Search and Rescue!
8:00am. Our second day out, after a night at the barn. In front of us lay a hefty challenge, which was climbing the south face of Big Hump. Knowing we had a long day in store for us, I was up early, and on the trail, beating everyone else out by an hour. The sun was just beginning to peek out over the eastern horizon, split by a natural elevation fade in topography to my right.9:00am. Mike and Phil break out first, but their pace is interrupted nearly immediately by the realization that Tina�s ankle has not improved since injuring it the day before. After dividing out the contents of her pack and giving a portion to Bob, Kristin, Curt, Mike and Phil, Tina sets out determined to complete the hike. Bob, Kristin, Mike and Phil enlarge the distance between them and Tina with every stride, leaving Curt to assist and play the role of sweep.
In every group hike, it is always a good idea to not only have a leader, but to have a good sweep as well. This person ensures that everyone completes the hike, or at least is not left alone, should they find it physically impossible to finish.
10:00am. I have completed nearly two miles as I look behind me to see Mike and Phil gaining quickly. The two of them tell me everything concerning Tina�s condition, and how she insisted that she �was going to do this thing�. We spend a few moments taking in our location, and as we turn to look over where we had been, we spot Bob and Kristin about a half-mile back over on the next ridge.
"They missed the last turn, they are way off the trail."
Mike was right. We had passed a double blaze about a quarter-mile back, and apparently, they had missed it, choosing to follow the old logging road, instead of making a left turn to join us in the field where the three of us were standing.
"Get their attention, make sure they realize they are off the trail."
We watched as the two of them disappeared, assuming they were making their way toward the three of us. The trail made one last dip into the rhododendrons, and Mike and Phil quickly dropped out of sight, leaving me behind.
11:00am. Bob and Kristin had caught up with me as I entered Bradley Gap, the last flat before the arduous climb up the south face of Big Hump Mountain. I had stopped for water and nature�s call, and muttered a few quick words as they passed on by. The two of them were having a great day, and the wrong turn only a mile or so earlier had only served to make the day even more enjoyable.
At this point only Tina and Curt were behind me as I watched Bob and Kristin snaking their way up the south face like ants making their way to the top of their own little hill. What is striking about the south face is that incessant winds have made it impossible for trees to grow, and I was able to see the entire climb, and every obstacle that was to come in my own personal journey up that same path. Interesting enough, I never saw Mike and Phil on the path whatsoever. I have to assume that each time I had a good overall view of the mountain, that they were somehow hidden from view as the path twisted and turned from rock to ledge.
11:30am. I would find out later that Mike and Phil made it to Big Hump, and Bob and Kristin would pass the same point about 40 minutes later. I had now been on the trail for nearly five hours and was making my way over Big Hump and stepping out into the pasture.
Pasture. I think of cows. Crazing cows. Domicile. On top of Big Hump, you had Texas Longhorns, lots of them. Cows that eyed you as one passed, and cows with all the ability to gore your unsuspecting body in an instant. Surely, the cows had seen hikers before. Surely they are not going to charge and leave me running for my life.
The next few hours would be another difficult challenge to the hiker, and that is to negotiate going DOWN the mountain. I am sure that most folks would think that going up would always be harder than going down, but I for one always prefer the uphill journeys. Going up it is just a matter of pulling, pushing, motivating muscles and bones, the physical exertion of legs, arms, and will. Going down is more about placing your step, making your way, an obstacle course of often, if not always, monumental size.
4:00pm. I am here. Hwy 19E. The end. Phil stands by his truck, talking to a local shuttle service we know. The two of them are discussing the danger of parking one�s car at this trailhead, due to frequent bouts of vandalism. The subject of vandalism at US19E was well known and posted on several backpacking websites.
"How long did it take you?"
"We got here by 1:30."
"Where are Bob and Kristin?"
"Already back. Mike and me were able to talk a trail angel into giving us a ride back to camp. We then quickly drove our own vehicles back to the trailhead to wait for the others. Mike then shuttled Bob and Kristin back to camp, and I remained at the trailhead."
Bob Peoples is the shuttle operator. I had called him just as I came over Big Hump and told him to meet me at US19E at four o�clock straight up. That was the plan, but now the plan didn�t make sense any more. I didn�t need a shuttle driver now. Bob and Kristin were back at the campsite, and Phil was here to take me back as well.
"Bob, it looks like I won�t need a shuttle. I can get Phil to take me back now. I never saw Tina and Curt, so I am assuming they are a good two hours behind me."
Bob agreed to accept ten dollars for the trouble of driving out here for nothing and Phil and I were on the way back to the campsite. The plan was to get a car back here to Hwy 19E, and wait, unless we discovered that Tina and Curt aborted the hike and took the shortest way back to Carver�s Gap, where Tina�s car waited for them, should they have chosen this as an alternative plan.
"If she and Curt went back to Carver�s Gap they would have made it by now. We have to assume she is stuck on the mountain somewhere, and we have to go find her, now."
All of us realized that being on Roan Mountain after dark was not a good idea. There have been countless cases of folks wondering around lost or even meeting their unfortunate death by making a wrong step in negotiating twists and turns of the path from rock to ledge. Compounding the situation was the fact that once the sun falls below the horizon; the temperature falls quickly to the teens.
"Water, good light. We don�t need much, we just need speed."
"What about US19E?"
