What was your worst "I'll never, ever, EVER do that again" trip?

[Scott Card]

Hook, line and sinker.... I'm not taking it.

[Sombeech]

I would have been more embarrassed with the killing part! I just about tear up when I catch a fish that is bleeding and I know I'm going to have to kill it.

[Randi]

I would have been more embarrassed with the killing part! I just about tear up when I catch a fish that is bleeding and I know I'm going to have to kill it.

Uh-huh, yeah riiiiiight!


Thanks for starting this thread Spooky - I hope that more folks will post up their not so fun experiences. Interesting reads from both you & Chere! And you too Paul!

I actually don't have any horrible trip stories, cuz in the end, everyone survived and it all worked out. My daunting or frustrating moments were all chocked up to experience, and looking back, I don’t think now, that I would change anything. Even the injuries I incurred on occasion brought about interesting events that I’d not have experienced had the injury not occurred.

Guess that’s the epitome of me making the best of the situation. : )

So even though I've had my share of near epics, semi epics, and just plain weird things happen (usually due to my own incompetence or lack or forethought/planning) nothing really stands out as something that I look back on as being too horrible.

OK, so here’s one for the Bogley archives; sorry, but it's gonna be a repeat for some of you.

About 5 years ago, my girls Sarah (14) and Rachael (10) & I, were heading out to a Tom Fest canyoneering event near Goblin Valley, driving from California. I got pulled over in Escalante for doing 65 just outside of town, where the speed limit was actually 35 or 45 still, so the cop gave me a ticket. He informed me that my license would expire tomorrow on my birthday as well. “I know that” I replied, though it was actually news to me.

So we finally arrive in the vicinity of the abandoned airport where everyone was meeting up. It’s a fair distance down a dirt road in a pretty remote place. We got a bit turned around and lost on our way in, but the recommendation to “follow those tail lights!” from one of my daughters did the trick, and soon we were socializing with old friends, and making new ones. A light rain that evening had 20 (or more) of us sardined into Tom’s party tent, which made for some real cozy hobnobbing.

Next morning, we all headed off to do our canyons, with the girls and I going for Quandary direct with a rather largish group of folks. The hike in was awesome, the company was fun, and my girls were amazing as usual.

So we’re about midway through the canyon when we get to this largish pothole which requires a drop into it, a swim across and a climb out. One person goes down, does the deed, then sets up a zip line for most of the group. All but moi and a couple of other people who are trailing at the end. I take the plunge, swim across, and proceed to climb up an etrier secured by the venerable Hank Moon, when all of a sudden ‘POP’ goes the knee! ‘What was that?’ cries Ryan. ‘Oh shit! It’s my knee! I cry. Not literally ‘cry’ as in tears were falling. It didn’t really hurt as much as it scared me. My knee just went ‘pop’ and my leg completely gave out!

I realized right away what I did wrong as far as the maneuver went – I had my right foot up on the entrier, my left leg was twisted at an angle, and I went to hoist myself up without regards to the twist, or the extra weight of my waterlogged backpack! Great, just great! Luckily, I had a good support team around, and I wasn’t completely incapacitated. I was able to hobble out of my own accord, but had to be very careful not to weight my leg in a certain manner or it would just go limp. At any moment, if weighted incorrectly with whatever damage I incurred, I’d simply fall on my face.

*Note: I had been canyoneering in Az. the w/e before and had done Cibique canyon, which required a fair amount of stemming up canyon, above a tumultuous stream way. Having short legs, it was quite a stretch for me and I may have compromised my knee a bit with those maneuvers. And perhaps running down the Emerald Pools trail the day before wasn’t such a good idea either?*

Anyhow, here I was having driven a considerable distance in order to do canyons with my daughters and friends, and the first day out I was in trouble.

The rest of the trip was daunting, and the hike out was miserable, but more than that, I didn’t know what was wrong. I was hoping to be OK by the next day – hahaha, how na

[Jaxx]

Holy Cow Randi! That is a crazy trip! Glad everything worked out in the end.

[Riseforms]

I have lots of "never again's" but most of them revolve around wedding receptions with open bars. Never again!

[ststephen]

Great story Randi. Compared to yours, mine "doesn't have a leg to stand on".

