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PostWed Dec 13, 2006 1:21 pm 
Any member can edit this post What is the point of this post? For everyone to add an emoticon one edit at a time. biggrin.gif

Wiki summmary last edited by zimmertr on Tue May 14, 2019 6:34 pm (this post can be edited by any member)
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OwenT
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Location: Moses Lake
OwenT
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PostSat Jan 09, 2021 4:03 pm 
I got lucky this summer. I had thought to throw a bow saw in my car before leaving home. I was driving through a burned over area in okanogan county and while I was hiking around looking for a mine I kept heard loud cracking noises I thought must be gunshots but they were very loud and just weird. Interestingly there wasn’t any wind that I can recall and I had been in the area twice before without incident. This time on my way out i discovered a dead tree, over a foot thick across the road and the mystery of the loud noises was solved. The wood was easy to cut through but I’m glad I had the saw and that the tree wasn’t much bigger. There were a few other blowdowns I had to move but they were easily pushed aside. If it hadn’t been for the saw I could have made it back the other way but it would have added a few hours to my trip. I could just as well have been trapped on both sides though . Lesson learned.

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babylero
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Location: Tacoma
babylero
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PostMon Jan 11, 2021 11:04 pm 
Got lucky this weekend. I was waiting for the tide to go out, south of Sand Point on the beach. I was standing on the drift wood just a few feet from my camp. The waves were 10-15 feet high and a few would come all the way up to the logs. About 15 minutes into my driftwood mediation, a huge rogue wave came in, and jostled the entire pile of logs. I fell into the water right between two logs and was almost pinned between them. I got soaked from the waist down but only broke a trekking pole and ended up with a minor shin scrape.

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OwenT
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Location: Moses Lake
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PostMon Jan 11, 2021 11:11 pm 
Wow, that’s scary. Glad you were ok.

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Owler
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Owler
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PostTue Jan 12, 2021 11:30 pm 
Was up on Driveway Butte outside of Winthrop with my partner this fall. Thought we heard hunters up over the ridge (gun shots). Get up to the ridge and there are a bunch of burned trees from a fire a while back. Walk another few minutes and then in the distance see a dead tree crash into another and bring that one down too. We beat it out of there REALLY quick. Not gun shots! Just trees snapping and crashing into the ground. We beat it out of there real quick. The irony was that we had checked the weather a few times and knew there was a high wind advisory for ridgelines in the area...but we just didn't put two and two together (and the gun shots were a red herring because it was hunting season so that's where our minds went). Stupid!

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zephyr
aka friendly hiker



Joined: 21 Jun 2009
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Location: West Seattle
zephyr
aka friendly hiker
PostFri Mar 05, 2021 7:47 pm 
Not sure where to post this. But this was certainly a close call. Yikes. ~z
.

Navy salad
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Mountainpines
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PostFri May 21, 2021 1:41 pm 
Change your plans if needed. Know your limits and don’t push it. While water is relaxing to take a swim, it wears you out much sooner. If you have a lengthy hike, don’t swim. Cool of your feet but don’t swim.

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Backpacker Joe
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Joined: 16 Dec 2001
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Location: Cle Elum
Backpacker Joe
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PostMon Jun 28, 2021 1:49 pm 
A friend of mine is an EMT. He told me hundreds of people are dropping from heat stoke out there. At one of the Icicle trail heads this weekend a woman was found passed out at the trailhead. They got an ambulance to her in time, but it was close.

"If destruction be our lot we must ourselves be its author and finisher. As a nation of freemen we must live through all time or die by suicide." — Abraham Lincoln
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RumiDude
Marmota olympus



Joined: 26 Jul 2009
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Location: Port Angeles
RumiDude
Marmota olympus
PostSat Jul 10, 2021 10:16 pm 
Just returned from a hike in the Olympics I have done several time, the Low Divide Press Trail. This time we, my partner and I, started from the Elwha side and headed towards the North Fork Quinault. This trail involves two river crossings, one at about 20 miles (as gauged from the old Wiskey bend TH) along the Elwha, and one over the N F Quinault at 16 Mile Camp. Due to the recent rapid melt off we knew these both would be higher than usual. Usually it is the Quinault side that is swifter and colder and the one that requires more consideration in crossing it. But when we got to the Elwha crossing at about 20 mile, it was raging. There is actually a good sized log crossing about 150 yards upstream, but it requires a dynamic move to get on it and there is another log that fell across it a couple years ago at an acute angle. It is a tricky move to get across it. I did cross it last year. My partner is not a good log crosser because balance issues so I would never try to pressure her to cross this one. Anyway, looking at the situation, we decided to turn back. Let me explain our reasoning. It's difficult to figue the odds of falling off a log or being swept off your feet in a river ford. What, 1 in 10, 1 in 20, 1 in 50, 1 in 100? Who really knows. But what ever that number is has to be multiplied by the number in the party, in this case two. But that's just the odds of slipping off the log or being swept over while fording. The next consideration is what are the consequences of slipping off the log or swept over? And THAT was the deciding factor. As I mentioned, the river was running high and fast. in either scenario, a person would be quickly carried away in the current. There would be absolutely no chance to find one's footing and stand up. The far bank was undercut and one would be grasping at roots and rock if able to swim there downstream. It would be a life threatening situation. So we turned around, even though there were four others we met who successfully crossed the log that day. And I have to admit it stung a bit on my pride to make that call, but I think it was best. I guess as I age I have come to realize I have been very fortunate in the past to have not suffered any really severe injury in all my adventures. I can live with this. If you have read this, I hope it helps you to assess your decision making and such while adventuring. Push your limits, but don't push beyond them. Take care and stay safe. Rumi

