Has anyone of you ever thought you were going to die in the sticks?

ERdept

ERdept

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I thought that I was going to die, when me and some other rock climbing buddies were attacked by Africanized bees in Joshua Tree National park many years ago.

We literally climbed, fell, jumped and finally ran for our lives. One guy broke his leg, in the desert. Breathing the hot air in so quickly, as we tried desperately to escape, our throats dried out and we all thought that we were experiencing anaphylaxis from the stings. We were in terror during the ordeal. We couldn't get away from the bees because we were up on the rock and had to climb down, while swatting and getting stung.

What's not mentioned in all the clipping and papers was, when I reached the car, and was completely spent, I couldn't get in, my friend had the key, terror ran through my mind. I saw a family nearby and bloody, cut, bruised and with spit coming from my mouth yelled for them the call 911, well as I walked toward them, they ran away from me, I probably looked like a zombie or something at that time, but the dad threw a cell phone down on the ground and shooed his family away from me, from which I dialed 911.

We all ended up going to the High Desert Medical Center for care. They cut our clothes off and we went home that night in hospital gowns. Youu should have seen us getting gas in our gowns. Must have thought the loony house was opened up.

Anyway, I really relished life and appreciated living and the love of life for about three days. That kind of thinking went away. I still do realize that I came close to dying and know as long as you're alive, you've got a chance to do anything....

http://www.igorilla.com/gorilla/animal/2000/bees_attack_in_california.html

http://erdept.smugmug.com/gallery/1863278

You can click on the photo above to enlarge it enough to read.

Maybe it's me, but it's funny how I thought afterwards that I would really live my life differently and really appreciate it and how those feelings just dissappeared.

Anyway, aside from a few street altercations in which I thought I was on the loosing end and a near miss on the freeway by an out of control car, there's nothing else.

How about you guys?

cliff
 
I guess anyone who has spent much time at all in the sticks has had at least one "near death" experience. I've had several myself, always made it out by luck, sheer will, or divine intervention. Bear attack...dumb luck, hypothermia...sheer will, drowning...divine intervention, lightning strike...luck again? Gunshot...hard to call on that one, perhaps a bit of all, stuck in a cave while spelunking alone...luck of the stupid (hey, we were all young once and took risks).

Codger
 
Yeah, crossing a log, the log shifted and I felt sideways onto it then fell ten feet to the ground.
Cracked a few ribs and knocked the wind out of me. Funny thing is that I was more concerned about my back as it went crunch when I landed sideways, but when I staggered back up I noticed my lower back didn't hurt anymore.
Or was it because of the pain of cracked ribs. :rolleyes:



Joe
 
Like Deer runner, I tried to cross a log. The problem was the log was over a small creek and it was early January. Halfway I slipped on some ice on the log and fell into the 2 feet of water, crashing through the layer of ice covering it. DAMM, it was cold!

I climbed out of the water, but was now soaked and the temps were in the high 20 degree range. I was about an hours walk from our car and my clothes would be froze solid by that time. I took off my everything and wrung out the synthetic fleece pullover and wool sweater, and my jeans and put on the outer layers. The heck with the wet cotton underwear. I started walking at a good pace back to the car determined to keep moving.

I made it but it was a cold trip, and the jeans were crackling at each step with the ice frozen in them. I kept thinking of Shackelton and his men, and how they were soaked with freezing sea water in their rowing to Elephant Island, and it helped. I figured if they could make it there, what the heck was a Maryland winter?

My Toyota Tacoma has a great heater, but it seemed to take forever to get going that morning. Now for my winter woods activities I am fanatical about wearing my polypro long johns instead of the cotton thermal knit, and more use of synthetic fleece.
 
jackknife said:
Like Deer runner, I tried to cross a log. The problem was the log was over a small creek and it was early January. Halfway I slipped on some ice on the log and fell into the 2 feet of water, crashing through the layer of ice covering it. DAMM, it was cold!

I climbed out of the water, but was now soaked and the temps were in the high 20 degree range. I was about an hours walk from our car and my clothes would be froze solid by that time. I took off my everything and wrung out the synthetic fleece pullover and wool sweater, and my jeans and put on the outer layers. The heck with the wet cotton underwear. I started walking at a good pace back to the car determined to keep moving.

I made it but it was a cold trip, and the jeans were crackling at each step with the ice frozen in them. I kept thinking of Shackelton and his men, and how they were soaked with freezing sea water in their rowing to Elephant Island, and it helped. I figured if they could make it there, what the heck was a Maryland winter?

