Beauty and the Beast

by Jack Aldridge

Originally this hike was to have been called Breaking in my New House, but when my wife saw the pictures and heard the tale she suggested the above title.

6-10-03

Left the Dry Fork trailhead parking area at 8:40am. The swinging bridge across Dry Fork was interesting. It didn't sway too much and seemed to be quite well constructed and maintained. I was glad because Dry Fork was anything but "dry" at the time of this trip. I found the beginning of the route up Otter Creek to be difficult to follow as there was virtually no trail (on the way out I discovered why) and one had to find space along broken rock ledges for foot placement. Later it got better as it joined a more plausible trail. As expected, the trail was dotted with deadfall and crawling over and under with my full pack posed frequent challenges.

One was particularly funny. Seeing ahead a downed fairly large tree to straddle, I placed my right foot on the top of the bank on the other side of the trunk. My foot, resting on the seemingly solid edge of the creek bank, when I shifted my weight to my right leg, it slowly sank as the ground gave way. Astraddle the tree, with my left leg pinned on top of the tree and my right leg hanging down the bank from the high-thigh point, I couldn't make much movement forward. To roll backwards could very well dislocate or break my left hip. Remaining calm, I finally managed to insert my hiking shaft into the bank beneath my right boot and eventually worked it up high enough to get a new purchase on the bank...then I rested before attempting to rise.

My luck held! Coming down the trail were father and son (with day packs) who were properly solicitous, asked the right questions, and offered assistance. I convinced them that I was fine...just resting. They told me that the junction with Big Spring Gap trail was about 40 minutes ahead and that there was a nice camping area nearby, but they had been unable to ford the creek because of the high water. After they left, I managed to stand and resumed the hike with mud caked legs and several new abrasions.

A bit later at another deadfall I had to crawl under on my elbows and knees. When I finally got through, I didn't have the strength to stand from that position so I had to roll out of the pack. After resting and snapping a picture of the damning evidence, I continued.

Soon the trail entered a flatter area reflecting a more distinct floodplain for Otter Creek. To my left, four moss-covered stonewalls of a very old structure appeared. It was literally "littered" with rusty artifacts from a bygone day. I was unable to determine the original use of these relics. Against a tree, growing in the center of the structure was a pink and white floral-like arrangement inscribed with large block letters...MOM. A likely holdover from last month, I assume. So, someone's Mom may have lived and perhaps died there once upon a time. It could have been connected with a logging operation, but I suspect it was a part of an old homestead.

At 11:47am I reached the junction with Big Spring Gap trail. The ford didn't seem impossible to me, although it appeared deep enough to be above boot tops. I shed my pack and enjoyed life without my 75½-year-old aching arthritic shoulders constant complaint. I could hear voices from across the creek and up the way. In a few minutes the first of six young men (college age, perhaps) began to ford and cross to my shore. Loudly using young folks' favorite expletive, in all its various forms, as they felt the cold waters of Otter Creek. They toned it down a bit when they saw that they had an old codger audience. I chatted briefly with them and learned that they were leaving because of the weather forecast for the area. I did nothing to discourage them. After having a PowerBar for lunch, I reloaded and resumed the hike at 12:20pm.

At 1:21pm I got to the junction with Green Mountain Trail, marked only by rock cairns since the idea is to keep the true wilderness spirit of the area's name. I took another break in anticipation of a steep climb up to my campsite for the night. At 1:40pm I "suited" up and bid Otter Creek goodbye for a while.

With an elevation rise of 2200/3580ft in 2.7miles, this trial was entitled to be called steep. It is so described in the trail info, but I think it was one of the toughest recent hikes that I can recall. The amount of deadfall, and energy required to manage my pack over all of them, made for a pretty miserable afternoon. It was also early briar season and they delighted in growing across the trail and rendering my bare arms and legs much maligned targets. At 5:57pm, a little over eight hours of hiking, I was bushed so I dropped my pack and went on ahead to see how far the junction with Possession Camp trail might be. During this stretch I came across a real exciting discovery, a 6-8 foot section of rail still attached to the decaying crossties that had once been a narrow gauged railway to haul logs off of the mountain. I have previously hiked along and over many decaying ties and have even seen an occasional spike and old flatcar wheels, but this was the first piece of rail I've ever seen. I was too bushed to even make a picture, promising myself that I would return and take one tomorrow.

