Trekking with Tom
This was a wierd weekend....fortunately not as much for me and rather unfortunately for people I encountered that day. A new friend in the city called me for a trek to Shenendoah Valley (the White Oak trail). "It's going to be a simple one, the trail"...yeah I should have taken that with a sackful of salt.
The trek started a little late in the afternoon so we already knew we'd never reach the top of the mountain in time to return before sunset. While we caught our breath just before we turned back downhil, little did we know that we'd no longer be walking back as the light-hearted bunch of four who started the trek with a blissful lack of awareness of things to come.
We saw a very worried looking trekker coming down the slope above us with two rucksacks. Obviously the owner of the second sack was in trouble. He sure was, considering that he was a hugely overweight fellow in his mid 40's, who had just puked everything in his system out and was obviously in NO shape to stand, leave alone walk. The trail was narrow and rocky so no chance we could carry him without a stretcher. There was no way we could call the forest rangers -- no phone network -- or ask other descending (and indifferent) trekkers to call for a helicopter to pick him up. The only option left was to accompany the sick fellow and the poor coordinator of the hiking group, down the trail, which by the way, was not a smooth one. We came to know later that Tom, the sick man -- was under medication for depression, after having lost his son a few years back and....was HALF BLIND!!!!!!!!!!!!!! By then, our collective sympathy turned into a big wave of disbelief. I mean, HOW can someone with so many health problems have the guts to turn up on this trek.... WITHOUT any emergency savers in place. The coordinator later told us that Tom had enlisted for the trek saying he was under no medication. (!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)
Anyway, what could have been a 45 minute walk downhill turned into a backward stitch operation, wherein we walked in groups of two and the leading group walked ahead only to walk back towards the sick unit group to see if they are ok and go on again...
Anyway we returned to the parking lot only to meet a big family of 8 locked out of their van...and proceeded to help them find a hanger or something to crook open the lock. In the end, a combination of my comb and a metal rod worked.
On our way back, my friend was informed that her apartment had to be abandoned for a few days because it was suddenly infested with 100s of flies....yes, houseflies. The things that happen to people sometimes! No need to mention what I did on sunday. One positive fallout : discovered that pest bombs are not really like hand grenades. The other positive outcome -- got this pic.