A Real Eye Opener

Every time I go out for a long day hike or a backpacking trip I learn something new to add to my experiences. Generally the lessons learned have been in fairly controlled situations with nothing too serious involved. Some are very general lessons, some more specific, but all are important.

This weekend I did make it out to Hill Country State Natural area with a friend of mine, but we didn't stay the night. There was a controlled cedar burn going on right near the park boundary about a mile away from the Wilderness Camp area, which park staff failed to mention. Had we been told about the controlled burn in the first place, we would have stayed to enjoy ourselves vs thinking we could be in serious trouble and needing to leave.

It is unfortunate this was the very first backpacking trip my friend had ever been on, because he never got the pay off and our situation was extremely stressful. I wanted him to understand why I am so obsessed with this type of adventuring...but he is forever soured I am afraid... And I only want more...dangers and all. I realize that I am an adrenaline junky. Here is my story...

We arrived at the park fairly late in the afternoon...around 2:30 or so, but had plenty of time to walk the two miles to the wilderness camp area and set up before dark fall, and do a little exploring. After partially setting up camp it was decided we would climb Ice Cream Hill and set off on our little adventure leaving everything in camp.

About a quarter of the way up I happened to notice smoke coming from some trees to my left. At first I figured it was someone burning trash since there was a house not too far off in the distance, that was very close to the park boundary. Not to mention HCSNA had just been dumped on with tons of rain. At the time I couldn't imagine this being anything other than a fire someone was tending.

But I had no way to be sure and called out to my friend who was further up the hill to come see what I saw. By the time he was at my side...just a few seconds later...we both saw flames leap from above the tree tops and the fire started to grow in intensity. That got our attention and we both came to the conclusion that we should leave the area just in case.

I did a quick wind check to see which direction the wind was blowing...good we were upwind from the fire. I was fully aware however that the wind could easily change direction and bring the fire our way leaving us possibly trapped, or unable to out run it if in fact it was a fire out of control.

We wasted no time getting back to our camp site. About the time we got within a few yards of where my new tent was set up, ash was starting to fall on us. Terror started to creep in but I refused to panic and stayed calm even though my thoughts were coming at me fast as I was trying to think clearly. What if this was the real deal? Could it be? I struggled with the idea.

There were other backpackers in the area and while I broke camp, my friend went to go tell them what we discovered only to find they were no where in sight. I was disappointed to hear the news, but was ready to go. I think I set a record for that being the quickest I had ever broken camp...probably about 6 minutes or so.

Of course it was not a neat pack job but obviously I didn't care. I even pondered as I was doing it, if I was being stupid by taking the time to gather my stuff. But I kept thinking if we got caught out there past night fall for any crazy reason...a fall...etc....we'd have a whole new set of problems to deal with if I didn't have my gear. Right or wrong, that is where my head was and my gear is my security blanket.

Overcoming the fear of decision making in such trying circumstances was a new challenge. I wanted time to slow down for me...I didn't want to get it wrong. But in my mind there was no time to waste and we'd wasted plenty already. There was a bit of disagreement about the route to take out of there. I wanted to double back the way we came...which was away from the fire and back to the car. My friend wanted to do something that although made sense on some level, completely made no sense to me on another. We were like chickens with our heads cut off.

He wanted to take a route that would bring us to a park road that was supposedly going to be faster than doubling back. His goal was to reach the house we saw outside of the park boundary, and call for help since we had no cell phone signal. Mind you this is a lonely house in the middle of nothing but hills as far as the eye can see. I found several flaws in this plan. One, being the fact that we would come very close to the fire and two, being the fact that it was entirely possible no one was home or that we could even get to the house since it wasn't near a trail, and the fire could cut us off.

Whatever the case, I agreed to go with his plan because I was beginning to doubt my ability to make a sound decision. But as soon as my feet started to move the direction he thought we should take and I got a few yards, I came to a dead hault. I called out and told him to hold up a minute...that we needed to re-think this. My gut was telling me that it was a mistake to go the way he thought we should go. I physically could not force myself to walk in a direction with so many unknowns. He said it was my call. I was in a serious state of not knowing what to do but found myself moving back towards the direction we had come. I was making it all up as I went along.

All the while, time is ticking and I'm inwardly kicking myself for allowing so much time to be wasted with the arguing in case this really was an out of control fire. Right about then, two hikers that we saw earlier were on the scene and I asked them if they had a phone that might get a signal. One of them tried and she got a weak signal. We called the park first...no answer only a voicemail. I hastily left a message explaining that we thought a fire was out of control and where we were. The next call that was made was to 911 and though the signal was sketchy, we think they got an idea of what was going on and where we were, but we couldn't have been certain before losing signal because the dispatch kept yelling at us to repeat where we were because she coudn't hear us.

The hikers, a pair of older women, said that the route my friend wanted to take was a good idea because it would take us close to their car, stating that it was on the road we were trying to reach and that we could get there fast...it even looked quicker on the map. Against my better judgment though, and because I know those park maps are VERY decieving, I went along with the group consensus that we should go ahead and head for their car...we were running out of daylight and needed to move it. I still didn't like the plan and the ash continued to fall.

We came close to the fire...and saw that there was a small river of water from the rain between us and it, which brought a small amount of relief, but only small in my mind. I also knew that fire can jump water...all it would take is a tall tree to fall from one side to the other. I kept my thoughts to myself on this...I didn't want to upset anyone further.

Since I was well committed to the route by then and getting to the road as quickly as possible became my sole focus, I hadn't even realized that my friend and I put distance between us and those other hikers. As soon as I realized how far we must have gotten ahead of them, we hit the road. Than almost as quickly we saw a truck coming into view. It was a fire truck! I was so relieved! I think we only walked about 30 minutes by this time.

Soon after the fire truck came into view, the park host came into view. He stopped and told us that the fire we saw was a controlled cedar burn. He didn't stay to chat...he had to catch up to the fire truck to stop them from going further. My friend and I looked at each other in almost disbelief that no one bothered to tell the fire dept ahead of time what was taking place and no one bothered to alert backpackers either. And in the hooplah we forgot all about the two women, which I felt terrible about later. We hitched a ride back to our car and it seemed to take forever to get there. We would have been walking for at least an hour in the dark if we didn't have the ride.

Once we got to our car, the two ladies were not far behind...being dropped off at their car and guess what? Their car was no closer than ours! They had no clue where they were when they came upon us in the trail, though it appeared they were confident of where they were. Neither one of them was prepared for a night walk...no jackets or warm clothing, only walking sticks, so I took that as a sign they actually were not far from their vehicle. Wow that was a huge mistake on my part to deduct that. And had that whole incident not happened, they very well could have ended up lost in total blackness and seriously lacking warmth. I hope they learned some lessons of their own.

I think from now on I will not doubt my own instincts and be a more firm leader. I think doubling back would have gotten us to the trail head and my car much quicker than the other route regardless if a car was there or not...after all it was only two miles and we could have made it in about thirty minutes if we walked very fast. But I gotta say, under the circumstances those two miles might as well have been 8 in my head. My friend quickly acknowledged that my plan was probably the better plan, even though things worked out fine in the end.

I will be disecting this scenario over and over for a while until I am satisfied what the best course of action would have been. I want to go back and mentally correct my mistakes. Reader feedback would be most appreciated too, especially if you have backpacking experience or outdoor experience. I want to learn everything I can from this.