*All the characters in this story are non fictional :)
Date: 19th July, 2008
It all started with a regular email chain of trip planning. Mangesh urf Mangya took the lead of initiating the trip( as always). This time SPIT3 gang of north east decided to go to Shenandoah Valley. Only new member (not from SPIT3) was Jiten who was my guest. We had already been to Shenandoah Valley in 2007.All the touristy stuff was covered in the last trip. This time, every one wanted to do something new. Mangesh suggested that we do a hike this time on first day and may be rafting on second day. Everyone was excited. The place chosen was Old rag mountain. It was supposed to be 8-9 mile hike. I was excited since this was my first real hike.. So the plan was set. Jitesh, Jiten, Pushkar, Ritwik, Kushal, Urvi, Santosh urf Santro from ny-nj drive to Mangya's place in DC on Friday night. On Saturday morning, Hardik and Sanju join us and we drive to old rag mountain from DC ( about 3 hours) and start hiking.
Another email chain was going on in parallel. What could it be?? the last movie of legendary Heath Ledger i.e. Dark Knight. The movie had superb reviews. Amol was buying the tickets for the movie for first day at IMAX. I knew that I had to drive on Friday night to DC but I had some other plans in my mind. I got the urge to see the movie. I decided that I will go for the movie and then drive to DC afterwards. Story doesn't end here.. Amol got the tickets for 11 pm show. Tickets were bought at the beginning of the week.
The whole wednesday and Thursday goes by. I didnot tell Mangya about my movie plans. Now Friday begins and the fun begins! Dilemma was still there whether to go for the movie or give those 2 tickets to someone and drive to DC. Finally I made up my mind. I decided to go for the movie and, come back home and then drive to DC in the early morning. Now that I had decided, I informed everyone that I and Jiten will meet the other members directly at the old rag mountain. Mangesh is already furious at my last minute changes in the plan. I wanted some back up for driving since it was a long drive of 7 hours. Ritwik decided to stay back in jersey city and drive with me and Jiten in the morning.
The entire day goes by fast.. Every one is at the theatre and Amol is waiting for me and Jiten to arrive so that he can hand us the tickets.. As always, I reached at the theatre 10 minutes before i.e. 10.50 pm. The entire theatre was full. Jiten was already cursing me. He was in no mood of watching the movie. He was still jet lagged from his journey from India but I dragged him to the movie:) He dozed off in the theatre. As expected, the movie was fabulous. The movie ended at 1.45 am.
The crazy Saturday begins...
I and Jiten reached home at 2.30ish. The fun had just begun. We still had to do plenty of thing before we hit the road. Take the directions, burn CDs for music, pack the bag and if possible, take a nap of 30 minutes (which didn't happen). Finally at 3.45 am, I gave a wake up call to Ritwik. He was ready at 4 and we hit the road. Ritwik drove for first 5 hours. I could take a nap of 2 hours in this journey.. Jiten was sleeping all the way. I decided to go behind the wheel for last couple of hours of drive.
The other members of the gang i.e. mangya, Kushal, Urvi, Santro,Pushkar are already ready. Hardik and Sanju also joins them as per the plan. They started driving from Mangesh's place at 8 am. On the other side, I, Ritwik and Jiten are continuing our marathon drive to Old Rag Mountain. They reached the parking lot of old rag mountain at 10.30am. They were waiting for 3 of us. After 15 minutes of wait, they decided to start the hike. We reached there at 11 am and came to know from the park ranger that group of 7 people just started their hike before 15 minutes. So what do we do? We decided to catch up with them!
Just to give you the background of how unprepared every one was for the hike. None of us had carried a single bottle of water for the hike of 8 miles. Only Mangesh was carrying 10-15 bottles in his bag pack. Every one was doing the big hike for the first time. Now that I have done few hikes in last 2 years, I am lauging at myself, no water for 8 mile hike.
We finally catch up with the first group. Mangesh was finally happy to see us. Remember, no one is carrying any water bottle. After about 3 miles, every one started getting thirsty. But no water :( We met some other hikers and everyone told us one same thing. Hike gets tough as you go up. Everyone was afraid to continue the hike without any water. What happens next??
7 people decided to go back to the parking lot. The remaining '3 warriors' were Mangesh,Pushkar and me. We started hiking. I and Pushkar got some water bottles from Mangesh and that refuelled us.. Hike started getting more beautiful as we went up the mountain until.....
Until bear decided to come and stand right in our way. Along with the other hikers, we got frightened and decided to step back abit until bear moves away from our path. Finally, bear goes away and we continue our way up!
We reached the peak at 2ish and God! It was majestic view from up there. We felt good. I and Pushkar thanked Mangesh for providing us with the water support.
All right, the fun is not complete yet. Now, we start descending trying to reach back to our parking lot. Initially, all 3 of us are together going down at a steady pace. It was a downhill slope and I decided to move ahead with my pace since I thought Mangesh and Pushkar were slow. I informed them that I will directly meet them at the parking lot. I kept on going down at my brisk pace. It was supposed to be 4 mile down which I should complete in 1.5 hours. Did I forget to mention one important thing? I was carrying Mangesh’s backpack and it had his blackberry (AT&T network) and his wallet. I also had the map of the area. It had all the entry and exit into the mountain.