My Toyota Tacoma has a great heater, but it seemed to take forever to get going that morning. Now for my winter woods activities I am fanatical about wearing my polypro long johns instead of the cotton thermal knit, and more use of synthetic fleece.
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Germantown?!?!?! Small world... Wife and I live there.


Joe
 
I fell through the ice while fishing one year. scared the s*** out of me. I got out fine and spent the next couple hours in the truck warming up. not fun
 
We were only about a mile or so away from civilization, but I fell through the ice on a pond when I was 6. My friend (who was 7) got a stick, stood at the edge of the hole where I fell in and using the stick, helped me up out onto the ice. My main concern after getting out was that I was going to get in trouble. Such is the worldview of a 6-year-old.

40 years later, I still have problems going out onto frozen water -- even when I can see the ice is a foot thick. I can do it, but I still can't relax and enjoy myself.

BTW -- In case there's anyone reading this that doesn't know this, what my friend did was exactly the wrong thing to do. It was only dumb luck on a truly staggering scale that we both didn't drown.
 
Codger_64 said:
I guess anyone who has spent much time at all in the sticks has had at least one "near death" experience. I've had several myself, always made it out by luck, sheer will, or divine intervention. Bear attack...dumb luck, hypothermia...sheer will, drowning...divine intervention, lightning strike...luck again? Gunshot...hard to call on that one, perhaps a bit of all, stuck in a cave while spelunking alone...luck of the stupid (hey, we were all young once and took risks).

Codger
Click to expand...

I am with Codger.
Fell on a knife while hiking alone. Damn near bled out.
Rattlesnake bite near town. Damn near cut off my finger.
Got trapped climbing down a quarry wall and had to go back up using unsecured plants as handholds with a 60 sheer foot drop below.
Assorted other Stupidities of Youth that I should have feared.....
Yet here I am. Most of me.....:rolleyes:
 
Joel Stave said:
We were only about a mile or so away from civilization, but I fell through the ice on a pond when I was 6. My friend (who was 7) got a stick, stood at the edge of the hole where I fell in and using the stick, helped me up out onto the ice. My main concern after getting out was that I was going to get in trouble. Such is the worldview of a 6-year-old.

40 years later, I still have problems going out onto frozen water -- even when I can see the ice is a foot thick. I can do it, but I still can't relax and enjoy myself.

BTW -- In case there's anyone reading this that doesn't know this, what my friend did was exactly the wrong thing to do. It was only dumb luck on a truly staggering scale that we both didn't drown.
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Oh man, things we repress. When I was twelve, my firnds and I walked out onto a frozen lake and stupid ol me decided to see how close I can to where the river flowed into it. I got to closeand fell through. My friends still to this say I shot out of the water and ran two miles home, cracking and creaking as the water froze. :rolleyes:


Joe
 
Wow, I never heard that. I used to go to Joshua Tree alot . I will go climbing ,running and alot of walking on 29 palms highway to Yucca Valley.

Glad you all are safe . You can get lost out there.

S/F,
CEYA!
 
ceya one said:
...You can get lost out there...
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Temporary geographic dislocation syndrome is seldom fatal if you keep your wits about you. Even without a packmule full of supplies, a day or two of Wandering about is more adventure than danger.

I have never been lost, but I will admit to being confused for several weeks. D. Boone

Codger
 
Started climbing down a wall at about a 45% angle that got steeper untill I lost my balance and slid down to a leadge about 2 feet wide that was at a 15% angle with about a 100 ft. drop. I had on cowboy boots (duh, I was 17 yrs old and dumb) I had to traverse that leadge for about 50 yds. to reach a safe spot. I almost crapped my pants and to this day I wont go near any kind of a drop off.
It makes my hands sweat to think of it. Lets stop this right now it's creeping me out.:barf:
 
