Post by wolverine on Oct 17, 2023 19:28:50 GMT -5
I had an interesting moment while out west on my recent vacation......I blacked out while I was on Topaz mountain. From what I can put together, I was only out for as long as it took to go from standing till I woke up from hitting the ground.
I remember chipping away at the rock then standing up for a break and feeling lightheaded then lights out. I hit the ground and felt my head and elbow being smacked and the sensation of sliding. I was on a fairly good slope of rock and was starting to slide off. Luckily I had enough wits about me to grab on to keep from sliding off a 10 foot drop.
I think being on the steeper slope lightened my impact with the ground as I fell forward instead of backwards luckily. I managed to pull myself upright and just sat there for a minute trying to put myself together. Other than a bloody elbow I was fine.
After gathering my stuff, I threw my pack on and worked my way down slowly back to the truck. I am guessing It was a combination of dehydration , elevation and standing up too fast at the end of a long day. I was up early hiking in Great Basin national park in the morning then made the drive to Topaz and hiked up in a hurry to put some work in before the sun went down. I took it easy drinking water and Gatorade the rest of the evening and have had zero issues since.
All in all I feel fairly lucky on how things worked out. Had I fallen backwards or slide off the edge I was working on things would have been different. Also glad I was only out for a moment, it would have been interesting if I would have waken up in the dark up there.
Always an adventure out there....things can happen in an instant. I do travel with some precautions but sometimes things happen.and you just hope for the best....it beats sitting on the couch.
Oh yeah.... I did find 2 small Topaz and maybe a piece of red beryl(?) in the wash on my way back to the truck so call it a successful trip.
I remember chipping away at the rock then standing up for a break and feeling lightheaded then lights out. I hit the ground and felt my head and elbow being smacked and the sensation of sliding. I was on a fairly good slope of rock and was starting to slide off. Luckily I had enough wits about me to grab on to keep from sliding off a 10 foot drop.
I think being on the steeper slope lightened my impact with the ground as I fell forward instead of backwards luckily. I managed to pull myself upright and just sat there for a minute trying to put myself together. Other than a bloody elbow I was fine.
After gathering my stuff, I threw my pack on and worked my way down slowly back to the truck. I am guessing It was a combination of dehydration , elevation and standing up too fast at the end of a long day. I was up early hiking in Great Basin national park in the morning then made the drive to Topaz and hiked up in a hurry to put some work in before the sun went down. I took it easy drinking water and Gatorade the rest of the evening and have had zero issues since.
All in all I feel fairly lucky on how things worked out. Had I fallen backwards or slide off the edge I was working on things would have been different. Also glad I was only out for a moment, it would have been interesting if I would have waken up in the dark up there.
Always an adventure out there....things can happen in an instant. I do travel with some precautions but sometimes things happen.and you just hope for the best....it beats sitting on the couch.
Oh yeah.... I did find 2 small Topaz and maybe a piece of red beryl(?) in the wash on my way back to the truck so call it a successful trip.