Made it

So, I made it. Though, twice I thought I might not, I have in fact lived to tell the tale. Please forgive the wretched grammar of my previous post. It was done from a cell phone in the dead of night with animals running around my "tent", so I plead paranoid fear as the cause of my poor word choice. One time during the night a breeze picked up and lifted my tent such that it scraped against a branch making, and I am not exadurating here, a noise that was JUST like a growl. All the other scrub was so flimsy it just made a scraping noise, but this... whew, my heart rate jumped to somewhere around 288 and I just laid there saying, "That was NOT a bear, it was a twig. That was NOT a bear, it was a twig. That was NOT a bear, it was a twig." It was, of course not a bear, but my primative brain, charged with keeping me alive, would hear none of it for at least a half-hour. It was a blessed releif when I heard raccoons cooing and muttering a few feet from my tent because then, at least, I knew there weren`t any bears immediately near by. Its funny what being alone in the dark on top of a mountain with nothing but a sleeping bag and a tarp will do to your sense of welfare.

The climb itself proved to be intensely grueling and occasionally perilous. I only really fell once, and fortunately it was onto a ledge of moss and cushy leaves. Had I done that in one of dozens of other places, I wouldn`t be here now. There was one point, during my descent, where I had lowered myself down into a scenario where I had to choose which path was less likely to get me killed. I really did not like that. I had to either skim across a rock slide that went straight down for 30 meters and then dropped off for 15 meters, or climb straight up above me along a face of loose rock and lyriope. I chose the lyriope over the rock slide. Lets just say I`m never solo climbing an unknown face again.

Lessons learned:
1. Check out your gear before you go camping with it. Make sure you bought a tent and not a tarp.
2. Addendum to #1 - Do the same with your sleeping bag. Make sure it isn`t total crap like mine was.
3. Never judge by chance what can be decided by wisdom, especially when your life is on the line.
4. Don`t go sleeping in the woods with marauding bears if you don`tw want to die... or bring an air horn so as to scare them away or to at least go out with a bang.
5. Most woodland creatures are more scared of you than you are of them... unless its the dead of night and you`re freaking out. They`re right at home. Mwa ha ha ha.
6. If you are going to lug a pack up a mountain, take out the 20 pounds worth of "tent" poles that you`re not even going to use BEFORE you make a vertical ascent.
7. Granola is a good enough trail food. `Pocari Sweat` tastes like grapefruit and vomit flavored water when you are desperately thirsty.
8. Addendum to #7- Japanese sport drinks, as a rule, are NOT cool.
9. When faced with a scenario in which your inability to hold on to a root, or said roots inability to support you weight, has the consequence of your death and/or dismemberment, you should definitely pray and make sure that you are right with your Maker.
10. In the words of Winston Chuchill and the Spirit of our Lord, "Never give up. Never give up. Never give up."