The
struggle began on July 26, 2012: Nine of my friends and I had to climb
Mount Katahdin, which stands at 5,268 feet high, making it the tallest
mountain in Maine (Houghton Mifflin). Our group was composed of mostly
teenage guys: Daniel, Jake, and Kenan were all pretty athletic and
around 13 years old, Joel, Nick and Douglas were not quite as
conditioned and were in their late teens or early 20s, but had naturally
athletic builds, Colleen and Linnea were the only girls, but both were
pretty fit and lightweight, Mr. Estes who was in his forties (our
leader) was extremely athletic as a kid...and that carried over to now,
me? I am kind of a health freak, so I made sure I was in pretty good
shape.
At
8:00 am, we packed up our campsite and started up the mountain. I
packed warm clothes, knowing that it usually was very windy and cold
above the tree line. Because all of my extra clothes added some weight
to my backpack, I got rid of some water to lighten my load. Everyone
else just wanted to have a lighter load, so they packed even less water
than I did. That was our first and biggest mistake.
The
first mile or so was easy. It was not too hot, it was not too cold and I
felt a nice burn in my legs. Our group quickly broke into three groups
due to varying paces. I was in the middle third of our group with Nick,
Joel, and Douglas. The four of us had to keep making stops for the
slowest third of the group, so our overall pace was not that great. The
slow pace got us caught in hot and humid weather near the base of the
mountain, causing us to get quite sweaty. That was not good: we needed
all the water we could get, and sweating excessively was not going help
to retain that water. After going through one of my four water bottles,
we arrived at Chimney Pond. Chimney Pond was about three miles from the
start of our hike. We took a break while our leader, Mr. Estes, checked
us in at the Ranger’s Station. We were behind schedule, so our break was
brief. Our next goal was to reach Pamola Peak. The hike up to Pamola
Peak via Dudley trail was only about one and half miles. Kenan and I
bragged to the rest of the group saying, “Eh, that’s nothing. We can run
that distance on flat ground in about ten minutes!” Mr. Estes just
chuckled and continued on, knowing it was not going to be that easy. He
was right. It was nowhere near flat ground and was pretty darn steep. My
legs and lungs were on fire most of the hike from then on. I would have
actually prefered it to be a little steeper so it would not be awkward
to use my hands. Of course it had to be at that point where your legs
had to do almost all of the work. All this work caused me to sweat even
more.
Our
group stopped at a sign about half way between Chimney Pond and Pamola
Peak that pointed to a detour we could take to look at some caves. It
was only a “one half of a mile” detour and caves are pretty cool, so why
not? We left our bags at the sign and headed over. The sign said it was
a one half of a mile detour, but it felt like much more than that. Not
to mention “one half of a mile” was only one way and we still had to go
back to our bags after spelunking through the caves. We did not bring
any water on our “little” detour, so by the time we got back to our bags
everyone was parched. We all drank a bunch of water. I even poured a
little water on my head to cool off, not knowing I would do anything for
that water six hours later. Within the next hour, we hit the tree line.
By that time, half of my water was gone. I figured it was going to be
windy and chilly up above tree line, so I would not sweat nearly as
much. Because I would not sweat as much, I probably would not need as
much water! I was dead wrong. It was a little less humid, but there was
no wind, no shade from the sun, and it was hot. It was then I realized
that I really needed to ration my water. After climbing for another hour
or two, Kenan, Jake, Daniel, Douglas and I made it to Pamola Peak. I
only had one water bottle left, which was 32 ounces, but I still had
quite the hike ahead of me: Knife’s Edge and the descent. Around 2:00
P.M. everyone arrived at Pamola Peak, we ate, discussed the water
problem and were in awe of the majestic view. Nick started the
discussion about water off, “Guys, I think I am going to run out of
water long before I get down.” I replied, “Yeah, me too-” as I showed
them that I only had one water bottle left, thinking I had the least.
Until I was shown everyone else’s water supply and realized I was not
going to get water from any of them because everyone else had less water
than me.
Now,
you may have noted we were at Pamola Peak, not Baxter Peak. Baxter Peak
is the highest peak of Mount Katahdin. We hiked this far, so we had to
finish off the whole thing! Knife’s Edge was between us and Baxter Peak.
Knife’s Edge is one mile long. It has a few extremely steep parts, but
only in short spurts. The rest of it has only a slight incline. The
trail on Knife’s Edge was only one or two feet wide, with steep drops on
either side. The challenge was staying balanced while looking at the
epic view. Luckily, no one fell off the mountain while going across
Knife’s Edge, although I did bruise my shin on a rock while climbing one
of the steep parts, but I am used to bruising my shins from playing
years of soccer.
