Oliver Moss (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
olivermoss) wrote2019-02-07 06:23 pm
olivermoss) wrote2019-02-07 06:23 pm
Entry tags:
New Posting Meme!
Post a story about you that sounds weird or improbable, but is actually true!
I don't know if this will catch on, but I thought I'd try. There is something that happened to me years ago that keeps rattling around in my head for various reasons and I'd been wanting to post it. Since the premise sounds like something from an old WB cartoon, I thought I'd try to make it a posting meme.
I was once over the side of a cliff, holding on to a tree root to keep from falling.
Before I get into this, I am going to post a spoiler: I walked home from his. At times it's going to seem like I am about to describe getting terrible injuries, but no serious injury occured.
When I first moved to Portland, I decided that as new Portlander I was going to go on a hike! There was a place near me called Powell Butte. It was my local trail and I was going to go do it. 4.5 miles, 530 feet elevation gain, no big.
What I didn't know was that the park was closed due to trail damage. I didn't know this because it was not on the website and there were no signs at all in the park. Oregon hates signage. People should just know things, like that 'To Dalles' mean 'to I-84 East'.
I was walking on a muddy section up heading up a ridge. It was difficult going. Hiking in mud is kind of like walking in sand, except more dangerous. But I figured it was fine. It was a clearly marked trail within a city. I was walking along a very curved area when the trail just gave way. The ground was saturated and just gave out from under me. As I fell I grabbed a tree root that was uncovered by the ground breaking apart. I had an underhanded grip on it, which was not great. I tried to get a more stable overhand grip and couldn't.
There was no chance of pulling myself up, especially if I couldn't even get a more stable grip.
The ground was about 30 feet below me. I wasn't fully dangling, I was against a wall of mud. I couldn't stand on any bit, but it made things a bit easier.
I took stock of the situation. It was a weekday afternoon. I'd seen no one on the trail. I had no cell signal. Chances that anyone was going to come by until the next day were pretty much nil. I had two choices. Choice One: Hang in, hope for help, likely fall from exhaustion when I am already tired, dehydrated, and have strained my wrists and shoulders from trying to hang on.
Choice Two: Let go. Take the fall while in good shape, with good blood sugar, daylight, and no major strain or injury on wrists and shoulders. Also take the fall before I started to tense up too much, which can make injury more likely. Bracing for a fall can be good, but nervous tension can increase chances of bad things.
I remember making the choice. 2 was clearly my better option. I was pretty certain that I was going to wreck an ankle or a knee. I thought that this was it, no more hiking for me. I was going to be permanently injured.
I remember making the choice to fall. I don't remember letting go. I don't remember the fall itself. I can't do ziplines or jump off a high board into a pool. But I could deliberately fall down a cliff because that gave me the best chance of making it.
The next thing I remember I was sitting on the ground, muddy water soaking my jeans. I didn't want to move because I was convinced I was injured and didn't want to face the reality of what joint or bone I'd just destroyed. I eventually wiggled my toes, moved my feet and then shifted my body around. My back was sore from a jolt. I eventually turned around to look back. I was a bit away from the wall. The bottom of the wall curved into the ground. It was an not an 'L' shape. I couldn't tell from above from the vegetation. There was a rut in the curve from my butt. I think I gripped the wall on the way down and the end bit was like an unexpected slide. That is how I wound up in a sitting position.
I was sore, muddy, bruised, the inside of my shoes were soaked and the walk home sucked. But I was generally all right.
The reason this bounces around in my head a lot is because this shapes how I write characters who are in serious survival situations. Even air heads and crybabies when you put them in dire straits can do things they are not normally capable of. I've been in a few situations like this, and I've known others who have reacted similarly. Two of the most nervy, panicky and unreliable people I ever met both had 'do or die' moments. In one case, very literally do or die. They were both calm during the crisis. A lot of other people write panicky characters in sire straits as panicking, worry wart characters becoming full on paranoid, etc. But, from multiple experiences and true stories of which I am aware, I don't write characters that way. In the moment, calm. Later, panic. Nightmares, freak outs, PDST or PTSD-like symptoms, hyper alertness, that's for later. I wasn't that freaked out after the fall, delayed reactions that bad were for other things, but the principle still holds.
I did spent a lot of time reviewing the event in my mind. The blank spot in my memory is odd. It's like my lizard brain took over to shield the rest of my brain. I still consider my choice the best course of action. Though I've gotten a lot of 'You did WHAT? I'd have waited.' reactions when I tell people.
