A Non-Hiker Goes Hiking, Part 1

This past weekend I climbed Dugger Mountain, the second highest peak in Alabama. I was invited by my sister and her husband, both experienced hikers, to make the 3 mile hike to the summit. Not sure what to expect, other than a fun time and a sense of accomplishment, I went.

Dugger Mountain is in the Talladega National Forest, approximately three and a half hours from Montgomery. My sister said she and her husband hiked it before, and that they love it because nobody else goes there. Perhaps other overnight hikers prefer other places to climb. When we finally got to the bottom of the mountain to begin our ascent we saw two automobiles; one Jeep with two backpackers (and a medium/large sized dog), and a Toyota Camry. My sister told me with a surprised expression that nobody ever comes here, but apparently other people couldn’t resist the beautiful sunny day perfect for a hike.

When we got out of the car, two men and two women, emerged from the woods and went to the Camry. And unlike us, and the couple in the Jeep, they did not have any backpacks or hiking gear. One of the men looked like a wild-eyed Sam Elliott, and the other (I kid you not) looked like Charles Manson, minus the swastika on the forehead. And they began asking us questions like “Where are you hiking? The north trail or the south trail?” “Are you spending the night?” And we’re about to climb three miles straight up with our car parked behind this Camry. By the way, my Kindle was in the car since I’d read stories from it on the way up (which I’ll not bring on an overnight hiking trip again). My sister said it was not unusual for hikers to ask others questions, just that it was unusual for other people to be hiking this mountain when they go. So I, the novice, wondered why these four people came from the woods without any gear and began a barrage of questions. Of course, there were three possibilities: 1) They were going to break into the car, steal my Kindle, and everything else not tied down; 2) They were going to steal the car; or, 3) They were going to follow us up the mountain and kill us all. Let the hike begin!

About 30 minutes into the hike—with a 40-50 lb. pack on my back—my left hip started to hurt, but there was still a long way to go. We had hiking poles, which looked like ski poles, and they were invaluable. So we continued our trek with my brother-in-law in front on “snake and spider web patrol”. About halfway up, he stopped, looked behind at us and smiled. “What is it?” I asked. “Snake,” he said. This black and gray snake lay right in the middle of our trail and was not going anywhere. To my untrained eye, I’d say he was about four or five feet long. But the snake did not react. So my brother in law went around it. And then, moments later (several moments later) my sister and I did, too. But the snake did not move, dart, spin, or react in any way. “Just sunning,” my brother-in-law told us.

We stopped a few times to catch our breath, drink some water, and eat some GORP for energy. GORP stands for “Granola, Oatmeal, Raisins, and Peanuts,” although ours had banana chips, almonds, coconut, papaya, and raisins. Finally, we reached the top of Dugger Mountain in about two and a half hours where we looked down on a tiny town below and had an almost 360 degree panoramic view (I say almost because trees obscured much of the view. Did I mention this was the wilderness?). We rested a few minutes and then began setting up camp. Remember, you bring with you everything you need (water, food, tent, toilet paper), and leave no sign of it when you leave. We set up our tents (which were blowing away in the cold wind that blows on top of the 2nd highest peak in the state), rolled out our sleeping bags, and gathered wood for a fire. We grabbed only good wood that had fallen down, which means we did not chop down any living trees nor use wet, damp limbs. Therefore, we had to chop limbs from fallen trees using a sharp knife that would make Crocodile Dundee proud (Search “Crocodile Dundee knife” to see the clip if you haven’t seen the movie). This was very exhausting, especially considering I just hiked three miles up a mountain with a sore left hip and then some (yes, I am going to keep saying how far I hiked). We saw four hawks circling above us. Maybe they were vultures. I told them to keep flying because we would be coming back down the mountain! Ironically (or because of this), they flew away.

Finally, it was time to start the fire, which we could not do with a lighter because that just wouldn’t be cool. Instead, we pulled out some cotton balls coated with Vaseline. Why? Because Vaseline is petroleum jelly, and petroleum does what? Yes, it burns. So we laid some kindling in the fire pit my brother-in-law made on a previous excursion, then put a pulled-apart Vaseline-coated cotton ball on top, and whipped out the flint and steel. I’m not joking. They make this flint and steel in an orange plastic box designed for camping. My brother in law, the former fireman, showed me how to use the steel to strike against the flint to spark onto the ball. Once the spark lit the mound, I blew into it to get it going, then added more sticks and—voila!—a campfire.

My sister told me this was a luxury trip, which means they brought meat to grill, coucous to warm up, French bread and Alouette cheese, and a bag of wine (which was in a box, but bagged wine is easier to pack than boxed wine). Yep, this made “roughing it” not so rough. Soon, the sun had set and the stars came out on a clear night. Although the trees obscured a lot of the night sky (although many of them had yet to bloom), we could still see several constellations. And while we sat around the campfire, eating our meals and drinking our wine underneath the stars, we heard a howling in the distance. My sister and brother-in-law looked at each other with wide eyes and deep affection, and said, “Coyotes! Oh, we’ve never heard coyotes before!” This was turning into a trip of firsts, but my inexperienced mind wondered, “Where are they? If they’re below us, are they coming up? Or are they in the woods waiting for a snack?” After being assured they would not harm us, and after the meal was over, we turned in for the evening.

Did I come home?! To be continued...