THE HIKE

A FICTIONAL STORY

I have always considered myself to be a bit of an adventurous soul. I am not afraid to try something new, go someplace I haven’t been, do something I haven’t done before. But, to do anything, I can’t sit still. Most of my adult life has included outside walking. It’s my time to think, pray, refresh, and just feel better about everything. Which is why I decided to go on a hike!

Although spontaneity is exciting, I couldn’t be spontaneous for this. This adventure was going to take some research and planning, after which, I decided on the hiking trail at the Palmetto State Park along the San Marcos River. It's only fifty – five miles from home. According to what I read online, this trail is a well-defined, reasonably flat, surface along the river. It offers guided, group, hikes with rest stops along the way, port - a - potties for comfort and convenience, as well as ninety – five-gallon covered trash cans for hikers to keep the grounds clean. The website offered a brochure that included all the information necessary for a successful hike, including the scheduled hike dates. This made me realize, I’m going to need a good pair of hiking boots and a backpack, neither of which I had. I hadn't planned on spending seventy – five to one hundred dollars in addition to the twenty-five-dollar registration fee, but if I was going to do this, I was going to need them. I scheduled my hike for a Saturday in April before it got too hot and humid, I filled out the registration form, paid the fee and headed out to the Army Surplus store for a backpack and boots. The store had a lot to choose from, and I was able to find what I needed.

For the two weeks prior to my going, I asked everyone I knew, but no one wanted to go with me, so I decided, it’s a group hike anyway so I won’t be alone.”

The day before the hike, I went to the store and bought trail mix, string cheese, crackers, a couple of protein bars, two bottles of water, and two bottles of vitamin water. Once I was back home, I carefully packed my backpack. With the brochure checklist to refer to, I packed an extra pair of socks, in case of blisters or getting my feet wet. I also included, a hoodie, a large towel and lastly, even though it wasn’t on the checklist, a pocketknife. I always carried one in my purse and have had to use it more than once! I left enough room on top to put my snacks and all but one bottle of water. I put the fourth one in the refrigerator to be cold when I left in the morning. The smaller pocket on the front of the pack was perfect for my phone, keys, and wallet. I laid out my clothes, jeans, socks, a sleeveless tank top and a long-sleeved shirt that I could tie around my waist if it got too warm and of course, my new hiking boots. I had worn them for the past two days to break them in and make sure they were comfortable.

I didn’t get much sleep that night, I was nervous and excited. After getting dressed, I filled my travel coffee mug with coffee, got my water out of the refrigerator, grabbed a protein bar to eat on the way, my backpack, purse, a hat, and my phone. By seven – fifteen, I was out the door. I had planned my day perfectly! I knew the hike was scheduled to start at nine a.m., it was about an hour’s drive considering traffic and other factors. Once I arrived there, I parked in one of the designated parking spaces in front of the park store. It was eight – fifteen, perfect, allowing me enough time to go to the bathroom, get my bag and find my guide.

There were several other people there, I could tell who the guides were by their Palmetto State Park emblems on their shirts and their matching khaki cargo shorts. One of the guides, an older, masculine looking woman, began speaking over a megaphone, “Good Morning, ladies, and gentlemen,” she spoke loudly and clearly to be understood, “Welcome to our Saturday hike.” She continued, “Today we have three groups of hikers, on three separate trails with three separate guides.” “Our first group will be with guide, Eric, on the five-mile trail, our second group will be with guide, Amy, on our two-mile trail, and our last group will be with guide, Brian on our four-mile trail.” “Please disperse accordingly with your designated guide as they call you, but before we begin, everyone keep in mind, as you get further into your hike, you won’t get service on you cell phones, however, our guides have two – way radios in case of an emergency.” She handed the megaphone over to guide Eric, “O.K.,” he began, “five milers, please gather together at the bench in front of the store.” As they dispersed, I noticed there were five people in that group. Before joining them, Eric handed the megaphone over to guide Amy, who continued as Eric had by telling her group to gather at their designated spot. After everyone was with their group and guide, I quickly realized I was the only one left with guide Brian. I’m sure he must have seen the apprehension on my face and body language as I approached him, “So, what happens now?” I asked, “why am I the only one with you?” Brian looked to be in his mid to late thirties with a neatly kept beard, a wide brimmed, canvas hat, shaded his face, the perfect look for the job as a guide. He spoke calmly, " I guess it’s up to you,” he continued, “there were three other people scheduled to be here but, we can’t wait for them, otherwise we will not be back by the scheduled time.” Before giving me a chance to respond, he said, “We will refund you money if you want to cancel.” “No, I don’t want to cancel,” I replied, “I took a lot of time and preparation to do this so I would like to continue if that’s O.K. with you.” The other groups had already left, “O.K.,” he said, “Let’s do it!”

