Saturday Sharing With Coffee! #6

Happy Saturday everyone! It is a nice mild February morning here starting off with a temperature of 21F (-6C), but the temp is already climbing, on its way to a high of 36F (2C), if the forecast is correct. It was nice and clear earlier, but the clouds have moved in again and we might get some rain or freezing rain later today. Now, grab a coffee and we will see if I made it off that ledge or not, so back to our story we go.

When the tree broke, I fell and slid through the snow to the edge of that ledge on the cliff. I stopped dangerously close to the edge in fact and I just lay there not wanting to move. But I could not stay there either, so, I carefully rolled over away from the edge. Unfortunately I had hurt my knee when I fell this time, on the opposite leg to my twisted ankle. That ankle was really throbbing by this time and had gotten quite swollen.

Saw a couple Blue Jays on that snowshoe walk, like the one above.

I knew it was necessary to get out of there quickly, before my knee and ankle got too swollen and stiff which would make it impossible to get out of this spot. Although I was dressed warm, I doubt that I could survive the night too well if I had to stay there. Besides, no one knew where I was anyway, so help would not be coming along too soon. It had now gotten quite windy too, which made things feel even colder. I sat back down on that rock to look things over again.

I looked at the other dead tree. Why not? Do I have a choice? I moved it over and checked it. It did not seem to be as solid as the other one, and the branches were smaller. Sigh. Well, it is the only way to reach that little tree, which looked more like a twig, but I was hoping it was bigger under that snow. I began to climb that old tree and got near the top, but I still could not reach. I managed to clear snow away from that twig with a snowshoe and it was indeed bigger than it looked, there was even branches on it.

Hairy Woodpeckers are usually a common sight, like the one above.

Now, can I hook my snowshoe onto it? Yes! But it would not stay in place. Oh well, I climb a bit higher so I am now standing right at the top of this dead tree. I could not reach that little tree with my hand, but my mitt just slid off of it. So I took my mitt off and grabbed that little tree with my bare hand. It held, and I pulled myself up high enough that I could grab that other little tree, a balsam.

By pulling and sticking my feet in the snow I managed to climb up to the next ledge, which was not much bigger than me, but it was closer to the top. My hands were cold now, so I put my mitts back on and sat in the snow to rest for a bit. Both my knee and ankle were very swollen now and the pain was getting worse all the time. I looked up, there was a large pine not far from me at the top of the cliff and a Hairy Woodpecker came flying along and landed on the tree. He looked down at me and called loudly.

Maybe trying to encourage me? It was not so steep now as I struggled my way through the snow up to that pine and sat down beside it. Made it. But there was still a long way to go back to the car. No way I could use my snowshoes now so I had to walk through that snow, which at times was nearly waist deep. I walked in the direction of an old trail of mine I had made about 2 weeks before this, walking would be easier then.

Canada Jays are often encountered, like the one above.

I spotted a couple of Canada Jays flying through the trees, stopping now and then to look for food behind the bark. I had to stop several times to rest, but I finally made it to my old trail. But because my knee and ankle were so bad by that time, walking was still slow. This little trip shows the importance of having someone with you, even if you do not plan on being gone long. Or at least let someone know where you will be, and stick to your plan.

Of course, this was back before cell phones were getting popular, might not have worked back there anyway. It was nearly dark by the time I got back to the car, but I made it, a bit sore and cold. It took a few days before my knee and ankle were back to normal. Just in time to try again! Have a wonderful weekend everyone and God bless!

Steve and Muffin.

©2023 Steve McLeod.