November 16th 1987 , the last few days of deer hunting. My chums had already been to our regular hunt camp ( I couldn't get the same time off as them) I was told by a friend to try a different area closer to home , an area I was not completely familliar with, but had a few nice deer. Left first thing in
mornng , by myself ( first mistake ) drove 45 min. got there just at dawn, seen a nice buck jump across the old logging road, decided what he hell, parked the truck on the side of the road grabbed my 30-30 behind the seat and a few cartridges and old coat , and started a long paced walk into the brush. After what seemed miles of tracking I had come upon another deer
about 40 yds in front of me, a nice rounded 6 point , I shot the deer and aftera min. or so I realized I didn't know where I was . I got this feeling of panic I will never forget , I stumbled around for a feww minutes trying to find my direction . I finally calmed myself down enough to clean the deer When I was done I started to drag it out hoping I was going in the right direction. After two hours panic set in again, I sat on the ground and had a cigarette,thank god I was smoking then because I had a lighter in my pocket
I made a fire And by dusk had cut up the hind quarter and cooked a small piece, that was the coldest night I ever spent in the bush even with a big fire
the dampness really come in after midnight. I did not sleep all night. By dawn I had left the deer behind and started walking again, By mid-morning I heard shouts coming from behind me !!! I was walking deeper into the thick brush, it was a provincial police officer and a beautiful german sheppard. My wife got worried when I didn't return the night before, and phoned the fuzz .
 
Hey I just saw this movie on PBS called touching the Void. A real story about two moutaineers in Peru, getting lost in immense crevases, breaking a leg, getting fronst bit, no food for days, etc. It was very compelling. I bought the DVD.

cliff
 
Wayne37,

Your story is a classic. We always know where we are right up to the moment when we realize that we don't. A friend of mine found himself in a similar situation and panic got him. He took off on a forced march and ended up moving parallel to a road about 300 meters to his right, for six miles! He was bruised, battered, and bleeding when he finally came to the junction of the creek he was following and where that road turns to cross it. They found him shortly thereafter past mignight.

The second to last time I was seriously "lost" it was a very overcast day and I made camp right where I had planned. Right at sundown the sky cleared a little and the sun poked through the clouds going down in the south. So either the earth had shifted on it axis or I was turned around.

The last time I was 'lost' was on a ridge at 6000 feet in heavy fog. My friend and I had been taking an extended break and decided to head back to camp. He turned one way and I turned the other. It was so foggy we had to return via compass. He was right BTW.

Early on that same trip we were in desperate need of water. The mountain was dry when we got on top, no springs visible. We did find one eventually but I went off on a solo search for water. I worked the edge of the ridge and kept searching farther and farther over the edge. At one point all of a sudden I realized I was so focused on finding water that I was ignoring the fact one false step or bad piece of ground and it would be fatal. I chose thirst over.............splat. Mac
 
Not like I would literally die, but knowing that I would be in for some pain in the next couple days. When I was a teenager, I'd walk all over the county, sometimes as far as a 30 mile round trip. Well, now in my fat age, I can't walk as far. Also, my knees are pretty bad, and my shin splints kick in.

About 8 years ago, I went for a walk on one of the local Baltimore county trails. I was a little overweight, and did about a 20 mile round trip. I was exhausted from it, and about halfway through, I knew that I was going to pass out. Luckily I brought some water with me, and was okay. Just a complainer then.

Now, in my obese state, I walked about 5 miles roundtrip in PA on the Heritage Rail Trail, outside of York, and literally thought I was going to die. I wanted to see a tunnel that was blasted through the mountain for the Union troops during the civil war, and had a small bottle of water with me. I must've seen about 50 people on the trail, I wasn't afraid of dying out there, I had my cellphone, Endura 4 ETC. I just couldn't handle it at my size. It was a rural trail, but not out in the boonies.

I didn't train/stretch for either trail though.
 
A couple of "I'm lost" stories here. FWIW, it also happened to me once on a mountain when I went off on a side trail that turned into a dead end. When I turned around, the trail was literally gone. Fortunately, I managed to locate the main trail with 20 minutes of careful searching, but I learned a valuable lesson--periodically, turn around to see where you are coming from and what it looks like going back. You may be surprised at how different things can look.
 
twice, once i rode a dirtbike into a tree going around 50mph, and had to push it 3 miles to my house, and secondly, I walked up on a feeding pack of wild dogs ravaging a deer (dont know how many but there were more than 4) and that was pretty frightening.
 
Amazing how easy it is to get disoriented. I have a pretty good sense of direction based on knowing my terrain and where the sun is. One day I was hiking in a well known area, got about 100 yards off the trail in deep woods, sky very overcast and sunlight diffused, and suddenly I did not know in which direction to go. I was lost and got that feeling of panic and the scary part was that I knew I was close to the trail...but in which direction? Wandering in an ever widening circle (which may have been a good thing in this instance) I finally found the trail in about an hour and got out.
 
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