I don’t remember the exact time, but I kept on walking on the hiking trail but I was not reaching my destination. I felt that I may have mis calculated the distance and I should reach the parking lot very soon. I kept on walking. All I had was 1 bottle of water left in the bag. I remember meeting one guy who was going on the opposite direction. He was with his son. I think it may be around 3.30 pm. I kept on walking for atleast another hour. One positive thing was, I was seeing the trail markers on the trees. That kept my hopes alive. And suddenly, I see one bear which was at about 200 feet away. I had no option but to keep walking in the same direction that I was going in. I decided to not make any noise and silently keep walking. I still had not found my destination yet. It was almost 5 pm and I was hoping that I can get out of the forest before 6 pm.
Twist….
While I was walking on my trail, I see a deserted house on my left. I decide to go in the house and check if some one is there who can help me. I had no freaking clue who would stay in this forest. But I still had to go and check it out. I was hoping that some one can show me the direction. But to my vein, the house was empty. I walked for more 10 minutes and I heard some engine cranking. I heard some car coming my way and I was shocked/surprised to see a car on that trail. At first, I was afraid since I didn’t know who would be in the car.
I meet 4 college students who were doing research about the forest and some other phenomenon. They told me that they are staying in the house which was 0.2 miles away from here. Now I realized that, the deserated house that I saw on my way was for these kids. Important thing that they told me was the exit to the trail is very close and is within 0.5 miles. That was a ray of sunshine for me and I was delighted. All along this way, I was still carrying that last bottle of water. I had decided that I will not complete the last bottle of water until I come out of the trail.
Finally, I see the parking lot and I see cars parked. As I had expected, this was a completely different parking lot than the one that I entered through. Nevertheless, I was happy that I came out of the trail in one piece. I must have covered atleast 11 or 12 miles by now.
I opened my map and checked which parking lot this could be, I located the parking lot that I came out on the map. I figured it was on a completely opposite side of the mountain. I had no clue of the road distance between the parking lot where I entered and the one that I came out of. By this time, I already had got cramps in my feet. My last water bottle was over. The daunting task lay ahead of me of findng a way to get back to my original parking lot. The time was around 6 pm.
Mangesh and Pushkar had already descended down on the correct route and they had already reached at the parking lot at around 4.30 pm. They were surprised to not see me since I was always ahead of them. They had no other option other than wait for me. They waited, waited, waited but there was no sign of Jitesh Dani. What could brialliant Mangesh do since his wallet and phone were with me.
I decide to sit down by the side of the road and hope to get assistance from either one of the park ranger cars or some other tourist. For first 5-10 minutes, I saw no signs of park ranger cars. Then I saw few cars pass by, I decided to ask for help. Couple of cars passed by without stopping. I knew, this was my only hope. Then came one American couple in the truck with their 5-6 year old kid. They were kind enough to pull over to my side and asked me if I needed something.
I showed them the map and told them the entire story that I was lost and my car was parked on the other side of the mountain. At first, they were kind enough to give me the Gatorade bottle which I drank in one sip! I can never forget that. After that, they informed me that my parking lot may be about 35 miles away by road and they are heading in different direction.
I asked myself, did I hear that number correctly? 35 miles? How badly did I get lost? I came out of the parking lot which was 35 miles away by road? Wow!! This added more to complication. They offered me to drop to one of the nearest hotels which was within 2-3 miles. They told me that I could call the park rangers from there, they could help me.
In all this, my phone was not working. T-Mobile! no signal. AT&T on the hand was working. Going by the way the day had progressed for me, I couldn’t have imagined for any phone to work. Mangesh’s phone was on AT&T but it was locked by password. So I had no way of calling anyone. One can argue that I could use some one else’s phone which worked and call some one. There was one more twist here. My phone’s screen was broken, so I had no way of accessing my phone book. All I remembered was Pushkar’s phone number in my memory.
We reach at the hotel and they dropped me. I get a sigh of relief to see the restaurant and some people from whom I can take help of. I saw one desi gang and I asked for one of the guy’s phone. I decided to call Pushkar but to my vein, he was not reachable. Now, I had no choice but to call cops and see if they can drop me to the parking lot where my car was originally parked. At first, I found one ATM and I decide to take some cash in case of any need.
In this mean time, Mangesh and Pushkar are still waiting at the parking lot for me. Now they had concluded one of the 2 things, either I have met with an accident or lost my way and came out of some other way. What do they do now? To their luck, they had the car keys. Mangesh decides to drive out of that parking lot and try finding me. Pushkar decided to stay back in the parking lot only in the hope if I come back out of that parking lot again. Unfortunately, that was not happening. So all he could do is sit there and wait. Mangesh promised him, whatever happened, he will come pick Pushkar. So Pushkar shall not go anywhere. By this time 7 pm, every one from that parking lot had gone and all the park rangers were also gone. Pushkar was alone. Remember, Mangesh had no wallet and no phone. He was trying to find me in the national park purely based on his instincts. He hoped that I may have come out of the other side of the mountain. So he started driving towards the Shenandoah Valley National Park entrance.