Someday I'll write up when I broke my wrist backpacking in the Sierras. It was almost worth it just to enjoy having Robin help get me dressed and undressed every day on our hike out

[Ih8grvty]

No time to sit and type up a story, but I got a million of them!
I just wanted to ask a question thats sorta in line with this thread.
I had many bad, scary,miserable adventures. I hated it while I was there and living it. Now those times I hated and regretted and wished I was home in warm safe bed, they have become some of my favorite and most cherished memories.
Anyone else finding that to hold true for them as well?

[ststephen]

No time to sit and type up a story, but I got a million of them!
I just wanted to ask a question thats sorta in line with this thread.
I had many bad, scary,miserable adventures. I hated it while I was there and living it. Now those times I hated and regretted and wished I was home in warm safe bed, they have become some of my favorite and most cherished memories.
Anyone else finding that to hold true for them as well?

I heard the definition of an "adventure" is a hardship which is retold. So definitely yes!

[accadacca]

Enjoying the stories. I need to think of a good one.

[snccoulter]

This comes from my wife and we were not expecting anything but sunny days so we had basically nothing we needed. I have never gone out unprepared again. I would have had my supplies but I was on vacation from CO and I had not planned on any trips above sea level.

It was April 02 ....
[SIZE=3][FONT=Consolas]We took a trip up to the cabin in Shaver Lake CA... Unsure if the roads were clear after we turned off the main road, we decided to head in from the top... we turned off the main road and were greeted with a snow bank that Mr. Coulter said "I can drive over this" and promptly got us stuck. We got unstuck and he decided to KEEP GOING and as he was driving right over the very middle of this snow bank, the truck fell through -every inch of tire we had was underneath the snow and the frame was on the snow bank... We started digging and it kept getting later and later and later... As the sun was starting to go down we thought we might as well start walking back to the small mountain town exhausted (12 flippin miles) and try to find effing cell service on the way back in. We had his little beagle pup fowler with us at the time. We're talking just a few months old. After about an hour of walking - the dog quit and we had to put him in the backpack and carry the little rat. So we finally find a spot where we had cell service, called a tow company and they told us we were too far out and they would NOT come to get us. WTF. It was DARK by now and the temps were dropping well below freezing

[Bo_Beck]

I'll not use names as to protect the innocent:

Quite a while back I got an invite to help a fellow set up a Zip-Line. Granted, I had set up lots of highlines, (sloping, sagging, with and without reeves, etc.) so it seemed logical for this fellow to ask me to help set up a zip-line. Well....I had never set up a "zip-line", but I din't tell him this! A rope was stretched across a 300' chasm and I relied on my knowledge of tensioning systems to insure a "tight" zip-line. This fellow, my son and I stood on the highest anchor point of the zip-line and eased a backpack filled with rocks onto the line for a "dummy test run". We let it go and it gained momentum rather quickly. Soon the rock laden pack slammed into the opposite wall where the bottom anchors were placed. We decided to de-tension the zip-line and give it another go. This time the pack gained momentum, but somewhere around 2/3 rd's of the way down began a rapid slow-down and the pack just tappity-tapped the opposite wall. Well, we must have been satisfied because the next go-round was with a human and a real live test. The fellow eased himself onto the taut line and then let go. He too gained momentum quickly, and as he arrived at midspan, turned to my son and I with a big grin that showed success as he slowly decelerated. Big problem!!! My son and I pointed and yelled, "Hey...turn around!" As he turned around, the backpack full of rocks was taking it's turn as it gained momentum to greet him very soon! The rock filled pack (our dummy) met our human test pilot (also our soon to be dummy) just after midspan with a thump! We hollered, and soon found that our dazed friend was a bit shaken, but no huge physical injuries had been sustained. This is when both my son and I almost fell off the cliff with laughter! Whew!

