THE DAY HIKE

 I am one of those people who loved to read about a lot of different things, whether Egyptology or military history, I liked to learn different things. Of the recent things I have read about is spelunking. It seems so exciting to go exploring underground! The book had plenty of pictures of stalactites and stalagmites, quartz and just beautiful rooms with such splendor. I couldn't wait to get into my first cave.

 I asked a few people I knew in the neighborhood, and no one knew of any local caves. One neighbor said to go toward the mountains. There were lots of caves up toward Townsend.  I headed up to Townsend to try to find out some information. Near the entrance of the Smokey Mountains National Park, there was a camp store. I talked to a guy named Burley. I introduced myself and he did the same. I told him what I was looking for and he pulled at his beard for a while as he thought.

 He told me of a place he heard people hike to and explore a cave near Tremont. It was several miles into the mountains of the state park. He drew me a crude map and explained how to get to the trailhead. The hike would take a few hours, and I figured I would spend an hour in the cave, so this was an afternoon excursion. I would go home and start off in the morning.

   The next morning was a cloudless day, in July of 1986, and I grabbed a few things for the hike. An old surplus army canteen of water, a peanut butter sandwich, a kerosene lantern, and a walking stick. I found a backpack to put it all in. After I had everything gathered, I felt I was ready to go. I stopped by the gas station and made sure I had enough kerosene for the lantern. I didn't want to go off with an empty lantern, that much I knew. I made sure to get a box of matches as well.  

 As I drove the forty-five minutes back to Tremont, my excitement grew. My imagination was going wild. I was imagining the pictures I saw in the book, and I could imagine being in a cave full of artifacts or one filled with crystals. Since this was a cave people had visited enough times, there was probably nothing new to discover, But I was excited.

 I parked at the trailhead and got my walking stick, backpack, and lantern out of the trunk of the car. I checked Burley's map before I started my hike. Follow the trail for three and a half miles to a backcountry campsite eighteen. Then you take the left fork that trails across the creek. I figure I'll take it a step at a time. Onward to campsite eighteen!

 As I walked, the trail wound through the deep timber of the Smokey Mountains. I took a break and got a long drink of water and took in the beautiful scenery. I thought I had seen some pretty sights, but it was a wonderful hike. I heard something walking up on the ridge. Whatever it was must have smelled me and ran off. I could hear it crashing off through the woods.  

 I had to keep moving and following the trail. The map wasn't exactly to scale, but it seemed accurate. The trail went over mountains and down through valleys. By the time I got to campsite eighteen, I was drenched. I took another drink of water. It was hot! I ate my sandwich and enjoyed the scenery. I looked at the homemade map again, but it was wet and matted together. I laid it on a rock and then gently unfolded it. I had sweated through my jeans and the map as well. It was fragile but I could still read it, and from here it didn't look too far.

 The problem I ran into was the trail started to fade.  This trail was not used very often and looked it. I followed the trail as best I could, but it eventually faded. It had started to wind up a ridge. I thought I saw a faint trail and followed that until it stopped at the side of a rock formation. As I looked where it ended, sure enough, there was a cave entrance, and I was excited to see inside. It seemed like a hundred degrees outside, and the inside of that cave looked inviting. 

 I turned up the wick in the lantern and lit it with the matches. The dark entrance was the first sight of a cave I have ever seen, much less entered. The entrance was about four feet high, and wide enough to turn sideways and get through with no problem. When I worked my way into the cave opening, it took a minute for my eyes to adjust to the faint light the lantern had let off. It seemed to be a smaller room that led off into the dark. It was a popular spot over the years, it seemed, by all the names on the walls. As I started back into the cool cave, I thought, "Now I know where I want to spend the summer."  

