oldgrowth
Lil-Rokslider
Hello all! I just thought I would give a friendly reminder to be careful out there. It’s that time of year when we are out in rugged country carrying heavy packs and one misstep on rocky or uneven ground could end up bad. I started doing some training hikes this month to prepare for hunting season this year. Not really seriously scouting yet, but just hiking to get in hunting shape and enjoy some fishing. I went on a 4.5 mile hike to a lake in the trinity alps this weekend with my daughter’s boyfriend Cameron. I figured it would be a good chance to get out and check the snowpack and get away for the weekend. We left Friday morning and hiked to camp eager to try out the fishing. We weren’t disappointed.
We caught lots of fish and the weather was perfect. I was surprised to see the snowpack was better than I have seen in over a decade making the hike in more difficult than I had expected.
We camped there for two days and on Sunday morning we went down to the lake one last time to do some fishing before we packed up camp and headed down the mountain. I decided that we would have better luck going out a different route as it was on a southern facing slope and the snow was less abundant there, plus we would be covering new ground. This route had no trail and was a scramble over a rocky face several hundred feet in elevation down to a lush meadow. About 100 yards down I stepped onto a large boulder and when I applied weight to that foot it began a slow slide downward due to a lack of traction. I thought I would just slide off the boulder and drop a few feet to the next rock but, …. My pack weight was enough to cause me to begin tumbling down hill. My first roll caused me to hit head first into a large rock and I could hear a loud pop as my head bounced off the rock. Continuing down again I heard the sound of my head hitting another rock and I thought to myself Lord I don’t know if I can take another hit like this. Finally I came to a stop about 30 feet from where I had initially fallen. As I rolled to my knees to stand up I could see blood pouring from my head in a stream about the size of my finger. I grabbed my head to access the damage and apply pressure to stop the bleeding and when I did I could feel something in my hand, then I realized it was my scalp. So I folded it flat and stood up to take off my pack. At this point Cameron reached me and asked where my first aid kit was. I told him, and we had it bandaged up in minutes after taking a few pics (I know, not the smartest thing to do but I wanted to see what I had done).
I said a quick prayer, and by the grace of God, we continued hiking out and reached the truck a few hours later then drove to the doctors to get patched up. When all was said and done, I ended up with some bruised ribs, a bruised tailbone, lots of cuts and scratches, pulled muscles that I didn’t know I had, and this. I thank the Lord that I had no broken bones and I am able to still be here with family and friends.
Anyways, I figured I would share this story as a reminder to be careful out there! God Bless!
We caught lots of fish and the weather was perfect. I was surprised to see the snowpack was better than I have seen in over a decade making the hike in more difficult than I had expected.
We camped there for two days and on Sunday morning we went down to the lake one last time to do some fishing before we packed up camp and headed down the mountain. I decided that we would have better luck going out a different route as it was on a southern facing slope and the snow was less abundant there, plus we would be covering new ground. This route had no trail and was a scramble over a rocky face several hundred feet in elevation down to a lush meadow. About 100 yards down I stepped onto a large boulder and when I applied weight to that foot it began a slow slide downward due to a lack of traction. I thought I would just slide off the boulder and drop a few feet to the next rock but, …. My pack weight was enough to cause me to begin tumbling down hill. My first roll caused me to hit head first into a large rock and I could hear a loud pop as my head bounced off the rock. Continuing down again I heard the sound of my head hitting another rock and I thought to myself Lord I don’t know if I can take another hit like this. Finally I came to a stop about 30 feet from where I had initially fallen. As I rolled to my knees to stand up I could see blood pouring from my head in a stream about the size of my finger. I grabbed my head to access the damage and apply pressure to stop the bleeding and when I did I could feel something in my hand, then I realized it was my scalp. So I folded it flat and stood up to take off my pack. At this point Cameron reached me and asked where my first aid kit was. I told him, and we had it bandaged up in minutes after taking a few pics (I know, not the smartest thing to do but I wanted to see what I had done).
I said a quick prayer, and by the grace of God, we continued hiking out and reached the truck a few hours later then drove to the doctors to get patched up. When all was said and done, I ended up with some bruised ribs, a bruised tailbone, lots of cuts and scratches, pulled muscles that I didn’t know I had, and this. I thank the Lord that I had no broken bones and I am able to still be here with family and friends.
Anyways, I figured I would share this story as a reminder to be careful out there! God Bless!
. Same thing happened to a friend of mine a few years back. Glad you're alright
