deliverance moments

[Umsaskis]

I already posted a "freaky" moment, but I just remembered one of the odder moments I had hiking, and thought I'd add it....

A few years ago I climbed Stratton Mountain in Vermont, went down the other side to Stratton Pond, over to Bourne Pond, back to Stratton Pond, and out. On the first visit to Stratton Pond I stopped for lunch, and happened to notice someone hiking on the other side who had stopped for a swim (since I could see minimal clothing even at that distance, this was my assumption). Thinking this was perfectly normal, I hiked on to Bourne Pond, took a break, and started back. I hadn't gone far when I saw a man (probably the swimmer, I thought) hiking toward me down the trail carrying a bag in front of him, not wearing a shirt. Thinking that his attire was also perfectly normal, I continued hiking. As he came closer I realized that what he was wearing, in total, was a hat and boots. At this point, all normal thoughts of the appropriate way to greet a fellow hiker ("Nice day, isn't it?") fled from my head as I tried to decide whether to greet him at all (which would require looking at him, and since I am female, I thought this would be quite inappropriate), to greet him while looking down, to dart into the woods until he passed, or to completely ignore him with my eyes glued to the ground. By the time I realized what he wasn't wearing, we were too close for an un-noticed escape into the trees (and he certainly hadn't fled into the woods, which would have made it much easier). Fortunately the bag he was carrying (presumably with his clothes inside) was held in front of him strategically, so I kept my eyes down until the last second, then look up at his face for a split second and said "hi," and immediately looked down again and booked it down the trail for all I was worth.

 

[clg898]

I already posted a "freaky" moment, but I just remembered one of the odder moments I had hiking, and thought I'd add it....

A few years ago I climbed Stratton Mountain in Vermont, went down the other side to Stratton Pond, over to Bourne Pond, back to Stratton Pond, and out. On the first visit to Stratton Pond I stopped for lunch, and happened to notice someone hiking on the other side who had stopped for a swim (since I could see minimal clothing even at that distance, this was my assumption). Thinking this was perfectly normal, I hiked on to Bourne Pond, took a break, and started back. I hadn't gone far when I saw a man (probably the swimmer, I thought) hiking toward me down the trail carrying a bag in front of him, not wearing a shirt. Thinking that his attire was also perfectly normal, I continued hiking. As he came closer I realized that what he was wearing, in total, was a hat and boots. At this point, all normal thoughts of the appropriate way to greet a fellow hiker ("Nice day, isn't it?") fled from my head as I tried to decide whether to greet him at all (which would require looking at him, and since I am female, I thought this would be quite inappropriate), to greet him while looking down, to dart into the woods until he passed, or to completely ignore him with my eyes glued to the ground. By the time I realized what he wasn't wearing, we were too close for an un-noticed escape into the trees (and he certainly hadn't fled into the woods, which would have made it much easier). Fortunately the bag he was carrying (presumably with his clothes inside) was held in front of him strategically, so I kept my eyes down until the last second, then look up at his face for a split second and said "hi," and immediately looked down again and booked it down the trail for all I was worth.

Did it happen to be on the summer solstice?

 

[Umsaskis]

Did it happen to be on the summer solstice?

It was August - why???

 

[clg898]

It was August - why???

Naked Hiking Day... you won't find it on your calendar, but there are some who like to celebrate the summer solstice with a hike au natural.

Maybe he just hates tan lines????

 

[Nessmuk]

A couple of years ago early one Memorial Day weekend morning I was enjoying a loon patrolling the shoreline on the Grass Pond extension of Low's Lake, I happened to be passing a campsite known to be popular with soon-to-be-banned floatplanes. Suddenly a plane came out of nowhere overhead at tree top level, circled around and landed, pulling up at a sandy landing a few yards away from me. Where a tent would be set up at the site was not directly visible from where they pulled up.

I was quite visible standing on the sandy shore at the campsite, but they could not have known whether I had my gear set up under the trees or not (I had in fact stashed my canoe some distance away). Didn't matter, the plane pulled up and without saying a word to me the pilot and 2 other guys began quickly unloading tons of gear, coolers and the like. I guess it didn't matter if I was camped there or not, they were claiming the spot. I donned my pack, tipped my hat and headed off for a bushwhack I had planned for the next few hours. I have never seen a loon attack anything before, but as that plane taxied out the loon swam/water-walked directly toward it madly squawking all the way. It definitely seemed to be chasing the plane away, probably away from a shoreline nest that it was protecting on its patrol.

When I returned from my bushwhack they had set up a huge tent and a sprawling tarp, and a very large fire was burning in the fire ring. I called out "hello, anybody here?" loudly several times before I figured I ought to think about extinguishing the unattended fire. I noticed a bottle of Wild Turkey, 3/4 gone, sitting on a stump. At that point I heard a radio squawk from inside the tent, some guy all excited telling the other guy "I got one, there's lots of 'em, get down here". I peered under the tarp through the tent netting to see 2 cots, one with a big guy laid out cold, the other with a rifle, looked like a .22, propped against the cot.

So I head back into the woods in the direction of my canoe. The second guy was on his way back to the campsite with a rather large smallmouth bass, but he didn't see me. Seconds later I stroll into the camp behind him, fish flopping on the ground by the tent, the sleeping guy just getting up. "Nice fish" I say, "but you know the season is not open yet". "Yeah, yeah, there's lots of them in there", he says, pointing to the cove where he came from. Without saying anything else I repeated the season was not open yet a couple more times, and oh, by the way, the ranger (who I know well) comes out this way often. He finally got the hint and tossed the fish into the water. It had been out of water quite a long time but it swam away. "Thank you", I said.

I head off for the afternoon on another planned bushwhack in a differrent direction. I just had to return to see the campsite... by now I'm sure these guys are wondering who in the heck I am. I see them gutting fish in a bucket. "We got bullhead". So they did... "you'll have a good dinner on those".

I set up my primitive camp on the side of a ridge a quarter mile away, within sight of the lake. I saw the ranger's motor boat head up toward them and leave a few minutes later. Then it started... I don't know how that plane ever flew with as much lead as it was carrying. Continuous firing of the .22 for an hour or more until dark. I wondered if that poor loon was still alive, but I did not go over there to find out.

The next day on my way out I stopped by to chat with the assistant ranger who normally inspects campers and campsites from her kayak. She was told by the ranger not to even bother going over to check them out. He did not see anything at the time of his visit that was illegal, but better to stay away from these two. Probably good advice given the circumstances.

 

[sierra]

ohoh

Not sure if this qualifies but it has stuck with me for many years. Back in the 80's, I used to snowshoe up to Carter Notch hut, hang out, drink scotch, read and explore. Anywho, I was leaving and the hut, just outside in the front of the hut, there was the caretaker, a fairly stocky, backwoods type doing her business right there in plain view I said "good morning" and she preceded to carry on a pleasent conversation, niether being embarrsed or making any attempt to finish on my account. After a few painfull pleasantries, I bid her farewell and hoofed down nineteen mile, ever see "A clockwork orange"? it was kind of like that.