Elip Creek

I call this "My Story". We all have magical life changing experiences, and this here is the most amazing thing that ever happened to me.

In Olympic National Park flows Elip Creek that feeds into the North Fork Quinault River and finally meets the Skyline Trail (see the map). It was Sunday, March 27th, 2005 when my boyfriend Francis and I set out for a day hike on the Skyline Trail. We started around nine in the morning. The weather was warm and sunny and there was nobody out there except us. It was a very special place. It almost felt mysterious with its trees wrapped in moss. I would envision the trees become alive and engage in battle like they do in fairy tales.

There was life thriving everywhere, no spot was left barren of nature's green. The trail was rolling up and down the hills between mighty trees, going over little bridges, switching back and forth, and making one marvel the overabundance and beauty of nature. Because the rivers and streams were running high, there was water everywhere on the trail.

We had hiked about half of the loop when the weather conditions changed dramatically. Soon we were sloshing through waist deep snow. The trees were wearing thick cloaks of white fluffy snow caps, and the trail signs weren't anywhere to be seen. They were either under the snow, or we were lost... We soon learned that we were lost, indeed. We had made a navigation error and little did we know that not only were we in deep snow, but we were also in our way into a deep trouble.

We were in deep snow for a long time in hopes of finding our way back to the safety. Darkness fell around us and our day hike had slowly turned into a night hike. We were out there for an easy and relaxing day hike - we had food for only a day, and had no camping gear, compass, head lamps, matches, cell phone or warm clothing. Two thin rain coats, two cotton t-shirts, warm stockings and thin rain pants were all I was wearing.

We started to follow a nearby creek, making our way down from the mountains to get back to the trail. Soon we learned that we would be crossing rivers and climbing up and down steep slopes.

The creek was flowing inside a deep gorge. Ice cold, fast and furious water was tumbling down from the mountains, and the current was so powerful that it would knock you off your feet and carry you away.

The rugged canyon was lined with curvy and rocky cliff walls. We would cross the river often as there was no ground to walk on. Occasionally there would be waterfalls emerging from the high slopes, dumping ice cold snow melt into the creek.

After walking many hours, we got to a point where crossing the river seemed too dangerous. It was dark and there was no telling how deep the river might be. We preferred to climb up and over the dangerous part. A few roots and stones were all to hold on to. It was a steep climb and the surface was loose sediment. As I was climbing, I was keeping my body close to the ground and would dig holes to have something to step into. My knees wouldn't stop shaking from fear. I slipped, my footing gave away, and I started sliding down the slope. Desperately, I pressed my fingers deep into the ground trying to stop the horror. A raging river was roaring below me, and falling off the cliff could have been fatal. It was the first time in my life that I realized I was going to die.

All of a sudden I stopped, everything froze like in a movie. The next thing I knew Francis was clinging to my arm trying to pull me up. He saved my life.

I saw a tree up above me − a sanctum! Awkwardly, stiff from fear, I ascended. It was so close, and yet so far. My heart was pounding and my whole body was frantically shaking. Fear was racing through my mind. Francis told me to keep moving, but I wanted to sit there for a minute and feel the safety. It felt like the safest place on the earth at that moment.

We kept moving, feeling our way back down to the river, groping for roots and rocks. Unfortunately we could still not get past the dangerous part of the river. We knew now we had no other choice but to cross the river - it was a leap into the darkness. We jumped as far from the river bed as we could and landed in freezing water, trying to reach out for rocks to hold on to. We made it to the other side and continued crossing the river.

We had come a long way. A few hours before sunrise we were stopped by an impassable waterfall. "I will be tired and cold later," I said to myself. There was no time for feeling scared, no time for being weak. We tried to climb up from one side of the river which was a sheer wall. It was dark and we couldn't see anything. Meanwhile, the sun was rising which gave me hope and power.

After a while we found a good spot to climb up, there were rocks everywhere that looked safe to hold on to, but came tumbling down as we grabbed them.
Once we were high up we again found a lot of snow. The snow was knee deep and tired of walking all night, it was exhausting to move in such deep snow. We kept climbing higher to get past the waterfalls that were flowing into the river. As we climbed, the waterfalls became narrower and easier to cross.