As we started to walk, Brian said, “As you already know, my name is Brian.” “Yes, Brian.” I said, “I’m Claire.” “O.K., Ms. Claire,” he continued, “as your guide, I will walk a few feet in front of you to ensure the trail is clear of any debris, the plan is we walk two miles to reach the lake, then stop there for lunch, break then we walk the two miles back in time to arrive back to the starting point by five p.m. There are port – a - potties along the way if you need to stop or for any reason. It should be a casual walk; the trail is well traveled and level.”

As we walked, I could hear the rushing of the river flowing. It was cool and well covered by all the trees. We stopped once to drink some water and use the potty. Brian was a good guide, very personable. We had walked for just about two hours when we arrived at the lake. Because this is a state park and often heavily populated, there were benches for sitting. It felt good to take off the heavy backpack and rest. As we sat and ate our lunch snacks, Brian continued to tell me, “This is just my part – time “gig,” my real job is an attorney at an office in San Marcos, where I live with my wife and two kids. I just do this one weekend a month unless they need me more often and I am available. I like that it gives me the opportunity to get out, be in nature, get some exercise, after being inside an office all day, at least five days a week.” As we continued to eat and talk, I asked him about his wife and kids. I felt compelled to tell him, “I’m married, my husband works away from home a lot, we don’t have kids,” I continued, “I asked everyone I knew to come with me today, but you know, people have lives, but I wasn’t going to let that stop me.”

