Contemplations of a Rambler..!

So, after that eventful hike to M, we repeated the hike to M, in fact all the way up to ridge the next day along with 2 other friends, sad part was that the sunset wasn’t as impressive, but it was full moon, and the view of the moon was inexplicable in the mountain pass. Simply breathtaking! But this blog is not about that hike, but about a hike in the Hyalite region.

Next day, I just played tennis along with V and some random shopping with the devil, and there was no hiking then, and We( Me, Devil, Ram) had already decided to go to hyalite lake on the Sunday, September 6th. This blog is about that hike, We left home at 3pm rather than the pre decided time of 1pm, and we started the hike from the trail head at 3.30pm. Its a 5.5 mile hike to the hyalite lake which goes along the creek and the hyalite canyon all the way. There are 11 waterfalls in the way, most of them very small but pretty and picturesque. There is hyalite peak which has an elevation of 10,298feet just 2miles away from the lake. So, we hiked with all kinds of conversations and stopping just to pee or take pictures at the falls or to grab an orange from the backpack.

We didn’t see all the falls, as few of them were off the main trail, and we didn’t want to spent time as we had already started the hike a bit late(Btw, the sunset for the day was around 8pm, steadily dropping in the fall season ). The trail wasn’t very hard but rocky and wet at places and with logs and steep climbs intermittently, with small signposts for direction to falls.

The creek flowing with the rustling noise along its path washing everything on its path and falling into fissures, chasms, creating gorges and all the way towards its destiny leaving some elegant views on its path. All three had had a late breakfast, so we were starting to get hungry towards the end of the upward hike. As we had gained some real elevation after 4 miles or so, everyone was tired, but the view towards the Hyalite reservoir  along the canyon was a perfect “U”  with dense pine tress in the Gallatin National forest. The picture was taken where what must have been a glacier or something. Anyways, the view was panoramic.

Just after 5.30pm we reached the Hyalite Lake, It was not as beautiful as the Lava lake or the Fairy lake, but the hike was pretty and the ridge that stood next to the lake was pretty magnificent.

We were all tired, but since it was 5.30pm,  I had an urge to go all the way to the peak, since I believed that I won’t be hiking this trail again esp with the Devil, So I convinced her and started hiking, But Ram stayed behind at the lake, and he told that he will have his lunch and that he wanted to have some solitude. So we, me and devil continued the hike, I believe she was cursing me all the time, but a returning hiker from the peak told that he spotted a mountain goat, that inspired her a bit and we proceeded to view my first Wild mountain goat.

The view from the ridge was worth the pain on my right knee and the slow hike down the ridge, So, I had my lunch at around 7pm on our way back to the hyalite lake, was literally tired, thanks to Gatorade and the electrolytes it supplied. So we reached the lake at 7.15-7.20pm and Started to hike back. Devil was getting tensed about the hike down, as it will get dark quite fast in the mountains, I too figured that we were a bit late, but there was enough light then and I figured light will remain till 8.30pm, and we can reach the trail head at 8.45pm to 9.00pm in dim light.( I was wrong!).

So, the first half an hour, till 7.50pm, the light was pretty good, we were losing elevation pretty quickly. That was good news, So, Devil was leading, and I was behind her, say 20-30yards, and Ram was further 20-30yards behind me. She was nervous about the light factor, and my knee was getting better from the Icy-hot which I applied at the lake. Thankfully the evening was not cold, it was warm, and all three of us were in our shorts. At around 8pm, the sunset was happening behind the mountains, sun was not there and the light was also dimming very quickly, I caught up with Devil and we having hiked a lot, knew each other’s pace, strengths and style of hiking, So Ram was behind 50yards away from us. Both me and devil will stop every now and then and shout “Macha” and waits for his response and will continue our hike down once we hear his reply, at say 8.10pm, Light had faded completely proving my calculations wrong, We were still long way from the trail head, It was a scary situation, We asked Ram to speed up and catch up with us, and we started to run in intervals down the hill and hiked at a very fast pace.

After sometime, when we stopped to shout Ram, there was no response, I peed and we waited for him intermittently shouting his name as loud as we could. We got apprehensive, Fear started to mount inside us, we waited for full five minutes and still we couldn’t hear his voice. We decided to speed up to the trail head, and ask for emergency help if needed from there(BTW, there is no mobile service at the trail head either, we will have to drive 10miles to get signal) We started to climb down with fear and all sorts of thoughts ranging from he getting lost and a possible bear attack.

The adrenaline had started to rush, and the woods were getting darker with each second, after some point of time, We couldn’t see anything apart from the faint trail and the rocks on the trail(rather we weren’t looking anywhere else) there wasn’t any wind, so the pine trees weren’t making much noise to scare us. The hike trail which occasionally  adjoined the creek will treat us with the sound of flowing water. After 8.30, it was black, pitch black. It was hard to see the trail, and devil was dead tired, and both of us could go further only because of our adrenaline rush. All the time, I wasn’t showing her the fear I had in my mind, Coz, She was already frightened, And I was the only source of courage for her, I started to talk encouraging words to her, but she was so tired and frightened and was slipping and tumbling by hitting the rocks and roots on the trail. I was hoping that I don’t get any injury, as I can even lift her to the trail head if she gets an injury, but its not a very amiable situation the other way.

We were happy to see each sign post with the help of light from the mobile phone, idea of using mobile phone as the source of light to hike was not very good as it can reduce our pace very much as We had sticks in our hand, a backpack, and I was holding her with one hand of mine as she was sagging all the way, I had to take the man’s role in here, providing her the comforting words and keeping my own self together. The dark objects in the trail was least friendly. The bottom side of the uprooted pine trees seemed like black bears which skipped few heart beats. It was 8.45pm, Pitch black, then there was a log on the trail, it seemed unfamiliar, She shouted and asked me “Was there a log on our way up..?!?”, it scared the shit out of me, I couldn’t recall either, we were worried that we are on a different trail, I convincingly lied to her that, “Yea it was there” and added that “we even saw dogs up here..!, don’t you remember?”

The adrenaline is man’s(read animal’s) best friend. If there wasn’t such an emergency system in our body, We couldn’t have survived our hike back. The adrenaline rush during those testing times was the most I’ve had in years. It suspended my digestive system, was pumping more oxygen and blood to my legs, arms, brain and improving my reflexes. I guess men are better equipped to handle tough situations and more adrenaline is produced in them than the women(I guess..!) I was literally dragging her, and we finally saw the Grotto falls sign, We were relieved, as it was the last falls but we knew that “its not over until its over” It was still 1mile from the trail head and the fear of Ram was also strolling in our heads, But since I knew that he is sensible kept my hopes up. After 9pm, she was staring at the stars and I was dragging her towards the trail head, she was enjoying the craziest hike she had done and feeling good about the fact that somebody is taking care of her and also the night sky above her head.

We reached the trail head at 9.10pm. There was faint light from the night sky, we opened up the car and took deep breathe and parked the car towards the trail with the headlight ON. We had decided to wait for half an hour before we went looking for emergency help. But after 12-15minutes, There was two eyes visible in the trail, It scared the shit out of us, I alternated between the Dim and bright light to scare if it was an animal, It turned out to be the reflection from Ram’s Backpack, We both left a sigh………!

Ram came inside, and we were driving back reminiscing the turn of events during the downhill hike, and we went onto to see the bright moon over the hyalite reservoir and cursed it why it couldn’t rise when we needed the light most.

-A hiker on his way to Sacagawea peak..!