022310, 6AM, Day 4: Our watch alarms sound @6. Daybreak is nearing. Time to break camp, fill our bottles, have a Via, and plot our course. With plenty of sunlight, we can see how to avoid the thickest patches and travel the safest route down the mountain. The downside? The slopes are steep, ground is still covered in 3’ of snow, fallen trees are everywhere. For icing, we get coyote, bobcat, and mountain lion tracks on both sides of the creek. Will? Will who? We had to get home. Sorry, Will. Enjoy the Yeti.

No lunch stops, only thoughts of Big Macs dancing in our heads.

CHRIS: I’m gonna tear into that dollar menu.

COOP: I’m gonna grab a couple of Big Macs.

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022210, 2AM, Day 3: Morning comes sooner than expected. @2AM rain starts pattering. @4:15AM sleet begins to accumulate. @6AM tent domes sag thanks to a fresh 5” of sleet/snow. Gracias, weatherman. All tracks are covered. The 3’ of snow is now  ~3.5’. Looks like we are going to have to posthole our way down the mountain. I’m not sure about you, but when I have to lift my leg to my ear 400 hundred times in a row, I get tired. Man, finally. A friggin’ clearing. Wait, what’s this? Sweet Moses! Fog! Suck. Clouds settle in and bring visibility down to 10’. Compass says we need to go up the mountain through all the rhododendrons. Seriously, who’s in charge of landscaping around here? We melt snow to fill our bottles and Camel Baks, and use the surplus for a cup of Via.

The pu-pu platter of whiteout, waist-deep snow, and cat tracks make choosing the correct path difficult. And, of course, we choose poorly. Gonna have to push through a good ¼ mile of more flippin’ rhododendrons (a.k.a. the vineys).
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022110, 6:00AM, Day 2: Sun up @6ish. Oatmeal and Via are the morning’s priorities. I strike my tent and fill up the water–not sure how long the creek will follow us up the mountain. By 7, Coop and 14 wake up and join me at the pit. Photo ops take up a few minutes after breakfast. 14 tries out my poles. @9AM it’s time to gear up. Coop and I part ways with 14 and cont. up the trail.  Nice to be back on an actual trail. For the first hundred yards it’s hard-packed snow. After that, we’re off trail and following 14′s tracks from the previous day. We’re going up. Each step is painful. Legs are getting pretty tired. Time for a break. Beef jerky and pine nuts go well with a compass and a map. Walkies share the NOAA forecast. Rain is set to move in on Monday. Good news. Today is all clear. 30 min and we’re back on the trail. Voices. Four dudes come down the mountain. First guy has pants and a tee. Second is wearing shorts and long socks. Third and fourth are better equipped, but struggling to keep up with the pack.
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In November, I was held captive by a Yeti. Three months later I was pulled from a western Carolina cave, rescued by a group of volunteers who had seen Missing Hikers. With one of our buddies still lost in the wild I had to act fast. Last weekend, Scott Caper and I geared up, tuned in, and checked the forecast before setting out to find Will Singles.

022010, 10AM, Day 1: The trailhead at Big East Fork warns of extreme trail conditions. We scoff and head in. Within minutes Sister Mary Irony has us going in the wrong direction. No fault of ours mind you. The people who went before us hadn’t a clue where they were going. A quick check of the GPS and it’s confirmed…the parking lot is 50 yards in the other direction. Not a good start for sure. Thankfully, two hikers pop out and we fill their gap. One step at a time, deeper into Pisgah National Forest, traversing snow-covered trails and fighting rhododendrons patches.
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