Should I buy a pass again?

"VtSkier" wrote in message
...

HAR! Retraction will occur.

Say hey, JQ

Hey VtSkier,

The weather down here in the flat lands is Hot!!! I hope the weather is
better up there in the mountains.
A few weeks ago my son Senzo and I met up with a friend in Maine to climb
Mt. Katahdin. It was in the 90's very hot we did the Abol trail up and the
Hunt trail down. We ran out of water on the way up it was much harder that
I ever thought. I went off trail by accident going up the upper slide I
went way too far to the left didn't notice that I was around the bend and
was way out of site and the ledges got further apart and steeper. I started
to wonder if I could get back, I was picturing helicopters and rescuers
repelling down to rescue me. I could hardly move as my legs, arms and back
all started to cramp up really bad. I started think I could die if I
slipped and fell I was out there in no man's land and scared ****less. No
one could hear me calling, I struggled to get back to the trail. I after
about 30 minute maybe longer I finally got to a safe ledge and called for my
son, of course he couldn't hear me as he was already at the top waiting. I
was took so long he started to wonder what I was doing so he went down
looking for me. He stopped about 30 feet above me on a ledge and was
looking down the mountain for me when I seen him. I was so relieved to see
him, I knew he would be able to tell me how to get up to him. I asked him
which way to move as I could not see any way up to him. He yelled back to
me to stay put that he would come and get me. I continued looking up
thinking he was going to some how slide down to me and all of a sudden he
was at my side. He told me to follow him around a blind spot which meant
that I had to hang over a bolder! I wasn't too sure about doing it but he
did it to get to me and did it to get around it, he assured me that it was
safe and there was a ledge on the other side. I kept asking is there a
safer and easier way and said,"no". So, I followed him, it was scary not
knowing what was on the other side but when I got around it, it was as he
said. I couldn't believe the thoughts that was going through my head as I
was stuck out there. I kept telling myself to stay relax and that I would
make it to safety. So my advice to any one climbing the Abol trail is to
stay to the right of the trail marker unless you want to do some ledge and
rock climbing. Keep in mind if you fall you will fall 200 - 400 feet
straight down and probably roll another 200 - 400 feet.
The entire climb and hike took us 12 hours. To end the hike when we got
down to the bottom we had to hike 2 plus miles back to our car in pouring
rain. We were so tired and drained we didn't even put on our rain gear we
just wanted the nightmare to end. We thought that this trip would only take
6-7 hours. We might have been able to do it in that time had we took Abol
trail back down but the Park Ranger had advised us to take the Hunt Trail
down as it was much easier and safer. Abol it very slipper with a lot of
loose rock and it is very steep. The Hunt Trail isn't easy at all
especially the upper portion. I will never under estimate the difficulty
of mountain hike again, it was a great achievement and something that I
won't soon forget.

JQ
Dancing on the edge