Originally posted by gregg dudley:
Don't you love walking out on a road and taking that 50/50 gamble on which way the truck is? 
boy I've done that one a few times Gregg. :rolleyes:
i had another experience on a late season hunt up in the Cascade mountains. We drove up to the snow line and kept going till it was about 6-8" deep and parked at some gated off logging roads. my partner took the road to the north and i took the south road. the weather was dicey and we knew more snow was coming, so we decided to just do an in and out road hunt. of course the road was nothing more than a winding path though the trees. it was a dry powder snow coming down like mist at first. you could ease along real slow without making a bit of noise, and lordy, it was beautiful up there.
i suppose I'd hiked a mile or so in a couple hours time. I had some fun flinging arrows at some rabbits but hadn't cut a fresh elk trail yet, when the light snow became seriously heavy snow. i continued on for another half hour after spotting some black tail deer not worrying about back tracking at all in 6" of snow.... it was only about 11 am when we left the main roads, so i knew i had 3-4 hours left till sun down.
then the wind started blowing and the temp dropped rapidly. it was kind of weird. The big snow flakes got smaller but it was coming down harder now and at about 45 degrees. Something told me i better reverse my travel and start back early. so i swapped ends and started back tracking. as an hour went by, visability got down to about 20 yards, and i noticed my tracks i made coming in were filling up rapidly. after another hour the snow was over a foot deep and there were no tracks at all. the wind was sending this stuff sideways so hard the drifts we over knee high across the road in spots too.
Then i got off the road somehow.... THAT made me nervous..... as the clouds thickend up and it snowed harder yet, it gave a false sundown effect that made viability even tougher. i had come into a big clearing and couldn't find the road out of it till i went chest deep in the snow in the ditch.... The wind had shifted a couple times already when the storm blew in, so i had to dig out my compass to figure out which end of the clearing had the road out..... my only comforting thought was that 30 pound pack on my back with everything but the kitchen sink in it for survival. I'm one of those guys everyone makes fun of for carrying such a heavy day pack. i keep a pack stove and lantern with me and enough freeze dried food to last 3 days. i also keep a water filter, first aid. a small tarp, AND an emergency blanket. i also keep a small road flair among other fire starting material and a quart of water in dry weather.... and i NEVER leave the road without my pack. No exceptions....
Even though having all this stuff can save your life, it's not all that fun trying to keep from freezing to death in what was closely resembling a blizzard. i've spent a few nights of primitive camping chasing elk before in the rain. you don't get much sleep, I'll tell you that.
Was i lost? Noooooooo.... i knew exactly where i was. Was i getting concerned about finding my way back to the truck? Most definitely.
I finally located the road i came in on as the wind let up a bit, and i was really glad to get back in the timber that provided some giude to where the road was. my problem now was the depth of the snow was well over my knees. i don't think I've ever seen snow pile up that fast before in my whole life. The snow drifts were part of it though. i was getting seriously tired and knew i still had a mile to go, so i fashioned a set of primitive snow shoes out of vine maple to help me stay on top of the snow better. i alway keep a hand full of plastic zip ties in my pack for building a quick structure or a primitive sled to drag game out on. these came in handy building snow shoes in a hurry.
i ended up getting out to the main road right at dark, totally exhausted. my hunting partner was sleeping in the truck with the heater going. Boy that sure felt good climbing into that cab.
That was one of those trips where a guy could vanish without a trace just walking on an old gravel road....
Topic: Have you ever been REALLY lost out in the woods? (Read 1916 times)
