Caleb's experience, May 29th 2009...

What a beautiful day. The sun had finally come out after a nightly thunderstorm and an overcast majority. Luke and I had just cross over Port Clinton Pa. and because he had no headlamp he had pushed ahead to make the next five miles on a twenty-four mile day before dark. I on the other had, in no rush, had ventured around an exiting neighborhood in search for a hose to fill my water and stopped on a large rock chair for a nice peanut butter bagel. I know right, sounds like an amazing afternoon. After the snack I continued up the mountain. An hour or so had passed and about two miles into my closing hike I approach a mother and daughter. I stalked behind them for a second to watch the mother pull the daughter’s arm and thus her whole body up and over each approaching rock. I found this a bit comical, the young girl of two or three, fly over the rocks of Pa. However they were both in street close and we were on top of a mountain with about two hours of sunlight left in the day. I knew something a little strange was happening here, so I offered some help. The mother turned and asked if I had been hiking with another hiker. I told her I had. She called for her husband and started to explain to me how this was there first camping trip, their campsite had rattlesnakes at it, and now they were trying to leave the mountain and were lost. In an attempt to calm her down I tried to attach humor to the situation and assured her that I would help. We caught up to her husband who was sitting on the side of the trail out of breath with a cigarette. He explained that they had hiked into Pocahontas spring campsite and been chased out by rattlesnakes. I tried to explain that I thought Pocahontas spring was still a mile ahead. He insisted it wasn’t. I conceded since I’m half aware of landmarks on a normal hike. I offered to take half the load of camping equipment, meet the kids, and planned an exit strategy. When we set out again I had my backpack (usually already heavy enough), three more sleeping bags, a book-bag, and a single strap satchel. As a group we set out mother Roxanne twenty-three year old with diabetes and low blood sugar, father Dustin twenty-eight year old sore tired and chain smoking, four children two girls maybe 2 and 5 and two boys maybe 5 and 7, and I. We hiked for about another hour until we came to the Pocahontas spring. Seeing this the parents who were already stressed and exhausted lost all morale. I dropped my pack to step back to asses the situation: parents sitting on the side of the trail heads down and yelling the children, children ignoring parents laughing and jumping into spring, trail 3.7 miles back to Port Clinton 3.5 ahead to my shelter, light maybe thirty minutes, I excited to be walk upon this experience. In learning that no one else could read a map I asked to borrow it. I found a side trail that sliced through private property down to a road. I offered this as a way out and suggested someone could come pick them up once we made it to the road. While this was the quickest option it was also the steepest. We dropped 800 feet in the mile a significant drop for any two-year-old who had already walked 3.7 miles up a mountain. With no other choice we set out. Once the sun dropped the parents passed out glow sticks to each kid. We started moving slower and slower, children were falling all over the place and mom and dad were struggling to keep up, until we came to a complete stand still. We had maybe made it .3 of a mile down the hill. Since the kids were scared of the dark, bugs, bears, snakes etc. he decided to call a search and find party. The search party had four people coming in from different trails. Since I was older than seven and not traveling by glow stick light I nominated myself to run around the mountain and find the search party. After finding three of them and returning them to the family I said my goodbyes. They parents were very polite and over-thanking. So after a few high-five to the boys, josh and matt, I was off single pack up the mountain and back on the AT at 11-11:30. Three and half miles later I was back with my buddy and crawled into the shelter around 1:00 a.m. However with my feet blistered due to the added miles, my head pounding due to the Luke and Caleb diagnosis of Lyme disease, and my sleeping bag soaked due to the thunderstorm the night before I fell asleep in a surprisingly great mood telling Luke the story and thanking the trail for such a wonderful experience.