The plan was that I would meet her at her house after work and we would head up. My thought that if I got there by 6, we could be started by 6:20 and done by 7:35 at the very latest - thinking that even though it would be getting dark, it would not be pitch black at that time. So, I got to Jane's house around 6.
Error number 1: When I got there, we spent a few minutes talking about my vacation, and then Dave's telephone stand (which by the way is just awesome). So we headed out a bit later than anticipated.
Error number 2: We reached Chantry Flats and headed out quickly. We were about 2+ miles in or so when we realized that we forgot to bring any headlamps. So we picked up the pace, knowing that it would be close in terms of losing day light.
Error number 3: Well, this was not really our error, but we did not consider that a thick fog would roll in as the sun was setting, which would mean that any residual light would be essentially blocked out. (While the fog effectively blocked out the remaining rays of the sun and moon, at times, it also created some fabulous views of the valley below.)
So we had gone about 3 miles, had a good run / hike so far, hit the downhill and were running, trying to cover as much ground as we could - as the sun was quickly starting to leave us. I was in the lead, but there came a point, where I could no longer run because I could not see the trail and its contours before me quickly enough. It's tough to run down hill on a trail when you cannot really see it well. But then it got worse. As the fog rolled in and the trail bent into the underbrush, it got darker and darker and darker. The first time the trail went into the brush, there was still some light. So while we slowed down to almost a crawl, we could still make out the trail.
But as we slowed down for safety, we kept losing more and more light. So the second time the trail bent back into the brush, all went completely dark. I stopped moving - stated some expletive - and moved into problem solving mode. Seems like we misjudged our finish time by 15 minutes and while there was a big moon out - the fog meant the light did not penetrate very far and certainly not into the trees. How dark was it? Well if you take the darkest room in your home at night, turn out, the light, and shut the shades. Put your head under 4 or 5 blankets and you would have it. No matter how hard I tried to open my eyes wider and wider to let any light in and see a contrast, I just did not have enough light to see the trail in those long back recesses.
While admittedly, it was not our finest decision to leave without a headlamp or some other lighting device (such as a cell phone even), we were there and had to get back. Going back was not an option - it was 4 miles, just as dangerous, probably darker in light of the tree cover, and would have required re-crossing the stream several time in the dark. So not an option. Standing there was not an option, as we could not just sit there all night. I tried to use my watch to emit some light, but that did not work. So the solution? The key was not to panic and find a way to keep moving. We both kept cool heads, said a few prayers, and shuffled slowly along. And I mean slowly, letting each foot feel the way rather than my eyes. I just stared into the darkness as the fog and cold continued to seep in and I tried to keep moving.
I went first, staying as far to the mountain side of the trail as I could and giving Jane the play by play as I went - Rock, step down, step up, etc. Apparently, most times Jane could pick out my sky blue somewhat reflective shirt from the darkness of the trail, so she had that to use as a guide too. And she just could hear me stumble, kick a rock, etc. and know not to do that. It was a painstaking 30-40 minutes, as we were slowly shuffling along the side of the mountain, hoping not to plunge to our deaths. At times we stayed so far to the mountain side of the trail, we think we were essentially walking on the mountain. At times we could hear movement above, and just hope that it was not some animal looking for dinner. At other times, we would get fleeting looks at the trail with a small amount of list from somewhere forcing its way in. But it was pretty slow going. We were not going to rush it and try to make sure each step was a safe step. Occasionally, we could look down and see the parking lot below, knowing we were close. But getting there was another issue. After what seemed like an eternity of feeling our way through the dark, the path finally ended. At first I could not tell where it was going and did not want to move for fear that I would somehow step off of it. But after a few seconds I could make out the road a short bit ahead, and knew we made it safely down the trail. We both said a prayer of thanks, and then all concern left us as we marched back to the car.
Error number 4: Not leaving Chantry Flats before 8 p.m. By this point in time, Jane and I were a bit giddy, finding our stupidity quite funny. Yes, we admit it was dumb. But what was, was. We drove down from Chantry, laughing most of the way. That was until we got all the way down to the top of Santa Anita and saw the gate was closed. Oops. That actually led to another round of laughing. Fortunately there was a sign with number for the Sierra Madre Police "in case you are locked in." So, we were not the first ones. We called the number and awaited the arrival of someone to let us out. While we waited we were still laughing, and when the police officer eventually showed up and flashed his big spot light in our eyes for many long minutes, we were still laughing. We were so giddy, I was concerned he would think we were drunk or something. Eventually the police officer got out of his car, wrote Jane a ticket (sort of like a parking violation), spoke to us for a few minutes about some issues they had had in Chantry and a recent inexperienced hiker who they found about 1/2 hour before she had hypothermia (she went hiking towards the evening in a tank top and shorts), and then let us out. He was nice, but we really questioned whether the ticket was really necessary.
Oh well. While we were bummed about the ticket - wasted money - we still thought the entire thing was quite funny for hours and days later. But I imagine, we won't be forgetting our headlamps any time soon!
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