4orMore
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Who has gotten themselves into a tight spot while in the outdoors? Tells us about it. What did you learn from it that could benefit the rest of us? I'll start?
This September I was in the Greys River area of Wyoming on a mule deer hunt. I was surprised by the traces of snow on the ground as we made our way to camp. A couple days into the hunt my two brothers and I took the 4-wheeler 7 or 8 miles from camp. We parked it at 8,000 feet and hiked about 2 miles up to around 10,000 feet. Long story short, my bro?s headed back to camp for lunch. I told them I wanted to spend the day on the mountain. I had a couple layers and some snacks. I wasn?t worried. They?d come get me in the afternoon and hunt the evening with me.
I headed up near the peak to hunt the cliffs and shoots. STEEP COUNTRY! Halfway up I heard radio chatter of my bro?s leaving camp to go help a friend of ours who?d downed a nice buck 8-10 miles or so on the opposite side of camp. I didn't have a nice Garmin GPS Radio etc. like them. I could hear them, but couldn't get anything out to them from my radio. Soon as I got 50 yards from the top the weather turned and I mean really turned. I was climbing the east slope of a steep north-south ridge and couldn't see the sky to the west to see any storms coming. I first heard the wind, the sky went black, 100 foot pines on the ridge line bent almost completely in half in the wind. Then the hail hit followed by a torrential downpour of rain. I was in the wide open. I basically skied on the loose rocks down to the first tree I could find and rolled up under it. It was then that I really regretted taking out my rain gear from my pack to lighten the load for the hike. I didn't have anything to start a fire, no way to radio out, no wheeler, 10+ miles from camp and getting soaked fast. I put on all my layers from my pack. My legs were really wet as I was only wearing one layer, no thermals. If the temperature had dropped further and snow started piling up, like it really could have in that county, I just may not be writing this right now. I know that's a little extreme to say, but still very possible.
I stayed calm, put together a game plan and held tight for the weather to let up. I remembered I'd seen the lights of a camp that morning not far from where we had parked the wheeler, about 3 miles from where I lay under the tree. That's where I'd head and wait for my brothers to come get me.
That's when the lightning started cracking off. I was under the tallest tree on a wide open slope. I bailed fast, made incredible time down to the pine forest. I basically picked my way from tree to tree in direction of that camp. In the end I got lucky as the storm let up. I kept moving to keep warm and dry off. Got my ride out well after dark that night as it took all day for my brothers to pack out our friends deer and then come back for me.
Lessons Learned: Pack prepared. Be aware. Have rain gear, a lighter/fire starter, a good radio, a buddy nearby, knowledge on how to find cover or build a quick shelter, always know an escape route, know where the nearest help/camp is, and above all stay calm.
I've been at this for 15+ plus years and this is all common sense stuff that I've always practiced. Even though nothing really bad happened I took a gamble that wasn?t worth it.
Let's hear your experiences.
This September I was in the Greys River area of Wyoming on a mule deer hunt. I was surprised by the traces of snow on the ground as we made our way to camp. A couple days into the hunt my two brothers and I took the 4-wheeler 7 or 8 miles from camp. We parked it at 8,000 feet and hiked about 2 miles up to around 10,000 feet. Long story short, my bro?s headed back to camp for lunch. I told them I wanted to spend the day on the mountain. I had a couple layers and some snacks. I wasn?t worried. They?d come get me in the afternoon and hunt the evening with me.
I headed up near the peak to hunt the cliffs and shoots. STEEP COUNTRY! Halfway up I heard radio chatter of my bro?s leaving camp to go help a friend of ours who?d downed a nice buck 8-10 miles or so on the opposite side of camp. I didn't have a nice Garmin GPS Radio etc. like them. I could hear them, but couldn't get anything out to them from my radio. Soon as I got 50 yards from the top the weather turned and I mean really turned. I was climbing the east slope of a steep north-south ridge and couldn't see the sky to the west to see any storms coming. I first heard the wind, the sky went black, 100 foot pines on the ridge line bent almost completely in half in the wind. Then the hail hit followed by a torrential downpour of rain. I was in the wide open. I basically skied on the loose rocks down to the first tree I could find and rolled up under it. It was then that I really regretted taking out my rain gear from my pack to lighten the load for the hike. I didn't have anything to start a fire, no way to radio out, no wheeler, 10+ miles from camp and getting soaked fast. I put on all my layers from my pack. My legs were really wet as I was only wearing one layer, no thermals. If the temperature had dropped further and snow started piling up, like it really could have in that county, I just may not be writing this right now. I know that's a little extreme to say, but still very possible.
I stayed calm, put together a game plan and held tight for the weather to let up. I remembered I'd seen the lights of a camp that morning not far from where we had parked the wheeler, about 3 miles from where I lay under the tree. That's where I'd head and wait for my brothers to come get me.
That's when the lightning started cracking off. I was under the tallest tree on a wide open slope. I bailed fast, made incredible time down to the pine forest. I basically picked my way from tree to tree in direction of that camp. In the end I got lucky as the storm let up. I kept moving to keep warm and dry off. Got my ride out well after dark that night as it took all day for my brothers to pack out our friends deer and then come back for me.
Lessons Learned: Pack prepared. Be aware. Have rain gear, a lighter/fire starter, a good radio, a buddy nearby, knowledge on how to find cover or build a quick shelter, always know an escape route, know where the nearest help/camp is, and above all stay calm.
I've been at this for 15+ plus years and this is all common sense stuff that I've always practiced. Even though nothing really bad happened I took a gamble that wasn?t worth it.
Let's hear your experiences.