We successfully crossed the waterfall and descended to get back to the river. Little did we know that there were many more waterfalls waiting for us and we had to climb back up. Reluctantly we did it. Places where waterfalls flow are extremely steep, almost vertical. I began to feel like all the trees and roots became my best friends - they held out their helping hands to pull me up or help me down. My life depended on them and I would not have survived without them.

I was watching Francis while he was sliding down a slope. I was always scared of losing him. Now it was my turn to dice with death. I was still clinging to trees while carefully trying to descend. It was slippery and steep. I lost footage and came sliding down the mountain. Francis saved my life again. This time it was really scary!

While having a break we accidentally dropped our peanut butter jar. I was looking at it as it was rolling down the slope and my face turned sulky. It was our very last food. Even though it was very dangerous, Francis decided to rescue our peanut butter. He fed me the last of it and said: "This will have to take you home." By then I had started to question it. I had started to get myself comfortable with the idea that I may never return home. I had no other choice but to accept it, because that helped me to stay calm and not panic.

We fought with the waterfalls for a long time - they just kept showing up. I used to think that waterfalls were majestic and beautiful, but at that moment they turned out to be real monsters. There were no easy moments, no easy way out, Mother Nature was beating the hell out of us. Despite the grim reality, I remained calm and kept good spirits. I knew if I panicked, I’d lose my focus and make bad decisions.

We started looking for ways to get back down to the river. Being high up was constantly dangerous, because there was always a possibility of losing footing and falling hard. Getting down was also dangerous, because we could not see all the way down. Even if the slope did not appear to be steep, there might have been a vertical drop that we could not see. And many times there was.

We found a spot to climb down. Being almost half way there we realized we could not keep descending. We were screwed. I was literally hanging on a wall of hell, clinging to a branch, holding on for dear life, and hoping not to drop dead. It was a 30 m drop into the river – not a good way to go. To climb back up seemed as insane as to go down. “For the sake of all the people who love me, I have to get myself together and get out of here,” I said to myself. I found my way back up and I still wonder today how I did it. I thought to myself: “Wow, I am a super girl,” and I felt like one, too. The impossible came possible, miracle after miracle happened, I felt so small and vulnerable, and yet so strong.

I survived in that forest so many times. Was it luck or inner strength? Combination of both and a little bit of miracle, too. We often overestimate ourselves and underestimate the wild. No matter how strong and wise we are, there are always things we have no control over. We can’t tell our body not to freeze when we are soaked to the bones and it is snowing; we can’t tell the root or branch that we are holding on to, not to break off and let us down. These are the moments when we are out there alone, with only our faith.

After getting down again it felt good to be on a horizontal surface for a change. It seemed like the river gorge got deeper and every river crossing harder as we moved on. We were lucky when there were rocks to jump on. So often the river would be extremely fast and have no foothold, and we would have to get into the freezing water and swim. After having done it all day we were numb and hypothermic.

Light was fading and air was taking on a night cold, but we were still in a place unknown. Darkness fell quickly and heavily. Being exhausted and delirious, I slipped and hit my head on a rock. I got up calling Francis, but all he could hear was the sound of a roaring river. Blood was running down my face, I wiped it off as if it were just tears, got back on my feet, and kept walking.

As we could not see a thing and needed to rest, we decided not to walk through the second night. It was still raining. My clothes were soaked and my body was chilled to the bone. We found a small cave to crawl into that kept a little bit of rain out. We would frequently fall out of it because it was so tiny, and while we were sleeping, there were dirt and rocks falling on our heads. We curled up into a bowl and got very close to each other to keep the body warmth inside.

