i once went on an 16 km hike that became a 45 km experience of wandering in the wilderness (of tennessee). it was one of those -- "if i get out of this alive, i'm sure it will have a great life application" kind of moments that become much funnier once they are over.
it all began with a camping trip to
fall creek falls state park in eastern tennessee with some friends from church. on saturday, we went on a very pleasant 3 mile roundtrip hike to a waterfall. one of our friends had even brought his two young kids, so we chose the easy route.
we camped overnight and the next morning while most of our group prepared to drive back to nashville, one of my friends (a very fit kickboxing instructor) asked if anyone wanted to stay and do a longer hike with her. her roommate (also a kickboxing instructor) and i were the only volunteers.
my friend, being not only a very fit kickboxing instructor but also a former wilderness orienteering instructor, decided we would take the most difficult 16 km route. fair enough. however, shortly into the hike, we encountered a fork in the road and decided to take the road (much) less travelled. it was, in fact, so much less travelled that soon we were bush-wacking our way through thick underbrush and climbing over giant boulders and trees covering the path.
by this time, we all knew we were hopelessly lost.
after a steady two hours of hiking down steep slopes to the point where my toes were completely numb, we then started two hours of steady incline. my ever optimistic kickboxing friend, in an effort to buoy our now-flagging spirits, would throw out encouragements such as, "wow! this is a really good calf workout!" to which i would reply, "in other words, we are on a really steep and seemingly endless uphill climb..."
by this time, we had been hiking continuously for 4 hours in 95 degree heat, and I had run out of water after 3 hours.
to be continued... 
waiting for the continuation... 
