night on the hillside

[knucklehead]

what a night. couple of nights ago i got stranded on the wrong side of the river. in between elkmont and metcalf i waded across the stream, fell in, wasn't catching any fish and somehow believed i would later on. my gut instinct at the time was to just leave. i should have. the sky was somewhat cloudy but nothing too serious looking overhead. i worked upstream about half a mile or so and suddenly noticed that the water was latte colored. i chugged back to where i originally crossed, i thought, and couldn't see bottom anywhere. 845 pm and i was a little concerned. luckily, i thought at the time, i parked near a bridge so i'll just climb over a boulder and down to the bridge and back to the jeep. wrong. hill was way too steep and slick (recent drizzle, nothing heavy where i was). so i wiggled back down and realized it was pitch dark. and my flashlight quit working. i had nothing but a camera, a fly vest and a fishing pole. and wet clothes. tried for an hour or so but couldn't get any kind of fire going, even with the lighter i had. i had gathered some sticks before my light died and was able to use them as a semi-blanket. so...6 am rolled around and i could finally see stream bottom. waded across easily and made it to work at 11 that morning. i'm never venturing out so unprepared again. no matter how far i go. i slept less than a 100 feet from my ride. what a night....
anyone else got stranded stories?

[GrouseMan77]

Your name says it all.

[Crockett]

Wow I know that must have been frustrating to be stranded so close to "civilization" and the road. Did you actually sleep any and how much traffic goes through on little river road at night just curious lol?

[Rog 1]

If it doesn't kill you it only makes you stronger...so they say...all my vests/pacs have one of those throw away plastic ponchos in them...along with the lighter you may also want to carry one of those fire starter sticks...Walmart sells them in the camping section...don't weigh hardly anything and work pretty well...

[NDuncan]

Thanks for sharing this. It's a good tale of caution to anyone fishing around dusk in the summer. It could potentially rain up high every day in the summer with all the humidity, and you may not even know it has rained up high from where you are. And you proved that you don't have to be far from the road to get stranded! Glad you made it through ok.

[GrouseMan77]

Originally Posted by GrouseMan77

Your name says it all.

After thinking about it... I just wanted to make sure that my post wasn't taken the wrong way by anyone.

I almost always take measures to make sure that any unplanned overnight camping trip will be more tolerable (snack or two, striker, big knife).

I'll give you (knucklehead) props for making it to work the next day. I would like to think that I would have kept on fishin.

[Speckleman5]

If I was forced to sleep on the ground 100 feet from my vehicle there is no way in **** that I wouldn't fish the next day. Period. haha

[ifish4wildtrout]

Glad you made it out okay.

Sometimes I think I carry too much stuff, but it definitely would not be enough if I got stranded. I do always carry my water filter, a little food, and 4-5 lighters.

I always leave my wife a note with explicit details of where I am going with the local authorities phone numbers.

I guess it would be a bit embarrassing to have a search and rescue team rescue me 100 feet from my vehicle.

[Trip]

Originally Posted by ifish4wildtrout

I always leave my wife a note with explicit details of where I am going

I do the same with a twist.

Ever since I started riding a motorcycle, I bought a big dry erase board and hung it up in the garage. It's good for stuff I need to remember and letting my wife know where I have disappeared to.

[mora521]

Classic city slicker story