1ST LT. TEALE MARCHETTE
Headquarters, 48th Infantry Brigade Combat Team
Georgia Army National Guard
Athens, Georgia

Do you remember the Scouting America (formerly the Boy Scouts of America) motto? It’s “Be Prepared.” Most take that to mean pack for every scenario you could possibly encounter in the wild. Nowadays, to me, it means a little more than that. My story begins with a weekend of hiking and camping in the beautiful north Georgia mountains and ends with a bone-chilling tale of hypothermia. This trip forever changed my perspective on what it means to be prepared.

My buddy and I were in college on a Thursday afternoon, trying to come up with a plan for the weekend. We could’ve gone to a party, visited our parents or just been lazy, but we were feeling adventurous. I’d been researching ultralight backpacking, and we started talking about hiking a section of the Appalachian Trail. We figured we’d get another friend to drop us off at the trailhead, hike 40 miles in two days and then have him pick us up Sunday in North Carolina.

We were both on the cross-country team and knew we could easily hike 20 miles a day with 25-pound packs. We checked the weather and saw there was only a 30 percent chance of rain on Saturday night. That wouldn’t be an issue because I’d just bought a lightweight tent. We packed that night and headed out to the trail late Friday afternoon after classes were finished.

The first night was great. We hiked about 8 miles into the dark, set up our tent and bedded down after eating a heaping meal of trail mix. The sky was clear and the temperature typical for April in the mountains, about 50 degrees Fahrenheit. The next day, we hiked our 20 miles, surprised that we were making such great progress and still had so much energy in reserve. The cool 65-70 degree days were perfect, and the sun was wafting between the now blossoming rhododendrons and massive oak trees. You couldn’t have asked for better weather. We made our camp about 4 p.m. and built a small fire so we could enjoy the last night of our incredible hike. We then went to sleep but awoke later to find ourselves in a conundrum.

It started with a pattering of raindrops on the tent’s roof but eventually turned into a downpour. Neither of us could fall back asleep, and as I lay there, I felt my sleeping back getting wet. I turned on my flashlight and checked the tent for a leak. I became worried when I saw the whole ceiling was coated in water with little droplets falling down along the sides. I then realized I’d never tested out the tent to see how it would hold up in the rain. Our sleeping bags would be soaked in no time, so we agreed that we needed to do something. I pulled out our trail map and plotted some shelters about 3 miles away. We gathered our gear, turned on our headlamps and set out.

When we got to the shelters, we found that they were in the process of being rebuilt and would provide no escape from the rain. The wind was now howling and we were soaked. The rain was not letting up and the temperature had dropped to 38 degrees. We pulled out our map and noticed the trail crossed a highway about 4 miles ahead. At this point, we were ready to call it quits, so we phoned our friend and asked him to meet us at the trail crossing. We then trudged on through the rain.

A good thing about the Appalachian Trail is that it is mostly clearly marked, which makes it pretty easy to hike at 2 a.m. with headlights. We stayed warm as long as we walked and were comforted knowing that our friend would be waiting for us at the other end. We arrived at the rendezvous point and waited a few minutes before calling our friend again. However, we couldn’t reach him, probably because the cell reception was not very good in the mountains.

As we waited at the intersection, we couldn’t find any distinguishing marks to help us figure out exactly where we were. It had finally stopped raining, but a dense fog was rolling in and the wind was still 20-30 knots. We continued to stand by the road, waiting for our friend. Little did we know he would never find us.

The temperature continued to drop, so we wrapped ourselves in whatever windbreaking clothing we had, but it wasn’t helping enough. I started shivering uncontrollably and couldn’t think straight. Worried, my buddy called 911. Emergency services dispatched some patrol cars, but it would be three hours before they finally found us. At the hospital, I was treated for hypothermia and hypothyroidism, which had exasperated my condition. Fortunately, my buddy was OK and I made a full recovery.

The lesson I learned from this ordeal was to never trust your gear until after you thoroughly test it in the potential conditions it will be used. With a little extra effort beforehand, I could have had an incredible weekend instead of being stuck in a hospital bed. I’ve camped many times since that fateful night, but you better believe all of those trips involved a lot more safety planning. Stay safe out there!

FYI

Spanning nearly 2,200 miles from Georgia to Maine, the Appalachian Trail is the longest hiking-only footpath in the world. According to the Appalachian Trail Conservancy, more than 3 million people visit the trail annually, and over 3,000 people attempt to “thru-hike” the entire 14-state path in a single year. For hiking safety information, visit the National Park Service website at https://www.nps.gov/articles/hiking-safety.htm. For safety information and other resources related specifically to the Appalachian Trail, visit https://appalachiantrail.org/experience/hike-the-trail/.