"This is my Indian summer ... I'm far more dangerous now, because I don't care at all."

arthaey, dave allyn, hearingjd, CMRD, runup, zimmertr, reststep, mosey
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hopsage
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PostSun Oct 17, 2021 2:26 pm 
Quote:
So we turned around, even though there were four others we met who successfully crossed the log that day. And I have to admit it stung a bit on my pride to make that call, but I think it was best.
I've found that "pride" motivation a difficult one to get past, but it's so important. I'm glad things turned out as well as they did. (Also, this thread came up while I'm researching the NF Quinault/Skyline loop for a trip I hope to lead next year: I had read information about the 16 Mile ford already, but it is very helpful to get a sense of what that might be like.) The one I did that has always stuck with me happened during a 2006 solo trip in the Kalmiopsis. This was four years after the Biscuit Fire had overswept the wilderness. I was on a trail that contoured a very steep slope above the Illinois, with much of it had burned down to mineral soil, when I came to a decent size downed tree across the trail. Being tired, I just kept moving to go around it, but the more visually inviting way to do this went below the tree. And the trail. Pro tip: if you can possibly avoid it, don't try to hike below the only level surface available, when your footing is on steep and highly unstable ground. I realized this fact right around the low point of the detour, when the ground gave way under my feet entirely. With a 50-ish degree slope and a heavy pack, I slid/fell down the hillside quickly, and the three or four burned sapling remains that I tried to grab just ripped out of the ground. I slid about 100 feet before I finally grabbed something that held, let the tiny avalanche of ash and dirt wash over me, and noticed that I was still head down, I still had a 40 pound pack on my back, and I had another 50 feet or so before the drop into the river. That precipitated the single strongest sit-up I ever have and ever will manage, followed by a very careful climb back uphill. I abraded most of the top layer of skin from my left leg and I coughed out ash for the next three hours, but other than the adrenaline-fueled panic, I was fine. That remains the single most preventable set of injuries I've ever sustained. -- John

John H. E. Lasseter http://hopsage.smugmug.com

hearingjd
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Eric Hansen
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Eric Hansen
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PostSun Nov 20, 2022 9:30 pm 
I learned of a friend's death this past summer. His was the second hiking fatality of someone I knew in the last 3 years. Both slipped or tripped off trails and fell, one a mere 20 feet but that was enough. One was in Italy's Dolomite Mountains and one in Michigan's Upper Peninsula. Both had immediate attention from companions but death came quickly. Good not to be distracted near drop offs. And good to sense when a drop off is near, even if brush obscures the edge.

Off trail rambler

arthaey
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hearingjd
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hearingjd
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PostSun Feb 05, 2023 5:18 pm 
Close call this week on Snoquera Falls trail. My buddy Bruce and I did a trail patrol around Camp Sheppard and went up to check on the Snoquera Falls trail. The trail was in pretty decent shape, with only one log down across it and the occasional patch of ice. We stopped up by the falls for a snack-- not in the area below the falls, as there was a lot of ice falling. Sun was hit or miss, and sometimes shining on the cliff and the waterfall-- which should have been a warning to me. We were just wrapping up when we both heard a "boom" above us-- I looked up and saw rocks coming off the top of the cliff, yelled "rock" and ran cross-slope for some cover, but slipped and fell. Bruce was smarter and ducked down behind a rock and dodged a number of softball-sized rocks, including one that hit his pack and another that smacked his trekking pole. After the rock fall stopped, we decided to get out of the fall zone. Could have been really serious! BTW, didn't get hurt there, but did manage to prang my knee on the way down when I slipped on some ice.... Sigh... Lesson learned: be aware of increased rockfall when sun is melting the ice
Stay safe out there!

Hiker John

ejain, KascadeFlat
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Hiker Mama
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PostWed Mar 15, 2023 11:34 am 
hearingjd, we were just at Snoquera Falls last week. We sat for a few minutes below the falls along the trail, not close to the rock face. But we got really nervous with the constant sluffing of snow and ice in the waterfall area. It just felt wrong to sit there, so we moved on. Your story is pretty scary! Glad you guys are OK.

My hiking w/ kids site: www.thehikermama.com

hearingjd
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sunwildernesshike
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sunwildernesshike
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PostFri Jun 23, 2023 12:09 pm 
Got any cool stories? Stay safe out there, stay hydrated and watch where you step - it's easy to lose your footing. But it's all about the experience, so get ready for some adventure!

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