There was only one word that was hammering in my head the whole night – hypothermia. What an evil word, I thought. Even though I was exhausted, I was scared to fall asleep, because I knew I may never wake up. We decided that only one of us would sleep at a time, and then we would switch. While Francis was sleeping, I would talk to him to be sure he was okay. He seemed confused and unable to understand me. Meanwhile, it started snowing. We would move around frequently to ease the pain in our aching limbs and save our toes and fingers from frostbite. I was shivering violently. We suffered tremendously through that night, every second, every minute, every hour... but we saw another sunrise! I have to confess that I have never been so excited to see a sunrise. It was so much more than just a brake of another day. We were alive, and it felt like God's gift.

I emerged on my aching joints, feeling like my knees were about to break off. My whole body was in an enormous pain, but we had to go. We continued crossing the river. There was snow everywhere. It made the river crossing more challenging, because the rocks were slippery. Sometimes jumping from one rock to another we would slip and fall into the water and swim.

“Francis, I see a bridge!!!” I shouted.

“Are you sure it's a bridge and not a log?” Francis said.

“Yes, it's definitely a bridge!!!” I couldn’t be more confident.

The bridge was beautifully carved and bright yellow. When I took another look at it, it turned into a log - I was hallucinating. It happened to us so many times that we would see bridges, trail signs, and blazes that were really not there.

After walking for many hours, I suddenly realized that the sky was getting brighter. I could see an opening from far away. And then there was this red ribbon tied to a tree branch. What did it mean? Was it another hallucination or was it real? I broke out to tears... We had finally found the trail and were safe.

My energy was depleted, I was off balance and could barely stand on my feet, let alone walking. I was losing my vision and my speech was slurry and I wasn't making any sense. I was very close to collapsing completely. I knew there were plants on the trail that were edible, but I couldn't see them, so I was chewing on moss and fern just to get something into my system. That was not such a good idea because it made my mouth sore and swollen afterward.

If there are angels on the earth they are called Annie and Anton - two biologists who saved my life. I say they saved my life because I don't know whether I would have made it to the car without them. We were back on the trail, but we still had a long way to walk to the parking lot. The only word that came out of my mouth was “food”. I probably said something else silly, but I don’t remember. In fact I don’t remember much of it at all. Annie and Anton were so sweet and eager to help. They fed me a bagel, cookies, trail mix, and energy bars. She helped me walk the last miles to the car by holding me up on my feet. All I remembered was her sweet voice.

“Am I going to die?” I said to Annie.

“No, not with me, everything is going to be okay,” she said.

I had gotten used to the thought and couldn’t believe the horror had all come to an end. I was returning home. I was going to eat lots of food, have a hot shower and sleep in a bed. It doesn’t sound like much, but after being lost over fifty hours and nearly losing my life, it was all I ever needed.

Pochian and Vivian, our Chinese house mates, were waiting for us when we got home. It was Tuesday night. They were relieved and happy to see us back in one piece, and eager to check out all the cuts and bruises we had collected.

“Good night,” we said, and “see you in a week.”

We felt like we were going to sleep for a week, and we really did. We got to bed, dead beat. As I lay in bed, I could still hear the river roaring in my ears. I looked out of the window to make sure it hadn't followed us all the way to Bellevue, and fell into a deep and restful sleep.

We both got frostbite on our toes and fingers and Francis’ fingers and legs got infected. I had bruises on my knees the size of a grapefruit and my whole body was so beaten up that there was no spot that didn’t hurt.

The wounds have healed and the memories have become part of who we are. Not a day has passed that it hasn’t crossed my mind. I realize now how strong I am.
I had never in my life encountered anything so hard. I had never been so cold, hungry, tired, and scared, and never been happier to be alive.

Four months later we went back to Olympic. I wanted to make peace with Elip Creek. I knew it was going to be hard, but it was harder than I had imagined. I felt enormous fear and I didn’t want to be there, and even though I knew we were safe, my mind kept telling me to run out of that place. The forest had changed - most of the rivers that had been running high four months ago, had disappeared.

Olympic is a beautiful place on Earth. I thought I would never miss it, but I do, very often. It will always be a special place for me and one day I will return. I will always remember the nightmare of Elip creek, and will look back to it in a positive way and feel fortunate and blessed to be alive.