Yesterday I talked about how I almost got trapped in a snowstorm. I had to hurry out of the park that I was hiking in, because a snowstorm had come out of nowhere. During my flight for freedom there were several things that happened to me. I didn't have room to talk about them yesterday, because I needed to tell the story of my escape. One of those things was finding a tree that had fallen directly in my path when I was trying to get out.Just after I had calmed my irrational thoughts enough to keep myself injury free, I came upon this big tree that had fallen across the path. As I walked towards it I looked to see how I would get past. I have to say here that these hiking trails aren't normally dangerous at all, but dozens of these trees had been knocked down by the previous storm, and I was right in the middle of a new storm.
This tree was pretty big, and I was in the middle of a forest. Who knows what could happen? I didn't want to end up underneath another big tree, because I didn't get myself out of there. Even though I had to stay calm about the whole thing, I still needed to leave in kind of a hurry. But this huge tree was in the way.
You would think that it would be a simple thing. All I had to do was walk around it. No problem right? Wrong! If you look a little more closely at all of these pictures, you can see that it's pretty impassable. If you look to the left, you can see that the tree still stretches on for just a little way. There are still more trees over there, all spaced very closely together. There is also a lot of debris piled up on that side. Not easy at all.When you look to the right, you'll see that it's the direction the tree fell from. There are several fallen trees side by side over there. Some of them are piled on top of the others. Just like the other side, there are still the standing trees that are very close together, and debris everywhere. This is all natural for a forest, especially in late fall and winter. As you can see, there was no escape to either side of me.
I had only two options now. I could either turn back, which would do me no good at all, or I could try to climb right through the tree in front of me. Going back meant that I would have to walk all the way to the back of the park, and then come back along the other trail. I was about three quarters of the way out now, so I didn't want to do that. The point was to get out, not go back through the park. Besides, I was trying to minimize my danger, and going back wouldn't do that.
Now my only option was to go forward, right through the tree. The main branches were about waist high, and the rest was a tangled mess. This wasn't going to be easy at all. I approached the tree, and examined it to find the best way through. I decided that I had to climb slowly through these branches, and hope that nothing broke all of a sudden, especially me.
Well, I picked my way through the tree, little by little. I had to be careful and choose where to put my feet on every step. I had to grab these branches to keep my balance, hoping they wouldn't break, making me fall into this mass of tangled branches. It was very slow going, and I made it through without incident. I looked back, completely forgetting to take any more photos from the other side of the tree, and I kept going towards the exit.When I look back at this whole thing, especially when I saw that I didn't get those other pictures, I realized what a ridiculous situation I had been in. If I had kept my mind clear the whole time, I would never have even thought of this as a flight out of danger. The danger may have been mostly in my mind. I said mostly because there actually was some real danger, but maybe not as much as I exaggerate here.
Then again, if I wasn't in any danger at all, there wouldn't be a story to tell. There was definitely enough for this story. Maybe they could make my flight a movie of the week. Nah, it would probably have to be made into a comedy. One thing it did do was it gave me another great everyday adventure.
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Lucky to hear that you pass through it safely. :)
ReplyDeleteIt wasn't easy, Rose, but it was kind of fun. :)
ReplyDeleteThe downed tree was a sign to get off the beaten path. I can't help but think of what you might have found if you dared. :)
ReplyDeleteI wanted to do that, WiseAcre, but there was so much debris on either side that I had only one way to go. Plus I was a little worried that the park officials were impatiently waiting at the gate for me. :)
ReplyDelete