The Cohutta Wilderness Adventure and Near Death Experience Part 2

Now, when last we left our story we were on the side of the mountain and the sun was going down! We had a cell signal for a short time and notified every one that we were ok so they wouldn’t send in the rangers! That meant we were on our on for at least the next 24 hours or so. I said side of the mountain, right? We thought since we had a signal this must be the top of the mountain, but no! After a short flat stretch, once again we were on our way up!!! I swear, as the sun went down, we could have reached out and touched it! Very beautiful as long as you aren’t expecting imminent death!
Our next land mark from my book was a large oak tree with a clearing and a split in the trail! One going on up the rest of the way to heaven and the other hopefully headed down the mountain to our car! This would be East Cowpen Trail! I knew if we didn’t hit this split before dark, we would likely miss it! My plan, although I didn’t bring this up at the time with Phyllis, was to stop and make a make shift camp if we didn’t find the trail split by dark! We would wait out the night and find the trail at first light! THEN, out of the dusky light, I saw a huge oak tree in an open area! The trail in front of me went straight on up the mountain (How the heck there could be any more mountain we hadn’t climb, we may never know!) The right turn trail went down and that was more than enough for me! Right or wrong trail, it was going DOWN instead of up! There was also a sign for the Hickory Ridge Trail here, which my book said was the turning point!
As we began down what we hoped was East Cowpen Trail to our carwe found that the trail was not what we had hoped! There was 1-2 foot tall vegetation all around and the trail was all of 10 inches wide, or at least what we could see in the darkness that was closing in around us! East Cowpen is actually an old road bed and looking closely, we could see the entire width of the trail even though most of it was covered in vegetation!
Phyllis and I are day hikers! We are too old and too cheap to buy all the lightweight gear to overnight hike, however, I pack my bag with a great deal of emergency supplies, despite the weight! I sometimes take items out in order to add more water, but I keep the things that could make the difference between life and death! As darkness surrounded us completely, I put on my headlamp and turned it on! I had other flashlights, but I had fully recharged my phone with a power bar, so I let Phyllis use it as a light! Then off we moved again! We could see that on our right the trail dropped off the side of the mountain and the other side was mostly rock ledges! The trail stayed mostly narrow through the tall vegetation and in the dark, this was very creepy! From this point, it should be only 3 miles or so to the car, however, after the 3,000 foot ascent and the fear of being lost forever, we were moving VERY slow!! We were nearly out of water, but with the darkness at least came a little cooler temperature! Of course, I watched Man v. Wild and knew we could drink our own urine if we got desperate!! If Bear Grylls can do it, we could!! Of course, Phyllis did not like that idea too much!!
Back to the trail! I led the way about 20 yards in front of Phyllis making sure the trail was safe and letting her move at her own pace! I also had quite a collection of spider webs that proved this was a less used trail! Ever step of the way in the dark was a bit spooky, and the shadows off the side of the cliff and out in the woods all had a life of there own! I kept reaching back for my pistol for reassurance, but also to make sure Phyllis had not slipped it out of the holster and planned to do me in if we were lost in the wilderness!! I have had that fear a couple times before when I got us in these situations!
On we went! After nearly an hour in the total darkness (I had been wanting to do a night hike but not quite like this! It can’t be fully enjoyed when you don’t know if you are going to live through it!!) we moved slowly surrounded by our little bubbles of light and the black darkness all around us! At this point, the cliff edge had shifted to our left and Phyllis called out to me to wait! As she walked up to me she said I think I see lights up there! Before I could respond, she called out HELLO a few times! As I looked where she was pointing, I did see the lights…about 20 miles in the distance!!! I said, “I think you are going to have to yell a little louder!” I was a little worried I had pushed Phyllis to the point of hallucination, but I think it was just the play of the lights from the mountains across from us that made them look closer! Either that or we need to have her glasses clecked!
After Phyllis’ call for help failed to produce any results, we moved out again! Since putting on my head lamp, I had noticed a couple of bats fly ahead of me in the distance. I didn’t think much about it until I saw a bat swoop straight in front of me and miss my face by about 8 inches! I let out one of my best female squeal-screams and nearly fell down! I realized then, as behind me I heard Phyllis’ laughter, that my light was drawing insects and the insects were drawing BATS!! After turning my light off and making sure my drawers were clean, we moved on again! From this point, I turned my light off every few minutes to let the bugs and bats go away! Phyllis was still laughing, but she held her light down below her waist just in case!
On our next pause we checked the 2 pedometers I had set, but both said we had actually gone further than what my book said! I KNEW we had to be close to the car!! Either that, or somehow we were on the wrong trail and God only knows where! I have to admit, I was starting to panic a little! I had to turn to Phyllis for reassurance and she always lifts me up! We came to a couple of old camp sites and I had thoughts of just stopping and staying, but she pushed me on! I had matches, food and other supplies to get us through the night, but the main thing that bothered me is that we would loose the $8 we had paid for our campsite! I just hate to waste money! Soooooo, on we went!
Phyllis noticed my keys and, I think jokingly said, “I wonder how far you have to be from the car for the panic button to work?” I reached down and hit the button!! SILENCE!! However, after that, I reached down and hit the button every few minutes just in case!! After what seemed like hours, but was probably only a few minutes, I saw the outline of a man-made sign and ran toward it! When I went around it and saw the Cohutta Wilderness etched on it, I KNEW where we were! My book said you will leave the wilderness at 10.9 miles and there will be a sign!! We were on the right trail! I moved fast now, looking for a split trail sign that was only about 100 yards from the car! I had walked to it when we were checking out this trail! Every few seconds I pushed the panic button on my key ring! Then, out of the silence came the most beautiful sound I have ever heard. The loud honking of my truck horn and then seconds later, we could see the lights! It was like angel voices from heaven and thank God it really wasn’t!! Praise the LORD, we were going to live! I checked my gun and my drawers one more time, just to make sure everything was in order! We used the last of our energy to reach the car! Never has anything felt so welcome!!
I broke out the ice and diet cokes (Phyllis helped me push through the last half mile or so by describing the ice cold diet coke pouring from the can over the full cup of ICE!!! Did I mention it was HOT!!) and we sat for a moment in the air conditioned car and I kept saying to Phyllis “WOW!! WE ARE ALIVE!!” I don’t think she liked the suprized tone in my voice when I said that! REPEATEDLY!!!
We drove the 6 miles down the dirt road to our camp site! We were both too tired to cook so we broke out the peanut butter and had a sandwich and sat around a fire for a few minutes almost comatose! We then crawled in the tent and passed out!!
Total, we hiked some 14.2 miles in 11 hours, the last 2 and a half in the dark! We actually followed my book’s directions exactly, which in the Cohutta, we have never done! Everything was exactly where it was suppose to be! The climb up the mountain and the river crossings and the darkness had just slowed us WAY down! Phyllis has made me promise no trails more than 10 miles in one day from now on! I agree! At least for now! Once my old brain forgets the few moments that I thought we might actually die, maybe we will look at those longer trails!! Until then…WE ARE ALIVE!!!!!