The Rest of the Story

You see what had happen was… I have beforehand hiked over Dugger Mountain from the Dugger Wilderness to Pinky Burns Trail which is 9.8 miles on 4 liters of water. From Trammel Trailhead to Bull Gap is 11.5 miles and took me two days. The main reason for the two days is that I got maybe 2 ½ hours of sleep Saturday night in the County That Shall Remain Nameless and spent maybe an hour or more on my breaks just dozing. The first day I make 5.4 miles and found a camping spot. I had only gone through the two 1 liter bottle and I filled them up from my bladder. I took a pack of powder tea and mixed it up in one of the bottles and then proceeded to kill half of it. I laid down for the night and then I realize that I must have set up near a colony of carpenter ants. Carpenter ants tend to be friendly and come over to say "Hi" and such but they don't understand the concept about the personal space thingy. I have a mosquito net attached to the hammock and was able to keep them out, at lease the ones that hadn't already gain access before I pulled the zipper closed. It was the ones that has gain the access that I got into altercations with. Then the leg cramps started.

Trammel Trailhead is at the 1000 ft. elevation level and the ridge I went over Sunday had a height of 1600 and I make camp at the 800 mark; lots of up and downs. This was combined with a 50 lbs. (waterless) pack and my 315 lbs. frame. That night my legs started to tell me about it, and then I would have to unzip the net and get out of the hammock which only allowed more of the friendly carpenter ants to enter that caused more altercations between me and them. I'm sure that those ants have a c'est la vie attitude over the demise of some of their fellows. "There goes Frank; we have a million more where he came from."

It was in the early morning before I could finally doze off. It was later in the morning before I finally awoke. Because of how late it was I finished up the "tea" in the one bottle and then it hit me; I don't have a renewal source.

Rut Rho!

So then there is the climb again over the ridge of White Gap. I can't remember but I know I saw over 17oo ft. on my GPS at one point climbing over. It was a beautiful hike but the water part kept bugging me. I knew that if I had to I could drop my pack and head down into the basin to find water but then I would have to climb back, use water while doing it, and maybe make only a little gain. So I trudged on taking small sips every tenth of a mile or so. I ran out at three miles from Bull Gap on the south side of White Gap. I still had that ridge to cross, and to make it worst; instead of using a series of switchbacks to climb that ridge the trail goes almost straight up.

I remembered that I had brought a bottle of honey and decided to see if that would help. With the first sip honey it seemed that some small hands came up from the back of my throat and scooped every bit of it down. My throat felt wonderful but my mouth and lips still felt parched. The second sip I was able to swish around inside my mouth and get a good coating. Now the receptors in my mouth wasn't trying to tell my brain that we were all in trouble.

It got me over the ridge and going down the other side was easier. One little bit of knowledge that I also had was that at the kiosks at the trailheads are usually left several gallon jugs of water. I was looking forward to those jugs being there. I arrived at the kiosk right as the sun was setting and to my demise, not a single, solitary, jug of water was to be had. Rut Rho!

I made my way from the kiosk down those "steps" that lead to the roadway (These "steps" are carved out of the steep embankment on the side of the road and almost need a degree in beginner's mountain climbing to navigate). I crossed the road, dropped my pack, and waited. Every car that would come by I tried to flag down. Every car that came by me would take one look and the occupants would scream "Omigawd!" and speed up. I never realize that serial killers hung out on wilderness hiking trails waving down unsuspecting motorist. Eventually a few realize that I was too portly to be a serial killer and would stop to see if I needed assistant. I would thank them for stopping, with my voice cracking, and asked if they had any bottled water to spare; offering to compensate them for it. One motorist was able to give me a couple of 20 oz. bottles and wouldn't take any compensation for it. Bless him. A second was able to give me two 1 liters bottles and also wouldn't take any compensation. Bless him too.

By now it was heavily into dusk and I knew that setting up camp in the woods would be monumental especially with me being as tired as I was and the fact that I would have to put up a tarp over the hammock because of the thunder showers that were coming in that night. I set up an easy camp in the trailhead parking lot.