Anyone who knows anything about Texas weather, knows how unpredictable it can be, one minute, it can be clear and sunny, and the next minute it’s raining and windy. That is exactly what happened to us! We were just finishing our lunch, when out of nowhere, a big gust of wind came up and rain started pouring. We quickly finished picking up our stuff and ran to the covering of the trees behind us. There wasn’t any lightning, so we figured we were safe. Sure enough, a typical Texas spring day, we had a good, hard rain and wind for about five minutes then the sun came out. “O.K. now, are you ready to head back?” Brian asked as we walked out from the covering of the trees. I responded, “I’m ready. The ground was wet and soggy, except for where the trees allowed the sun to peek through. Just as before, Brian walked a few feet in front of me. We hadn’t been walking long when we arrived at a particularly shaded area, the ground was muddy, slippery, and littered with some branches that had blown on the trail. I stopped behind Brian when he stopped to pick up the branches and clear the trail. I immediately saw him slip in the mud and fall on his left side, knocking his radio off and breaking it. Without speaking, I dropped my backpack and rushed to him. He was lying with his left leg, bent at the knee under him. “Are you O.K.?” I asked, “can you move, try to roll over and sit up, if you can.” When he rolled over, he let out a painful scream, I saw it! A broken, sharp branch was impaled in the meaty part of his left thigh. “Oh no!” I said, trying not to let him see my fear and panic. Speaking to him in as calm a voice as I could, I knelt beside him and told him, “Oh, no, Brian, it appears that you are injured.” Shakily he responded, “Yes, it would appear so, call for help with my radio.” he said. I reached across him to show him, “I can’t do that, look what happened when you fell, let’s try our cell phones,” I told him as I pulled mine from my backpack. “No, no bars,” I said, “let’s try yours.” I helped him remove his backpack. “Same here.” He said, “no bars.” I could tell he was shaky, and I was afraid he would go into shock. “Well then, I guess we are going into “fight or flight mode,” I continued, “All my years of teaching others emergency first aid, I hoped I’d never have to use it but never say never.” I was pretending to be calm for his sake. “You just have to trust me on this, do exactly what I tell you to do, and we’ll get out of here.” I assured him and he agreed, “I don’t have much choice, do I?” He complied as I continued, “The first thing I have to do is stabilize that branch, it’s not bleeding which is good, the branch is holding the blood in.” “Sit still and don’t move your leg." " I brought my trusty pocketknife, hoping I wouldn’t need it." " I have a large towel which I am going to cut and tear into strips to tie around the branch and your leg in a criss – cross pattern. That doesn’t mean you are going to be able to walk but one thing at a time.” Once I had the branch stabilized, I gave Brian some water and continued onto the next step. Reminding him to bear with me and the pain, I continued, “As I said, you can’t walk, so I am going to make a pull sled and pull you just far enough for us to get cell service, I just have to think about how to do that.” After looking around and realizing there wasn’t anything I could use, by some stroke of genius or divine intervention, it came to me, a garbage can! I remembered seeing throughout the park the ninety – five-gallon garbage cans with attached covers, hopefully I can use one as a pull sled. Before I set out to get the garbage can, I took what I needed from each of our backpacks and then placed the packs behind his back to lean against. From the contents of our packs, I could see that I was better prepared with supplies than he was. Fortunately, like me, he did have an extra pair of socks and a hoodie. “Before I go find a garbage can, let me take your left shoe off in case your foot swells.” I walked back in the direction we came from; I didn’t have to go far to find a garbage can, with some difficulty I was able to get it up and out of the cage around it. The wheels on the can did make it easier to pull. Once I was back with Brian, I laid the can down with the lid on the ground facing him and pushed it as far under him as possible. With an arm’s length between him and the can, he was able to grab onto the top edge of the can and pull himself onto the lid, using it as a seat. Once that was accomplished, I handed him his cell phone and bottle of water. I kept a bottle of water for myself, put my phone and knife in my pockets, laid the towel and our hoodies on the can. I put our packs and his shoe in the bottom of the can, then carefully helped him slide his legs in the can. “I know this is crazy, Brian,” It told him, “But desperate times call for desperate measures.” “You’re my hero, Claire.” He responded. “We’re not done yet,” I answered, “don’t speak too soon.” Once he was secured in the can, I went to work tearing the towel into strips and tying them together. I had to be sure they were long enough for room between the lid and myself, fortunately I had enough to make “ropes” for each side of the can. I had to tie the strips to the side bars of the can, due to the top bar being on the ground under Brian. I tied one arm of each hoodie to the end of each strip, then tied the other arms together to create a loop for me to step into. I knew the ground was slippery, that’s what got us into this in the first place and that it was going to be heavy to pull. I used my extra socks for gloves to avoid getting splinters and blisters and found two branches for walking sticks for leverage and stability. With a stick in each hand, I stepped into the loop and tucked the body of the hoodie into my waistband. “O.K.,” I said, “I think we’re ready!” I knew it was going to be hard to pull him in the can, but I felt like a mother whose child was trapped under a car and was operating on adrenaline and fear! “Keep you phone in your hand,” I told him as I started to walk, “Let me know as soon as you get a signal, we will stop and call 911.”

It was so hard and heavy pulling him and the can. I wasn’t keeping track of the time and just focused to keep moving, it seemed like forever when finally, “Stop, Claire, I’ve got a signal!” Immediately, I stepped out of the loop and walked back to Brian while checking my phone. “Me, too,” I said excitedly.

I sat on the ground beside Brian while he told the 911 operator all the specifics. Finally, help was on the way! After Brian called his wife, we laughed, hugged, cried, and sighed a huge sigh of relief.

Finally, help came in the form of two park guides in one ATV and two paramedics in another. Once they carefully got Brain seated, I rode with him. The ambulance was there waiting; my work here was done!

As the paramedics were loading him into the ambulance, Brain said, “Wait, guys, hold up a minute please, Claire, give me your phone, I want you to have my number, call or text me so I will have yours, I’m forever grateful, you saved my life!” I responded, “That certainly wasn’t part of the plan, but you’re welcome!”

After the ambulance drove away, the park was empty, the time on my phone was six p.m. I sat alone on the bench. I felt like an ocean of emotions washed over me.

I called my husband, told him the story, and assured him I was O.K. “I am exhausted, I am going to find a hotel close by and stay there tonight then drive home tomorrow.”

Before leaving the hotel, I called Brian. His wife, Lisa, answered his phone. After thanking me again, she gave him the phone. He said he was recovering. He had spent the night in the hospital after having surgery to remove the branch and repair the hole in his thigh. He said the doctor told him whoever rendered first aid to him, knew what they were doing. He thanked me, again, I felt humbled. We agreed to stay in touch.

It was definitely an adventure, I was glad it was over, and I know for sure; I am NEVER going on another hike!