"We go in twos. We don�t leave a car unattended. Someone stays with the car no matter what."
Bob and Kristin watched as Phil, Mike and I made plans. We had heard about a back way into Doll Flats, which was approximately halfway down the mountain and about the same distance from the road.
"Surely she has made it to Doll Flats, or close. If we can find her, surely the two of us can get her down the mountain to our car."
"Are you sure you can find this road?"
"He said to drive out past Elk Park, NC and there is a road to the right out there that will get us within a mile or less to Doll Flats."
Mike offers to go get pizza and meet us at Hwy19E, assuming that either Tina and Curt will make it out to US19E, or Phil and I will show up in an hour or so from Doll Flats. Phil and I grab water and some medical supplies, and stop to let the park ranger that we have a potential search and rescue in progress.
"Take this radio," he says. "Make one pass, but don�t stay on the mountain after dark. Call me on this radio and we will call in backup."
Phil and I get to Hwy19E to check on Mike, but find his truck unattended. Maybe he has run up the trail some on his own. Maybe he heard someone calling out. We had no choice but to leave him a note and get on our way. The note read: "Mike, the two of us are headed to find a back way into Doll Flats. Do not stay here after dark."
The road was a challenge, twisting and turning before ending in a private drive clearly marked as "No Trespassing". Bob had told us about the guy who lived there, that he was an ex-biker, and not to mind all the tattoos. "A lot of local folks don�t like hikers," he said. "But this guy is all right. Just tell him that I sent you." At the end of the private drive, we came upon a house in need of repair. I noticed that the screens were gone and the doors were in desperate need of hinges, as I walked right up to the front door and knocked.
"Excuse me, but we have a hiker down on the mountain, and we were told that we can get to Doll Flats from here."
The woman nodded her head, and motioned to her backyard. "About a half mile or so, just about straight up, but Junior is around here somewhere."
All the words of warning were going through my head. Don�t be on the mountain after dark. A lot of local folks don�t like hikers. Here we were standing on private property, and Junior was around here somewhere. I envisioned Phil and myself meeting some untimely demise, along with our stranded hiker. I would later find out that Junior was her boyfriend, and he was out riding his four-wheeler somewhere on the mountain. She seemed worried that we would have to make the hike without his help.
"He knows the mountain," she said. "Listen for him when you get up there." I didn�t know what Junior looked like, but I was sure it was not this guy coming down the mountain toward us, cowboy hat, long black hair, and carrying a coffee mug in his hand.
"What are you guys doing on the mountain?"
"We got a hiker down somewhere, and we need to find her before it gets dark."
There is something about a potential emergency that brings everyone together, regardless of what they might have thought of you otherwise.
"What do you want me to do?"
"Would you take your four-wheeler as far as you can go up the mountain, and make sure she is not up there? I mean as far as you can possibly go, all right?"
Phil and I watched as the ATV went completely out of sight and out of earshot. To have done that same scouting of the backside would have taken us hours, but Junior�s trip probably took about 45 minutes. Shaking his head no, we knew what was in store for us next.
"Are you sure you will be all right?"
"I�ll be fine. It�s just three miles, if I really hoof it, I should be back at Hwy 19E in about two hours."
The same trip had taken me close to three hours in the early afternoon, but now I had the same challenges, but any hope of natural light was fading fast. Once the sun drops behind the mountain, it grows nearly pitch dark in a matter of minutes, and the temperature drops nearly as quickly.
"Remember, all I got on is a T-shirt and shorts. You can�t leave me hanging down there at Hwy 19E."
"Don�t worry, I will get back to my car as fast as I can, and come in from the other side and meet you in the middle somewhere."
The next two hours was a blur, as the adrenalin by now was screaming at me to hurry faster as I struggled to make my way down, placing every step, maintaining my balance, an obstacle course of monumental size, complicated now by fading light and the beginnings of physical fatigue. I stepped out onto Hwy 19E to nothing. Phil was nowhere to be found, and neither was his truck. I never saw Mike, I never saw Phil, and now I was standing on a well-known highway crossing known for frequent bouts of vandalism, and the object of local harassment and vandalism.
Phil came back here, and found that Tina had made it? Mike and Phil both waited here until it got dark, and then left me? Maybe Junior waited until I left, and then ambushed Phil with the help of some of his friends? Your mind races in these sorts of circumstances. If I wait here, I might be the next object of local harassment, but if I leave, Phil might think I never made it down. An hour. I stood there for an hour, the last remnants of warmer temperature passing almost as quickly as the cars coming down the highway.
Why have they left me here? Why would they abandon me? Surely they are coming back to get me. Surely, Tina is back at the campsite and now Phil is on his way back? I realized that standing here waiting as fading quickly as an option. I had no choice but to start walking back to the campsite on my own. It was a gamble, but to stay here meant freezing to death, not to mention possible problems with the locals.
"I saw this headlight coming down the road, and the glint of your hiking poles told me it was you."
"So where is Tina? Did she make it out all right?"
"Believe it or not, she made it out about an hour and a half past you. When you and me took off to Doll Flats, Bob and Kristin came out here."
"Bob and Kristin? I thought they had planned on going back home tonight?"
"Once you and me and Mike took off to go find Tina, they realized that they needed to help any way they could. Tina and Curt stepped out onto Hwy19E, and they were here to bring the two of them back."
9:00pm. The pizza was good, Mike.