Successful Trail Fail?
If you spend time in the outdoors, eventually something will go wrong. It’s a law of nature. But if you survive, those epic failures become the best stories! We’ve all read about amazing accomplishments in the wild, but now it’s time to tell us about the not-so-great times and what you learned from them. Share your best #EpicTrailFail stories on your own page, include this paragraph as a header, and then provide a link in the comments [here] or [here]. We’ll curate and circulate the best stories in future posts. We can’t wait to read about what you’ve survived!
Arionis of Just A Small Cog and Rebecca of Wild Sensibility.
When is a trail fail also a success? For those of you who don’t know, I’m 52 years old and I have a liver disease that saps my energy. About two years ago when I was first diagnosed I had to stop many physical things such as the work I did and unfortunately hiking. It took a while to get things medicinally controlled enough so that I could somewhat start to function again. In the past six months I have gotten back out on the trails and started to build my trail legs back up. I didn’t push it too hard at first, only doing small hikes that got longer and harder each time. Every time I was able to complete the hike I planned, until recently. My wife and I now live a full time RV life and travel to so many wonderful places that are ripe for hikers. I couldn’t pass up the chance to go for the highest point in Texas, Gudalupe Peak. It’s a tough haul but I thought if I started early and took it slow I could make it. I didn’t. With only one mile left to the summit my liver betrayed me. I won’t get into any of the details but it stopped me in my tracks and after a long rest period I had to turn around. So I failed to summit and it really bothered me for a while but then I thought about all the beauty I did get to see. It turns out the place I had the incident was right near an awesome copse of trees near a cliff side that had amazing views. I spent over an hour “recuperating” there before I went back down and it really was a nice time. So I think it might have been a success after all. There is a saying in the hiking community; It’s not about the miles but the smiles. It has become somewhat cliche but in this case it truly felt that way. I think I am going to call it a successful trail fail.
4 thoughts on “Successful Trail Fail?”
Oh Lee, what a bummer. So close and yet so far! I don’t know what will or won’t interfere with your medications, but my husband gets leg cramps and uses Hyland’s Leg Cramp tablets (dissolves under tongue), and I get toe and leg cramps and use Magnesium and Potassium (OTC). Within 15 minutes they’re gone, but I don’t know if it would work for you.
But it is a beautiful sight. Maybe next time you can camp overnight. But no dogs, huh. That sucks.
I do use potassium pills but I forgot to take them that day. The cramps didn’t really get me until I had to stop because of the “episode”. They always seem to get me when I rest for an extended amount of time.
Any adventure in nature where you make it back to the trail head is a success!
Sorry you didn’t achieve your goal, but six-ish miles in those conditions is worthy! You’ll get stronger. Hopefully the next hiking trail will be dog-friendly so you can let the boys pull you up the steepest climbs 😉
You’ve reminded me that Nevada Barr is an author I’ve been meaning to read.
Thanks. Yeah I could have used their help. That trail was pretty much straight up the whole way. I just got turned on to Nevada Barr when I saw some of her books in the gift shop at Carlsbad Caverns. I just finished her first Ranger Anna Pigeon book and it was excellent! It was really cool listening to a book about the same exact area I was hiking in. I will be reading the rest of that series for sure.