Hiking Myself Into Trouble

Fun story-

I took a hike for quite a while until I came to a stream, the same stream that I fell through the ice last year. It’s only waist deep but very cold! It’s probably a few miles from the village but I wondered if I should turn around and head back – my roommate would be expecting me soon and it was getting colder and darker. But I didn’t want to give in and go back. Sometimes you get that feeling like you can’t do something, and I hate that feeling. It’s why, often times, I wind up doing something stupid just to prove my own doubts wrong. You can see where this is going….

thoroughly whooped by Alaska's wilderness
....and yet I still smile.

Anyway, once that negative thought came in my head there was nothing I could do but keep going. The stream is at least 10 feet across, so I backed up and took a running jump, and landed on the slanting bank, consequently sinking towards the water. The bank (and much of the land beyond this stream) is clay and mud, and it’s pretty much impossible to walk through. You sink, and while you’re trying to get your foot out, your other one gets stuck. The clay is what makes you stick when you’ve sunk. So I was trying to climb the bank because I wasn’t in warm enough clothes to fall in the water, although I did wind up getting my entire left leg soaked. Anyway, I finally was able to climb up to level ground. But now I was surrounded by this clay-mud. Each step takes at least a minute just from trying to pull your foot up. This wears down your muscles after a few minutes, and it throws off your balance. So after a while I decided to head to my right because I could see grass in that direction. Well, the turn didn’t go so well. My right foot was stuck pretty good – my foot almost came out of my boot and I couldn’t even move it an inch. When I tried to put my left foot ahead and to the right, facing the different direction, I lost my balance and fell over. The wind wasn’t any help at all. Well, I never expect to stay clean on my hikes, which is a good thing. It turned out great because it was much easier to crawl out than walk out. Once I got to the grass I decided I did enough hiking for the day. I felt completely stupid, once again, for assuming I can overcome the obstacles of nature. This really is a merciless environment, and I’ve lived and hiked here enough to know that. Its beauty and thrill is still too much to keep me away, though.

Before I jumped the stream I was carrying a flat piece of wood I found to set up camp somewhere along the way. I do this early in the year, then throughout the year when I go on hikes it’s all ready set up for me to use as a table or rest, watch the waves rolling in or snow falling, watch the birds, and enjoy the peaceful and beautiful scenery. So anyway, I was carrying this piece of wood up until after I jumped over the stream. I managed to hold on to it, and when I finally stood up, I was so proud that I didn’t give up and go back and that I “conquered” the stream that, overcome by the moment, I threw down the piece of wood triumphantly, symbolizing I was capable of roughing it without something to sit on. I know it sounds silly and dramatic… but in the midst of it, when I’m out there in the wilderness, completely isolated and nothing but my own willpower and vigor to keep going, I become overwhelmed with victory and consequently do things like that. :) I guess you have to experience moments like that to understand. But then, I always realize you can never conquer nature. Immediately after I had my little victory ceremony is when I got stuck in the clay-mud. Living among the Eskimos, you learn great respect for the land. Nature is never “conquered” – now, it may allow you to come out alive or even unscathed, but we – I – should never underestimate the brutality of nature! Beautiful, adventurous, and fun though it may be, it can also be merciless. 

I’ve been very fortunate not to have ever come across a fox with rabies or some other wild animal on my hikes alone, because they are pretty common here. People keep telling me I shouldn’t walk so far out and that I shouldn’t go alone, and that may be true, but I do carry protection. All the same, I may be young, stupid, and naive, but God is still looking out for me.

I finally made it back to Newtok, trudging with the extra pounds of clay plastered all over my body and pretty cold. Of course I had to run into most of my colleagues. Kevin came out and called me back, wanting to know why I was covered in mud. Paula was sitting there laughing at me, and Grant came over and got the story first-hand. Anyway, they know how I am and they get some good laughs over my adventures, and so do I! And like always, I don’t regret going. It was lots of fun and it sure makes me respect the wilderness all the more.