Around 10 a ranger stopped to check on me and I told him of my ordeal and that I got to this point at dark. He understood but was concern because I was in an area that meth cookers enjoyed practicing their craft. He did pull out his own personal water jug and gave me the rest, it was cold and good. Bless him. He told me that a lot of the seasonal springs were not running, and that my next water supply would be over 10 miles on the trail. Encouraging. I had all my little cups and pots out to catch rain water and when the rain came I was going to us it to replenish my water supply. The rains came, and I got maybe a swallow, more like a swig, from it.

At light, I was setting looking over my trail data and sure enough, it was going to be over 14 miles to the next reliable water source. What to do…

I know, I'll make my way into Sylacauga, replenish my water, pick up extra, and make my way to Porter's Gap. The trail between Bull Gap and Porter's Gap would have to be tackled at a later date (Through hikers will bypass section of the trail to go and get supplies when needed). I then started making my way down Al Hwy. 148 toward Sylacauga. This highway has no shoulders and the drivers tend to not want to yield the right-of-way to a "pestestrian" (all motorist tend to think of pedestrian as pest) so as a vehicle would approach I would step off onto what little shoulder there was. It was during one of these such maneuvers where I was at the apex of two vehicles heading in opposite directions and felt the need to step a bit father back and that's when it happened; in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, I slipped and then felt the pain.

My ankle was twisted. Not a bad twist but still a hobble when trying to walk twist. I wrapped it and started hobbling towards town. A half mile later I realize that I was going to be in bad shape if I make it all the way into town. So, I got my phone out; using the mighty Google I was able to locate a Taxi company in Sylacauga. I called and told the dispatcher where I was and that I had messed my foot up and needed a ride into town. At first he assumed I was going to the hospital and wanted to charge me $22.00 but when I told him I was wanting to go to a hotel that was only 8 miles away then he was wanting to up the price to about $35.00. I only had $17.00 in cash on me and this company wouldn't take credit cards. After a few moments of back and forth with this outstanding example of humanity, I finally hung up in mid-sentence.

Well, here I was; eight miles from town on a highway which the motorist tended to speed up as soon as they saw me, injured with the potential to get temporary lame and no other alternatives but to call 911 and get a waaaaaaammmmmbulance to haul my big ol' behind into town.

Oooo, I would never live that one down. I still get ridicule about the time I made a furrow in the road, broke my frontal bone, and was flown into Atlanta. Then inspiration hit me. I bet Sylacauga has a rental car company. And Yes Virginia! They would take a credit card. So, back to consulting the mighty Google again I found an Enterprise Rent-A-Car. Excellent! Plus I'd be supporting one of my former shipmates. I called and explained where I was and what had happened and they agreed to send someone out to pick me up, the only glitch was that they wasn't going to allow a one way, busy season for them (I guess not too many one ways comes to Sylacauga). I agreed to three days because of my wing-man's schedule. I was told that the driver was out picking someone else up and that I would be called when he as headed my way. In a half-hour I got the call that he was coming, and I told them to tell him to look for a red backpack on the side of the road. In twenty minutes rescue had arrived in a Nissan Note. I hobbled and threw my pack into the hatch, climbed into the front seat and way we rode. The Note is roomy for being a small car and my head wasn't all up into the liner. I know that Enterprise normally picked someone one up in the car that they expected to rent to them, and even though any car at the moment would have been acceptable I still was pleased at this choice.

So, after getting to their office and signing the papers and so on and so forth, I was on the road heading home. Once home I put some ice on my ankle and laid down. I was out in no time.

On the side, when I pulled up all the cats were looking at me from the catico but were not sure who it was. They didn't recognize the sound of the car I drove up in and I was still downwind from them. They were darting around wondering if they should call 911 or something and I never spoke to them. They were unsure. It wasn't until later when I came out of the house that they knew exactly who I was. Sometimes I like to mess with their little feline minds like that.

I have until 11:00 CST Friday to get the car back to Sylacauga and I have already talked to my wing-man so it can be done.

As of today, my ankle is feeling a lot better and as far as the hiking goes; well, if come Saturday it still feels betters I may go up into the Cheaha Wilderness and spend the week up there. With all the crisscrossing of the dozen of trails up there I should be able to salvage this vacation.

I shall keep ya'll posted.