That would make it nice and cool. I told my wife, we would drag our feet til lunch by shopping for her a pair of "Hiking Shoes". We left the house and French’s in Murfreesboro had the shoes. Stopped by Pawn shop in Manchester, then to the Visitor Center to find the perfect four hour hike. A quick look at the 3-D map and a suggestion from the really nice lady and Fiery Gizzard was perfect. Ten minutes later I set my handy GPS to show the truck and onto the trail we went. Beautiful scenery that the wife needed several pictures of. While waiting for her photos, I noticed that the gnats really liked my ears. Also there was no breeze and the humidity down here was about 115%. I noticed the white metal markers on the trees and as long as we kept moving, I could keep the gnats at bay. It was really getting warm now. We also noticed that the rocks down here were about every size that one’s body weight could teeter if stepped on and because they were wet, may slip off of also. The rock fields had been chosen by some idiot long ago to create the hardest hiking situation available and the gnats really appreciated the hole in the sides of my head. I swatted at my ears every step alternating the left and right sides making the scene laughable to my wife while she walked behind being extra careful not to slip and mess her bad ankle up. She liked her new $94.00 hiking shoes. We stopped a couple of times and ate an orange and a few grapes. Now the rock fields were not so fun and getting on our nerves because they were getting precarious and seemed to be the theme of the trail. While finding the rocks that teeter and are slippery-when-wet, I would warn the wife and billy-goat to the next few steps. Gnats had been starved along here and were not territorial. They were able to keep up easily and would follow faithfully. A couple managed to go into the ears and now I know why the ear hair given to older males should stay there and not be trimmed without forethought. I was sweating profusely and along the way I discovered that that god has placed a plant here (Stinging nettles) that if touched would set you on fire and felt as if you had been stung from an African super hornet. The pain would subside after thirty minutes and blurting out every curse word that this veteran cop had ever heard. My wife thought that I was over-exaggerating and being a bit of a baby about it. Sure enough, I heard the thump and turned to see my wife lying down in the rocks with a very concerned look on the side of her face. The other side of her face had a wet rock attached to it. She had twisted her good ankle by wedging it between rocks, bruised both hands by trying to catch herself, hit her head, and scraped her shin all the while worried about where exactly her sunglasses had landed as they flew off when her head hit. After sitting quietly for a few minutes, trying to determine if her ankle was broken or merely sprained, we pressed forward. From this point forward, I had decided that my wife could only continue if she a stick of some sort to help her navigate the treacherous trail. So, I whipped out my multi-tool, and found a suitable tree to cut for just that purpose. The gnats were now not only buzzing my ears but also flying directly into my wife's eyes, so now not only was she lame, she was half-blind most of the time due to the gnats targeting the whites of her eyes. While walking along a particularly slippery piece of the trail, my wife grabbed the nearest plant in order to keep her balance. Little did she know that it was the same plant that had previously swiped my leg. She instantly grabbed hold of her hand and began saying words a woman should never say. We were getting close to the end now because we just took a hard left and after a 1200 foot climb, using our handy walking sticks along with roots and using the last ounce of energy we still had. We were relieved, the GPS now had a signal and at 6:00 we had plenty of time to get to the truck. We located signs to Raven Point and the camp sites. The little white tags on the trees were most helpful. I fired up the GPS and it told me quickly that my truck was now 282 miles away. Apparently I messed up and did not mark the spot; I renamed an island I visited last year. The trail to the camp sites petered out and we were officially miss-placed. Back to the white tag trail to follow them out of hell. Along the rim of the gorge we walked. Several miles and getting dark now. I got my three dollar disposable flashlight out and started getting really concerned because my wife had teared up a few times and was a little pissed at me now. She ran out of water and the blisters caused by her new shoes were not helping me out any. After walking about six miles and begging her not to stop, we could no longer see the white tags and we decided a logging road away from the hell hole would come out on a road. Using moonlight we again walked on fist sized rocks that turned the ankles every few steps for several miles. My wife wanted to call 911 and I did not want to be on the News. I called a Navy buddy and had him use the coordinates on the GPS to tell me where the damn highway was. I saw a light 3-5 miles away. He told me that the road was three miles ahead and now pulling my wife was now necessary. At ten o’clock we found the road and flagged the first car with my $3 flashlight. We had walked 18 miles total and were in White City near Sand Hill. I explained my desperate situation to her and she offered us a ride ten miles to the truck. Her name was Angel and truly she was our Angel. At the parking lot, my truck was behind a locked gate and we would be happy sleeping in the truck. Angel moved a small boulder so I could drive out through the grass. I got the resident Ranger to open the gate and he helped the wife in the truck. She was not able to walk. She started shaking and needed food and water bad. It has been four days now and we still hurt all over. Feet and ankles are swollen, raw blisters are healing, and muscles ache. I now know that we should have trained for the hike, as well as sign in on the book located at the trailhead, and read survival 101. I hope you enjoyed this true story and we want to thank you Angel. You took a chance by stopping for a guy waving a flashlight and you gave us a ride. Thank you for being our Angel. We have shared this story several times explaining why we walk funny now. You are the greatest and we will never forget you... Tim and Sheri |