After about 15 minutes I decided that the site I sought was either hiding or I was on the wrong mountain. Regardless, I decided to backtrack to one of the spots that had been used by others. Shuttles to my chosen spot, trips back for the nearest water, subsequent water purification, and setting up my tent took until 8:30pm. While setting up my tent, I had a debate with a two-foot snake that insisted that he lived right where I was setting up my tent. I was too tired to look for another spot so he had to move on. I decided to forego dinner and just crawl in the sleeping bag and have an early night. After a bit of unwinding, I sat up and did crossword puzzles for a while. The headroom in my new tent was a real pleasure. I'm going to enjoy the newfound luxury of being able to sit upright inside the tent. It was a fretful night mostly because everything ached and probably because there was nothing much in my fuel tank. Had to leave the food in my pack because none of the surrounding trees had a limb permitting my hanging the food bag in a manner that would be inaccessible to roving bears. Sometime around 9:30pm I gave up the ghost and entered an in-and-out- sleep pattern.

6-11-03

Crawled out of the tent around 7:00am in the waning stages of the dawn. I decided to move on to a campsite alongside of Otter Creek so that I would have more day hike options. First though, I would trek back up the trail and get a shot of that section of the old rail that I had seen the evening before. But, even more "First" than that, I was going to have a good breakfast. I gathered my stove and food and squirted sizeable amounts of fire starter around the recess well of my trusty SVEA stove and fired it up. For several minutes it burned in the usual controlled fashion and then, all of a sudden, it shot a flame about 3 feet straight up in the air. I retired to a spot about 20 feet away expecting the firebomb to explode at any moment. It burned like that for maybe 3-5 minutes before it was safe to return to the area. Surmising that the fuel content in the tank had somehow ignited, my decision had been made. I would hike OUT, NOT to another campsite. I wouldn't trust the stove and I couldn't have much fun relying on PowerBars only for sustenance through Friday or Saturday.

Breakfast consisted of a pack of Cheese Crackers and several swigs of purified water. Then I turned to dismantling my tent and repacking all of my sleeping gear and reloading that troublesome pack. By the time I had finished, my stove had cooled and could be added to my pack. Already tired and realizing that my aching body wasn't going to move very fast, or well, redoing the required 6.5 miles, I decided to bypass going back for the picture of the rail. I know where it is and maybe some day I'll get back up here and get a shot of it then.

I headed back down Green Mountain trail at 8:55am. I found that I frequently had to stop and bend over at the waist to shift the weight of the pack off of my aching arthritic shoulders. A bit farther along it was necessary to take frequent sit-down breaks. Mentally, I accommodated to this process knowing that I had plenty of daylight so I would simply slowly and laboriously hike out. As this process unfolded, I found myself almost dosing off during the rest breaks and I knew that this wasn't a good sign. At one of the breaks around 10:15am, I spotted a large flat rock on the bank above the trail on the opposite side. This gave me what I thought was a grand idea. I would remove the food bag (so that the bears wouldn't destroy my pack) and perhaps one or two other items and I would leave it there until the next day. I would go to a motel, have a good meal and goodnight's sleep, and after breakfast I'd hike back up here and recover my pack! But I didn't want some other hiker to think that there was a crazed hiker wandering around in the woods without his pack and feel compelled to find him, so I began to write a note to put in a plastic bag and attach to my pack. I finished most of the note and was just about to include my address and phone number in case I didn't get back for the pack-then it hit me-I don't want to have to hike back up this mountain tomorrow!! So, as long as my legs were strong enough to lift me and my pack from the seated position, I'd keep on keeping on. If I had to later abandon the pack, it probably would be on flatter ground and closer to my car than here.

Eventually, I made it off the mountain to the junction with Otter Creek Trail When I got to the point on the trail where the tree had made me abandon my pack as I crawled through, I found a route up around its root pod and didn't suffer the same indignity. Toward the end of the trail I found myself on a stretch of unfamiliar trail; as it reached the last segment I understood why the first quarter of a mile coming in had been so rough...I had missed the intended trail! Oh well, right at least 50% of the time.

Arrived at the car at 5:18pm just as it began to rain-"with a little bit of luck..." That night at 8:30pm I finally had a pig-out (fried shrimp, baked potato, garlic bread, big salad, etc.) ending 36 hours on only two PowerBars. It felt sooo good. After a hot shower, followed by a hot bath-the world looked much better the next day.

About the Author

A 75.5 year-old hiker whose knees and hips argue all the way, but each misadventure is followed by another solo hike, so far!