The other group of 7 people were already at the cabin. Initially, they relaxed. But as the time was passing, they started wondering about 3 of us. It was almost 7 pm and they were expecting us to come back from the hike trail by 6 pm. The cabin was 60 miles away from the old rag mountain. All they could do is wait.
It was time for me to call the 911 i.e. park rangers for the national park. I walked up to the hotel reception counter and explained them my situation. They dialed the park ranger number and gave the phone to me. I informed them that my situation and I requested if they could help me and drop me to the parking lot where the car was parked.
Did I get help from cops?
God had decided and it was going to be difficult for me. Cops told me, the old rag mountain was out of their vicinity and they cannot drop me over there. The park ranger was ‘over’ smart and he decided to give me advice. He gave me 2 options
1. He can drop me to the same place from where I came out and asked me to hike back on the same trail for 5-6 miles which would lead me to the parking garage where I had parked. Was I going to do this? NO WAY! I was in no position to walk back 6 more miles and that too when it was about to get dark. It was summer time, so there were couple of hours of sun light still left. But I had no courage to go back.
2. Another option was to take tha cab. The park ranger gave me cab service number.
I called up the cab service. Remember, this is not new york city nor jersey city where the cabs come in 10 minutes once you call them. This was shenondoah valley national park. As I had expected, the cab service fellow told me a wait time of 2 hours and 95$ charge for taking me from the hotel to my parking lot. I was not sure what to do at that time. If I go to the parking lot after 2 hours, it was very much possible that I don’t find any one over there. So, I needed time to think. I told the cab service guy that I will call him back.
I was still at the hotel reception counter, The manager gets a phone call. Manager sprung back out from his seat and suddenly asked me my name. I was puzzled as to why he is asking my name. I gave the information thinking what’s happening on the other end of the phone call.
On the other end, there was another park ranger who called the hotel from the toll plaza at the entrance of the national park.
Mangesh had started driving towards the national park entrance. He reached the toll plaza. He explained the officer the situation of what had happed to his friend and he was in search of him. Remember, he had no wallet even to pay the toll fee. The officer at the toll plaza had already got some information about ‘Jitesh Dani’ who got lost and he is at the hotel. How did this happen?
The time when I called the park ranger for the first time, this information was broadcasted to all the other park rangers and at the toll plaza as well. The park ranger at the toll plaza asked Mangesh about his friend’s name and the manager at the reception lobby asked my name. Both things matched! Park ranger gave Mangesh my location. I was told by hotel manager that my friend is coming here in 15 mins and he will pick me up.
What a coincidence! Could it have got more crazier or closer than this? I guess not. I walk out with sigh of relief of miracle that just happened. After 10 minutes, Mangesh came to the hotel and picked me up.
What next?
I & Mangesh go all the way to the original parking lot where Pushkar is sitting alone. He had no water and no food from last 4 hours. We picked him up. We picked up some pizza from the nearest place. Now we had to drive 60 miles to our cabin. I knew that, for this duration of 60 minutes, I was going to be under firing line of Mangesh and Pushkar. They were furious at me. They had every right to be angry at me. It was because of me that they had to wait for more than 3-4 hours (no food, no water). I decided to stay put and just listen to them. I had no other choice. Whatever had happened was past. All I could do is listen and ponder over my day how it had progressed. It was about 8 pm by now. We stated driving back.
Is the drama over?
The other 7 people at the cabin are still wondering about 3 of us. Its about 9 pm and we still had not reached the cabin. They started worrying about us. Hardik Kushal and Jiten decided to drive from the cabin to the old rag mountain parking lot to see if they could find us anywhere. Remember, none of the phones were working near the cabin. There was no way of contacting each other.
Hardk, Kushal and Jiten starts driving from cabin to the old rag mountain parking lot at around 9 pm. Shortly after that, after 10 minutes, we 3 reach at the cabin. The remaining 4 people were relieved to see us.
What to do next?
Urvi suggested that one more car go out and chase Hardik’s car to tell them that they don’t have to go to the parking lot. Santro and Ritwik started in 3rd car and started chasing Hardik’s car in hope that they find them since it was only 10 minutes since they left. It was pitch dark outside.
After 15 minutes, Santro came back. They couldn’t chase Hardik’s car and they had to return in vein. Now only thing we had to do is wait for Hardk, Kushal and Jiten to come back.
Finally, they did come back at the cabin at 11 pm since they had to drive 120 miles (60 miles to the old rag mountain parking lot and then back).
I was again under the hammering line and this time, it was Jiten who was angry at me. He had no clue what I was doing. For next 30 minutes, all I did is listen to him.
Finally, all 10 of us meet after 12 long hours. What a day it had been for me! It couldn’t have got more crazier.
We did barbecue at midnight on Saturday.
Lesson learnt from this craziest Saturday is, never ever go alone on the hiking trail ahead of your team members. Always, stay in the group. Since this was my first big hike, I had no clue of things to do and not to do. After this hike, I did plenty of other hikes and this experience helped me a lot. Hope you guys found this interesting!
