The Pemi Semi Loop

“does your mother know that you left an injured person on the mountain so you could continue hiking.
shame on you all.

so answear my question

did you all get off the mountain at the same time on the same day?

a simple yes or no”

“Hypocrite,

Do you have a perfect body on which nothing ever goes wrong? Well, when you find that perfect body, please let the rest of us bp'ers know about it! Until then, do not lecture anyone about their choices made with a healthy body in mind. I believe most of us are mature enough to know our bodies and choose routes accordingly. Sometimes, "sh*t" happens.

As for the rest of the group continuing on? First, they were ahead from the start and perhaps did not know how bad my knee hurt. I made a choice to end early. Did it suck? Yes. Did it suck that only one person hesitantly decided to see me down the mountain? But....that person could have continued on his trip and left me alone. With or without someone - I'm sure I would have gotten down the mountain. I'm just very grateful to have had someone there....it made it a bit easier.

I have no hard feelings towards the others. They are great guys and I would hike with any of them again! Now, if I had a bone sticking out of my leg or was very ill or suddenly went blind and they all bailed - I'd be dang sure to get better fast and go kick their butts! LOL

So, stop trying to stir up trouble whomever you are that is so cowardly you must throw your insults from behind a mask.”

“Ok I don't usually feed trolls but I feel that I need to respond.
Yes I had a great time on this hike, and I would be happy to hike with any of these people again.
Do I regret staying back with Twinkle Toes when she was injured? NO! Do I regret going down off the mountain with her and cutting my hike short? NO! Do I regret hiking slow on Friday when MadRivers back was acting up and he was hiking slow? NO!
The only thing that I would ever regret is leaving a fellow hiker hike alone injured or tired. That is not the way that I am. I would do the same thing if it was a total stranger that I came across on the trail.
I hesitated in my descion to go with down the mountain with Twinkle Toes only until I realized how long and difficult of a trail it was going to be. If I had let her hike down the trail alone I would not have slept that night worrying if she had made it. This has nothing to do with her being a girl, I would have done the same for any of the people that I hike with.

We hike in groups with other TTer's so that we are not hiking alone. I don't believe in letting anyone fall too far behind. On a hike this spring we saw what could happen when someone gets too far behind. We lost a hiker, and spent 3-4 hours hiking around the woods looking for him. Luckly he wasn't hurt but made the unwise descion to bail without telling anyone.

I understand the hike your own hike idea but I believe that when you enter into a group hike you make a descion to carry some responsiblity for everyone in the group.”

“Hypo is just trolling to stir up trouble, twink. Fact is, he/she/it musnt group backpack.

But, since the point was brought up, it makes for some interesting discussion...

I've rarely heard of a group trip where somebody didn't bail early due to a nagging injury, blisters, or illness. It has happened on all 3 group hikes I've been on.

And it becomes dangerous for the whole group at some point to wait around too long, when weather, water sources and darkness becomes an issue.

Our Pemi-Semi was actually pretty standard under the circumstances. The "injured hiker" issue was a recurring bum knee - not a sudden thing, like a break, that would requrie a team to provide direct physical help.

The "injured hiker" never hiked alone - some guys went ahead to secure a campsite, one person (me) hung back to see how you and your hiking mate (LThiker)were doing, to see what you wanted to do, and to let you know what the trail would be like if you continued. I provided two options to get out & a recomendation, plus directions once out.

There was a hut visible, just over a mile away, and your hiking-mate stuck with you up until the turn off point, where he correctly assessed by your progress that you really needed the calming company to guide you out - not so much direct physical assistance. Plus, at that point it would have been dangerous for LThiker to try and continue himself, as he would not have reached a water source before dark.

Upon me meeting up with the group that went ahead, out of concern we decided to get out the next morning, versus continuing on for another day and 1/2 as planned.

All this was pretty normal stuff.

Every climbing/backpacking group involves both shared responsibilty and self responsibilty - where it is made sure that those who need help are helped, those who volunteer to do the help sacrifice part or all of their trip plans, and the person who needs help genuinely wants only the amount of assistance really necessary so that the group can carry on without them. Over the past 11 years, I personally have been on all three ends of this spectrum, and the code hasn't changed.”

“nice @ss.............and I'm not talking about the hypocrite either!

BTW it really did look like a Pterodactyl...no really it did!!”

“Sure you weren't having flashbacks Pete?”