Jake,
Kenan, Daniel and I were the first ones to Baxter Peak! Of course, as
guys we had to flex and yell out our victory back at everyone else. The
problem with the (or lack of) water was getting worse, because Douglas
and few others already ran out of water on Knife’s Edge. Douglas drank
two energy drinks to quench his thirst after he ran out of water despite
the fact that I told him many times most energy drinks are dehydrating.
As
we enjoyed the great view of the peak we had a snack. I had a Clif Bar
and an apple. The apple tasted glorious. Probably just because the apple
was extremely juicy and my body needed all the liquid it could get.
After we ate our fill, we started our descent down Saddle trail, an
easier but longer trail than Dudley trail. It was still very hot and
sunny, which made me eager to get below the tree line. Sadly, Linnea hit
her knee pretty hard while going across Knife’s Edge, which slowed her
down dramatically. Mr. Estes walked with Linnea and he also carried her
bag. The rest of us went ahead, then stopped for 10-20 minutes to let
Linnea and Mr. Estes catch up. We repeated this process for a hour or so
hour until Mr. Estes told us we could go on ahead as long as we waited
for them at Chimney Pond. My right knee ached from a past sports injury,
putting me in the slower half of the group on the way down, that is,
not including Mr. Estes and Linnea. When we were about two hours from
Chimney Pond we all were out of water, except me. I had about two
mouthfuls of warm water that I was saving for when my mouth became even
more sticky and dry. I could tell everyone was dehydrated: Many, if not
all of us were complaining about having headaches, feeling light headed,
having try throats, and a lot of muscle spasms. Little did I know,
these were also signs of heat stroke (Grizzly Gazette), which can become
deadly if not taken care of (Morris).
By
6:00 P.M. most of us finally returned to Chimney Pond. Seeing the pond
that we could not drink without the risk of getting some strange
sickness made us even more thirsty. We waited there for a couple hours
for Mr. Estes and Linnea and Nick. Turns out, Nick had a leg spasm so
bad it pinched a nerve so he could not even bend his left leg, slowing
him down to slower than Linnea’s pace. When the trio showed up, we gave
them a rest and then told the ranger we were all on our way down. Only
three miles left until we arrive at the van where all our extra water
was. My month became sticky and dry during the first mile, so I decided
to drink the last of my warm water. Despite it being warm water, it
tasted amazing. As I began to swallow my first mouth full of water I
coughed, wasting half of my water. My parched throat could not handle
that much fluid yet. With the rest of my water I decided to drink slowly
so I could keep it down. That water helped, but not much: I was still
very dehydrated. Douglas (who was walking with me at the time) told me:
“I can’t flex my calf without it spazzing out! Kinda cool!” This was
even more proof that he was extremely dehydrated, yet he could keep up
his good humor (Morris).
After
walking for awhile, I noticed two things. The first thing I noticed was
that I was not sweating anymore, and neither was Douglas. This struck a
memory: One day during track one of my teammates stopped sweating
during an intense work... he continued with the workout, then passed out
after finishing a quarter mile sprint. If that was a sign of what was
to come, this last part of the hike was not going to be pleasant. I then
prayed silently: “Please Lord, let the rest of this hike me incident
free, amen.” The second thing I noticed was that it was getting dark.
With a slightly raspy voice Douglas said: “Great, it’s getting dark and
my flashlight isn’t working.”
It
was quite dark for the last mile, but we could still make out most of
the ground beneath us, so it was not too much of a problem. Finally, we
reached bottom, incident free, but a few stubbed toes. Kenan, Jake,
Colleen, and Daniel were already at the van, each of them already drank
at least a full water bottle. Douglas, Joel (right behind us) and I also
drank a full water bottle each. Slowly everyone else showed up, all
very dehydrated. We all survived, but were lucky: thousands of people
die every year from heat stroke (Morris). We had a grand hike, even
though we all were dehydrated and on the brim of having heat stroke
(Morris). Call us crazy (or stupid), but some of us hiked again the very
next day... but believe me, we brought a whole ton more water, even
though it was a rainy day!
Works Cited
Grizzly Gazette "Signs and Symptoms of Heat Stroke and Heat Exhaustion." CanWest Digital
Media [Swan Hills, Alta., Canada] 2012: 8. ProQuest Central. Web. 28 Sept. 2012. <http://search.proquest.com/docview/1024845276?accountid=40168>.
Morris, Chris. "Guard against Heat Stroke in Hot Weather; Muscle Cramps, Dizzyness Early
Signs of Trouble for Athletes and Children Dehydrated during Outdoor Activities." CanWest Digital Media [Moncton, N.B. Canada] 2007: B2. ProQuest Central. Web. 28 Sept. 2012. <http://search.proquest.com/docview/422947659?accountid=40168>.
The Houghton Mifflin Dictionary of Geography "Katahdin, Mount." Boston: Houghton
Mifflin, 1997. Credo Reference. Web. 28 September 2012.
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