Wednesday, September 5, 2012

Fact or Fiction #2

The summer before my senior year, I went on a hiking binge. My friend Chris was also an avid hiker and for one excursion we thought it would be fun to climb Hong Kong’s Eight Fairies (or Eight Immortals), a hike we’d never attempted before. 

We began on the trail, but when we came to a stream and took a break, for some reason we decided to leave the meandering (read: boring) path and try our luck going straight up the mountain following a stream. 

We could see the first summit from the path through a break in the trees. How hard could it be?

After an exhausting hour of steep climbing, we reached a point where we couldn’t stay with the stream because of a waterfall, and couldn’t climb around without traipsing through the jungle. Instead of admitting defeat and heading back downstream, we plunged into the trees.

We kept climbing, picking our way through, getting slaughtered by mosquitoes and, after awhile, running out of drinking water. It was horribly humid, which both helped and hurt—drenched outside, parched inside.

I have no idea how much longer we hiked, but we were at times literally on our hands and knees, crawling under prickly bushes and through rust-red mud.

When we finally came out of the forest onto a trail, we found we were on a completely different mountainside than the one on which we’d started. We gave up on finishing the Eight Fairies that day. We didn’t even make it up one! Instead, we turned tail back down the trail, passing fellow hikers who gave our mud-smeared appearances quizzical looks. 

The train ride home was memorable, too. We were so dirty that all the other passengers gave us extra bubble space, which is pretty priceless in Hong Kong, let me tell you!

You’d think I would have learned a lesson about trailblazing after that, but unfortunately this wasn’t the last time I got lost while hiking. 

Not too long after, my class got lost on an overnight group hike, in which we ended up camping in a clearing literally blanketed in huge black cicadas.

But that’s another story.

**

Thanks to Melodie Wright and Emily King for hosting this fun bloghop!

Now tell me in the comments, is this story fact or fiction? You can read Monday's story here

24 comments:

  1. Hmm...truth is stranger than fiction, so I'll say truth. :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. This is so tough for me to decide . . .but I'll go with this one being fact, and the first one being fiction.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I think this one is true. I'm always terrified of getting lost on hikes!

    ReplyDelete
  4. I’m going to go with Fact for this one. =)

    ReplyDelete
  5. I say this one is true and your first is false, but this is a tough call!

    Thanks for participating!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Ew! Black cicadas! Yuck!

    But that's hilarious about getting so lost and filthy. I've never been super outdoorsey, and I got tapped to be the faculty sponsor for the Explorers Post one year. It was... interesting. :D <3

    ReplyDelete
  7. such a naturalist! hard to pick!
    total 50/50 guess, this is the true story.

    i used to love hiking!

    ReplyDelete
  8. I'll say this one is fact and the first fiction.

    ReplyDelete
  9. You are so adventurous. I'm gonna go with false on this one. The first one is true.

    ReplyDelete
  10. After reading both, I will have to vote fiction for this one and fact for the first one. You certainly live a fun and adventurous life. I envy you.

    Nice to meet you. I am a new follower from the What I did last summer bloghop.

    ReplyDelete
  11. I like how you have made both of these so similar but it makes it harder to guess. My guess is still for #1 to be true and this fiction. I can't wait to find out! Both sound fun and exciting

    ReplyDelete
  12. I don't know why it is easier to believe this story ... but I do. Of course, it could all be a pack of lies, but what to read them.

    ReplyDelete
  13. After reading both I would say #2 is fact and #1 is fiction! You made it harder with them both being hiking stories! :-)

    ReplyDelete
  14. I don't know!!!
    I want the pool one to be true and this one to be false. Getting covered with mud isn't as much fun as swimming in a fantasy pool. ;)

    ReplyDelete
  15. I have no idea! I think I'll go with true :)

    ReplyDelete
  16. Hmmm. It kind of reminds me of your first book. I'm going with fiction. Or Fact. No definitely fact. I'm betting this story inspired the one from your story.

    ReplyDelete
  17. I am going to say fiction because I have seen the forest on those hike. It is pretty dense. Great story, though. I can picture you on the metro. You right, it is usually pretty packed.

    ReplyDelete
  18. Total guess but I'll say this one is fiction and the first one is true.

    ReplyDelete
  19. Hiking binge :) I love it! Blast I guessed true on the first so I'll stick with false on this one.

    ReplyDelete
  20. This sounds like a super-duper adventure... lot's of energy and suspense-filled moments... for that reason I'll say it is FACT!

    ReplyDelete
  21. This is a tough one...I love them both...I'm going with story #2 is fiction...mostly because I REALLY loved this line from story #1: It unleashed the daredevil in me – the girl who wouldn’t stand and wait around to find her strength.

    LOVE that line!

    ReplyDelete

Summer Recap

Summer!! has been a crazy whirlwind.  Are we actually starting school again in a few weeks? UNBELIEVEABLE. In the middle of June I finished...