  The farther I went back, the names faded away and I saw just rock walls, no crystals or treasures yet. I kept going back and it was like a large rock hallway. There were a few offshoots, and I checked them out in passing. I didn't want to get turned around. There were small hallways and narrow entrances. There were big rooms it seemed, then narrow hallways and large hallways. I just followed the main hallway. After a long while it seemed like this could go on for a bit, when it got shorter and narrower. Well, I guess I'd better head back. I had a friend that I couldn't wait to tell about this! I turned around and took one step and everything went black. I mean the darkest, most absolute black I have ever imagined.  I couldn't tell up from down.

 The lantern had died. I laid the walking stick across my foot so I wouldn't lose it, and then I fumbled for the matches in my pack. I found the box and opened it, and oh so carefully felt for a match. I struck the match on the side of the box, and it broke. Well, that's why they make a box of them I thought, trying not to sound as freaked out as I was. It was so dark. I felt for another match and tried to make sure I just got it lit. I put the match up to the wick, only to find out that there is no more wick. I never thought to check it. Of all the things that could go wrong, never did I dream of this.  

 I had to find my way out of here. As the match burned down to my fingers, I dropped it to the ground and thought of my next step. I have no wick, but I have kerosene. If I wrap part of my shirt around the end of my walking stick, pour kerosene on the shirt, I can light that and use it as a torch and I am out of here!" I thought hopefully. In theory it certainly should.  

 I got to work in absolute pitch darkness. I tore at my shirt and got a long strip of material, then I felt around for my walking stick. I tied it to the end and wrapped it around and around until it felt like the ones, I've seen on tv. Then I felt around for the lantern. I opened the little cap and poured kerosene all over the makeshift torch. Now to light it and get going.

 I felt for the matches again. I found one and struck it right the first time and lit my torch. It flared up to a nice slow burn and light was everywhere. I was ecstatic, till I realized all the smoke my torch was giving up started to fill the cave, and I had no idea how long it would last so I took off moving as fast as the light would allow.  

 The light lasted for a while but started to lose it. I had to stop and tear off another section of my t-shirt, soak it in kerosene and wrap it around to keep going. The smoke was thick and seemed to be right behind me. I quickly passed the side rooms and the narrow hallways. I was hoping the shirt and kerosene would last long enough to get out of here. With that said, the light was starting to fade. I had to get my stuff ready while I had light. I stopped and tore the last part of my shirt. The light was fading as I readied the lantern. Not much kerosene left. Just don't panic. The smoke was still there and starting to settle in the hallway.  

 I found a match and struck it and set it on the rocky ground before the darkness tried to take over. I worked by matchlight as I readied the torch again. I wrapped the last of the shirt on the walking stick and poured the last of the kerosene on my torch. The light filled the cave, as did the smoke. I started moving for the entrance. After what seemed like forever, I started seeing names on the walls. In my excitement, I began to move faster. The light from my torch was starting to fade. I was not sure of how much time I had, but I knew it was limited. 

As I worked my way through the passageway, the light was fading. I kept moving forward determined to beat the dimming, shrinking circle of light. I tripped over a rock and fell to the cave floor. I dropped the walking stick just as the fire died. As I lay there in the darkness, my knees hurting, I watched as the cinders from my makeshift torch floated off and faded out. Then as the real darkness settled in, I thought I saw an ember that didn't go out.  

 I reached for the walking stick and studied the ember, I realized it wasn't an ember, it was a pinhole of light. I felt around for my lantern and picked it up as I stood to my feet. It was the cave entrance. The smoke was starting to burn my eyes, so I tried to walk low as I shuffled my way to the light. Every shuffle was a shuffle closer to light.

The light of the outside looked bigger every minute. When I reached the mouth of the cave, I stopped. So many people had scratched their names inside the cave, but I just reached up with my stick and put a smudge mark. As I staggered out of the cave, I felt the sun on my face. It felt good.

It was very late in the day when I got back to my car. I was starving and thirsty. I realized there might be a better way to go about all this, because aside from the whole lantern thing, lost in a cave, and scrapped knees, this was a good start.