In our heads, we were very close to the ATV trail. "Mile and a half to the truck. 2, tops"; one of us said. I guess our brains were fuzzy by then. I was way low on calories and general fatigue was setting in. The walk down to the bottom got gnarly fast. We were getting cliffed out and having to turn back up hill, and there was a sea of deadfall down there that we didn't expect to run into. After some hair raising moments, we eventually work our way down to the bottom in the dark. Now we just follow this out until it hits the trail. Should be right up there... But the going is SLOW. Deadfall everywhere, and trying to snake those antlers through - over - Under was tough. An hour and a half later we still haven't reached that damn trail. Out of water we took a short break to freshen up our Nalgene’s. It is now COLD and getting dangerous to be still for more than an a minute or two at a time, but I took the time to work out a line distance on Gaia to see just how much further we had to go. Something I probably should have done before started... I work it out and think there must be some kind of a mistake here... 5 miles! We have and estimated FIVE MILES between the bull and the truck!
Had to let that sink in for a moment... When we finally cleared that godforsaken tangle of blowdown we had changed the plan dramatically. No way we were going back through there in the dark. That was going to have to wait until daylight. New Plan! We hike out of here with what we have as fast as we can. And what we had weighed a lot. I had a hind quarter plus my day hunt gear so I estimated my load to be around 90 lbs. Trevor had an even bigger load though, I'm guessing he was toting 130. (Trevor was concerned about leaving the Taxi enough cape to work with so we took it all the way back to the start of the hindquarters...). It was a struggle.
I think we hit the ATV trail around 1am. The trail here was much wider, but we still had 3 miles to go, and this trail regained elevation. Trevor is now having to stop more and more frequently. I had thoughts of just stashing the head somewhere and coming back for it tomorrow, but there is nowhere to hide it. With the traffic coming through here each morning we are afraid someone will throw his hard earned rack on an ATV and ride off with it forever. So, we keep hiking in short bursts But now I'm getting worried about him making it out with that load. We talked and decided that I would go on up ahead. I could go faster with my lighter load, get the cart, and come back with it to relieve Trevor. I wasn't sure it was the right thing to do or not, but I knew he was not going to drop that load. So, off I went.
It is mostly just a blur of pain and exhaustion. At around 2am I was ready to cry. The pack was cutting into me everywhere and I still had so far to go. I reached the truck at 2:45am. The total distance was 5.2 miles. Everything is covered in Ice and as soon as I stop moving I am shaking from the cold. Got my pack off as fast as I could. Through on a dry top and puffy jacket. Got to hurry, Trevor's still out there. Unloaded the bike, put the cart together. Grabbed some food and water for Trevor, and eventually took off back down the trail. During the time since I had left him I was honestly growing very worried that I'd made a terrible decision. I was afraid that on his frequent breaks he would become hypothermic, or in his weary state maybe take a fall and drop into the creek. Lots of things get into your head when you have nothing else to think about. But, to his credit, he ended up making it almost the entire way on his own. When I reached him he only had a few 10th's of a mile left to go. Still, we loaded his pack onto the cart. I gave him my puffy and we cruised in the rest of the way. It was 3:30am when we arrived at the truck that night and I don't think I've ever been that tired in my life.
We rolled out of that TH area while everyone else was just stirring and getting coffee made. I'll admit it though, I proudly slow rolled out of that parking area and even turned on the backlight to illuminate that beautiful rack in the bed of my truck for anyone who cared to look.
An hour drive back up to the top. Then further pick up Trevor's truck where we 1st dropped in the morning and back to camp. After getting some dinner in us we finally laid down to rest at 5:30am.
It had been a 13.2 mile day.
