At the request of Meg:
One of the Times I Almost Died.
It was a beautiful March day. A few of us decided it would be a perfect day for a hike. It was Sunday, so we got a late start due to church. Seems like we even had a leisurely meal at Arby’s. Regardless, we decided on Ramsey Cascade’s Trail. It’s about four miles, one way. The first two easy to moderate, the last two are moderate to strenuous. No problem, we were young & in decent shape.
We took off under crystal clear brilliant skies, a warning from a man I knew, that was fishing on the road there, distant in my ears: “it’s supposed to storm. Y’all be careful & watch the sky.”
How could it storm on our perfect day? It was 75°. We were in thin pants & shorts. The guys wore Chaco sandals.
We gently climbed, joking & teasing, laughing & taking our time. We stopped for Pringles & cokes that we had stashed in our backpacks. One of the guys was of the competitive nature, & was trying to show off, so he rushed on ahead, saying he’d see us at the top. Fine, whatever.
We hiked on & stopped to admire the water about twenty minutes later. That’s when we noticed, through our oblivion, that things had changed.
“Y’all, I think it’s colder than we realize,” Megan commented.
“Whatdya mean?”
“Watch,” she said, & blew out a puff of air, which crystallized in front of our faces.
We looked to the skies. Like in a horror movie, a dark cloud passed over, putting us in shadow.
“We gotta find Patrick-fast.”
We launched off, climbing faster as the trail got steeper by the minute. People were coming off the mountain in a hurry, trying to beat the storm. We asked them all if they had seen a guy hiking by himself. “Dark hair? Yeah, he was like, running,” several people said. “He’s waaaay up there.”
We came to a stream crossing where a lady was having trouble with her ankle. She thought she’d broken it. She had some people with her, so we tried not to worry.
Megan thought she could hurry & find Patrick & we could start back down. This was before her cheer leading bad knee injury became a problem. It had just begun to rain & was getting heavier by the second. Thunder rolled in the distance.
“Y’all stay here, I’ll go get him,” she said, & tore off up the trail.
We kept plodding up, though, hating to get too far separated. We eventually met them, as we came up, they were coming down. It was really pouring now. After about twenty seconds of screaming at him for leaving the group, we decided best thing to do was get our rear ends in gear & head for the trailhead pronto Tonto.
Lightning was striking all around us. We were in the old growth forest, surrounded by ancient trees. We had two log footbridges to cross. And it was raining so hard the trail was flooded.
We had no rain gear or flashlights. We were pretty much out of food & water. And we were a good three miles away from the shelter of Patsy.
We were already cold when it began to hail. He thought about taking shelter in a rock formation, but were scared of getting hit by lightning. We pressed on, stumbling & falling on the trail, that was steep, flooded, & bumpy due to exposed roots we couldn’t see beneath the rushing water. The guys gave us their ball caps, but we were already drowned rats, & my glasses were useless, all wet & foggy.
We passed the injured woman again & promised to get help at the ranger station if we made it out. We just knew we were going to freeze to death. When we made it to the first footbridge, it was indeed iced over. Carefully, we picked our way across. We hadn’t spoken for some time, united in our desire to simply make it out alive. I cannot stress to you how serious I am. It was freezing cold; we were soaking wet. At the crossing of the second footbridge, we began to breathe a little easier. Soon the trail widened, flattened out, & is graveled. We began to run. We made it back to my truck with chattering teeth. We were various shades of blue. I was shaking so hard I couldn’t get the key in the lock. The only other car in the lot must have belonged to the injured lady’s party.
We crammed in the cab & started shucking wet clothes. I had a blanket & a hoodie behind the seat, & with the heat cranking, we bundled up in those. We still had to get help for the lady we left behind.
We drove down the road as fast as we dared & thankfully met with some rangers going to check the trailhead. We must have been a sight! Four of us crammed in a single cab, wet & bedraggled, nearly naked & wrapped in a blanket with armadillos on it.
“There’s a lady! Broken ankle! Ramsey Cascades!” We babbled incoherently.
They seemed to understand & we parted ways.
All of us turned out ok. Megan went to her dentist to make sure there were no lingering effects. (Long story–longer than this one, believe it or not). I was cold for three days, even though the weather warmed considerably. I have never wanted to be cold again.
I’ve hiked this trail twice since then. I still hate it. It makes me cry. It’s beautiful, but still terrifying. And it’s just difficult.
I hike with more provisions now, for sure, & scoff at those I pass without packs, even on simple hikes. You never know. Be prepared. If it’s 80° in Knoxville, it’s probably 70° at your trailhead, & maybe 50° at your destination. I’ve seen snow on the ground when I was sweating at home that morning.

Every time I tell this tale, the crowd laughs at how dramatic I am. I’M NOT BEING DRAMATIC!!! I’M TELLING IT LIKE IT WAS!!! And I believe you. I wanted to die a few times, too. I remember falling, sliding, & Patrick & Andy just yanking me up without missing a step. I don’t think they even asked if I was okay, because it didn’t matter. You just kept repeating, “we’ve gotta get across those bridges. Lord, please let us make it across the bridges…”