Get to the chopper!

We decided this would be our first Six Peak Hike challenge!

I was excited and ready to get on a new trail with a group of peeps that have been hiking together for 10+ years, almost weekly.

We drove in about three miles from the Maple Springs visiting center but stop 3 miles away from the parking lot. (You need a vehicle with high clearance!) The size of the potholes! This added  additional miles to our hike. We finally 🙌🏽 made it to the parking area and sat for a few moments to power up with food before the trek up to the peak. I also took a moment and grabbed one of the trash bags to help keep the trail clean… then took off on the trail to the left. And when we usually start ourvhike I say out load “HiHo!” I didn’t this time.

“Making our way downtown,  walking fast…”  Met Trail Angel One. He pointed us in the right direction toward where we would be hiking to get to the peak. He even hung around the at the next gate to make it clear what our next step was. We followed the trail up and he caught up to us shortly.  We asked a few more questions, like was he heading to the peak and how long until we get there from here. HE said an hour! You know why? He was a trail RUNNER!  He said he was going to another peak first and  he would probably catch up to us about time we got there. We walked  for a few hours to the peak and as we began to make our final incline…here comes Trail Angel one bolting down a hill toward us. He then gave us options take the steeper tail to the left, get there quicker or take the trail to the right,  the car trail to the right. After some discussion we followed Trail Angel One. But eventually we got dropped like a bad habit. We saw him coming down as we were still climbing up.

We finally ascended to the top 🙌🏽 👏🏽 🙏🏼!  So excited to be here and done…well wait not done because we still needed to traverse to the parking area and then to the car! But hey, how hard could that be. We came, we saw and kicked azz!

😭😭😭😭

This is where a good day hiking turns into all these damn trails look alike and where are the damn sign post and how are we four hours further from the car then when we started 😳.  WITAHIHRN!

There was a mistake that occurred when we left the peak! We went left when we should’ve went right to go down the mountain. And we’re lost…so let me see if I can get this all down just from my POV. My tried and true hydration bladder had a leak and I lost a good portion of my water,  I got stung by a bee, took a tumble on the rocks on the way down… with a mouth full of water, and a bladder full of…and a laugh was starting to form so I swallowed the water quickly and squeezed bladder tightly and got help up.  Then the good stuff started!

We realized something was wrong we were heading up again but thought if we keep going…”Just around the river bend,” We’ll be back on track.  NO no and no. We decided to turn around and retrace our steps to get back to the peak which is at least 3-4 miles away. And…

Well, one of us became unable to untangle this knot we webbed in the hills of Santiago, and we were all about out of 💧 water. That precious resource!  911 was eventually called. And we waited and thought Park Ranges. NO no and no…think Helicopter, sheriff department and a fully geared man with a gun dropping in on us! Our friend was evacuated out and me & my other hiking partner are told the helicopter would come back for us. Great a free helicopter ride…there’s a catch…one would be left on the side of the mountain until they come back to pick up the other…only one at a time on this ride. I didn’t want to stay and I didn’t want to leave 😪.   What about the car and our after hike beer! Most important to reward oneself for sucha feat!

Then appears Trail Angel number two at a fast rate of speed on a thin ledge where I was ready to dive off the side to avoid being hit! But he stopped on a dime. His name was Max, accompanied by his and his handsome dog Maverick! Max picked us up! He was in a Bronco and Max knew how to drive that car and traverse that mountain!  I had a blast in the back with Maverick.  Max drove us to our car! I dubbed him as a official Trial Angel with one of my hiking poles. Thank you, God, The Universe and  all The Trail Angels. I hope to get my trail wings one day.

Advice

Bring more water than you think you’ll need.

Have one person take responsibility for navigating.

&

Never sit on the sofa because “what if we get lost.”  There’s always Trail 😇s to help show you the way or The Orange County Sheriff’s department.

On to the next peak!