Now for the real test. Remove the bag of rocks and my son volunteered for the safe ride! Weighing in at around 120 Lbs. Brandon had a great ride and almost arrived at the other side. I had to toss a rope up to him and then "tug-boat" him to the landing zone on the far side. All of a sudden I had this revelation! We must see how much the Zip-line will sag under a much larger load? Instead of bringing Brandon in to the landing pad, I bear hugged his legs and lifted my feet. It's amazing how efficient the pulley was, because within a matter of 1-2 seconds I was now suspended 20' above the ground clinging to my sons legs for dear life! "Brandon! Grab the zip-line above you and ferry us to the anchors. This time the fellow watching us got his opportunity to laugh his ass off! He laughed so hard that he dropped his camera and broke it.

Anyway, many zip-lines later we haven't repeated this "Three Stooges" scenario again!

[Spooky]

Husband and I decided to celebrate our anniversary by camping out in Grand Gulch, so we could explore a canyon there. I think it was Elkhorn or Cigarette Canyon...one of those. This location was remote. As in...off of the main road that was remote enough, on a dirt road that was at least 10 miles long back into what appeared to be nothing. We pitched our tent, grabbed our Moab Brewery Growler and got ready to hike into the canyon the following morning.

Then a truck and camper pulled up with 2 couples in their 60's. Bad enough to be in such a remote spot and end up with company....worse that they decided to go all porno on us within a few feet of our tent. They stripped down, stood in a dry stream bed with a bucket of soapy water and sponges and started bathing each other. I kid you not. If that wasn't ick enough, they sounded like a porn soundtrack. LOUD. "Ohhhh....AHHHH....Mmmmm..." We were hiding in our tent wondering if this is what happens if you take Centrum 50. We were dying. I said, "Can't we just trip down the road a bit?!" and husband said, "Maybe they're just European." Like that makes it okay?

They finally finished the sponge bath porn scenes and went into their trailer. Soon enough, our entire tent was filled with second hand pot smoke.

Who'd have thought it, way the hell out there?!

[uintahiker]

Great stories here! Usually my adventures in the realm of "I'll never do that again" revolve around a long hike with great fishing at the end of it. I get back and tell myself that I won't do it again. Then next year rolls around and I start to think about how good the fishing was and have forgotten about the terrain and distance. So I do it again. Then I tell myself the same thing.

[Sombeech]

They stripped down, stood in a dry stream bed with a bucket of soapy water and sponges and started bathing each other.

Pics or it didn't happen

[ststephen]

Pics or it didn't happen

I know. The story is just so unbelievable. I mean the fact that they didn't smoke up before the porno mutual bathing session just makes it hard to believe.

[Sombeech]

I know. The story is just so unbelievable. I mean the fact that they didn't smoke up before the porno mutual bathing session just makes it hard to believe.

Vanessa Kensington: Do you smoke after sex?
Austin Powers: I don't know, baby, I never looked.

[mattandersao]

Husband and I decided to celebrate our anniversary by camping out in Grand Gulch, so we could explore a canyon there. I think it was Elkhorn or Cigarette Canyon...one of those. This location was remote. As in...off of the main road that was remote enough, on a dirt road that was at least 10 miles long back into what appeared to be nothing. We pitched our tent, grabbed our Moab Brewery Growler and got ready to hike into the canyon the following morning.

Then a truck and camper pulled up with 2 couples in their 60's. Bad enough to be in such a remote spot and end up with company....worse that they decided to go all porno on us within a few feet of our tent. They stripped down, stood in a dry stream bed with a bucket of soapy water and sponges and started bathing each other. I kid you not. If that wasn't ick enough, they sounded like a porn soundtrack. LOUD. "Ohhhh....AHHHH....Mmmmm..." We were hiding in our tent wondering if this is what happens if you take Centrum 50. We were dying. I said, "Can't we just trip down the road a bit?!" and husband said, "Maybe they're just European." Like that makes it okay?

They finally finished the sponge bath porn scenes and went into their trailer. Soon enough, our entire tent was filled with second hand pot smoke.

Who'd have thought it, way the hell out there?!

DANG! First someone catches me screaming like a girl as a leopard attacked me, now someone brings up the one time I was the proud recipient of a sponge bath, followed by some chronic WTF?

[accadacca]

Soon enough, our entire tent was filled with second hand pot smoke.

Did you inhale?

[snccoulter]

Drink to much saki. I just found this one one monday night. Had to deal with the kids in the morning. Ouch... But Iron Man 2 was cool drunk...

[tanya]

Moving to Las Vegas.