The day after my fall, I found out that the trail was closed. I called in to let the city know about what happened. The guy was all 'those trails are closed. You shouldn't have been there.' I asked him how the heck I was supposed to know that and he didn't have an answer. Ah, Oregon. Change. Please change.
Anyway, that is the story of the time I went over a cliff. Well, one of two times I went over a cliff. I think it's just been the two.
I don't know if this will catch on, but I thought I'd try. There is something that happened to me years ago that keeps rattling around in my head for various reasons and I'd been wanting to post it. Since the premise sounds like something from an old WB cartoon, I thought I'd try to make it a posting meme.
I was once over the side of a cliff, holding on to a tree root to keep from falling.
Before I get into this, I am going to post a spoiler: I walked home from his. At times it's going to seem like I am about to describe getting terrible injuries, but no serious injury occured.
When I first moved to Portland, I decided that as new Portlander I was going to go on a hike! There was a place near me called Powell Butte. It was my local trail and I was going to go do it. 4.5 miles, 530 feet elevation gain, no big.
What I didn't know was that the park was closed due to trail damage. I didn't know this because it was not on the website and there were no signs at all in the park. Oregon hates signage. People should just know things, like that 'To Dalles' mean 'to I-84 East'.
I was walking on a muddy section up heading up a ridge. It was difficult going. Hiking in mud is kind of like walking in sand, except more dangerous. But I figured it was fine. It was a clearly marked trail within a city. I was walking along a very curved area when the trail just gave way. The ground was saturated and just gave out from under me. As I fell I grabbed a tree root that was uncovered by the ground breaking apart. I had an underhanded grip on it, which was not great. I tried to get a more stable overhand grip and couldn't.
There was no chance of pulling myself up, especially if I couldn't even get a more stable grip.
The ground was about 30 feet below me. I wasn't fully dangling, I was against a wall of mud. I couldn't stand on any bit, but it made things a bit easier.
I took stock of the situation. It was a weekday afternoon. I'd seen no one on the trail. I had no cell signal. Chances that anyone was going to come by until the next day were pretty much nil. I had two choices. Choice One: Hang in, hope for help, likely fall from exhaustion when I am already tired, dehydrated, and have strained my wrists and shoulders from trying to hang on.
Choice Two: Let go. Take the fall while in good shape, with good blood sugar, daylight, and no major strain or injury on wrists and shoulders. Also take the fall before I started to tense up too much, which can make injury more likely. Bracing for a fall can be good, but nervous tension can increase chances of bad things.
I remember making the choice. 2 was clearly my better option. I was pretty certain that I was going to wreck an ankle or a knee. I thought that this was it, no more hiking for me. I was going to be permanently injured.
I remember making the choice to fall. I don't remember letting go. I don't remember the fall itself. I can't do ziplines or jump off a high board into a pool. But I could deliberately fall down a cliff because that gave me the best chance of making it.
The next thing I remember I was sitting on the ground, muddy water soaking my jeans. I didn't want to move because I was convinced I was injured and didn't want to face the reality of what joint or bone I'd just destroyed. I eventually wiggled my toes, moved my feet and then shifted my body around. My back was sore from a jolt. I eventually turned around to look back. I was a bit away from the wall. The bottom of the wall curved into the ground. It was an not an 'L' shape. I couldn't tell from above from the vegetation. There was a rut in the curve from my butt. I think I gripped the wall on the way down and the end bit was like an unexpected slide. That is how I wound up in a sitting position.
I was sore, muddy, bruised, the inside of my shoes were soaked and the walk home sucked. But I was generally all right.
The reason this bounces around in my head a lot is because this shapes how I write characters who are in serious survival situations. Even air heads and crybabies when you put them in dire straits can do things they are not normally capable of. I've been in a few situations like this, and I've known others who have reacted similarly. Two of the most nervy, panicky and unreliable people I ever met both had 'do or die' moments. In one case, very literally do or die. They were both calm during the crisis. A lot of other people write panicky characters in sire straits as panicking, worry wart characters becoming full on paranoid, etc. But, from multiple experiences and true stories of which I am aware, I don't write characters that way. In the moment, calm. Later, panic. Nightmares, freak outs, PDST or PTSD-like symptoms, hyper alertness, that's for later. I wasn't that freaked out after the fall, delayed reactions that bad were for other things, but the principle still holds.
I did spent a lot of time reviewing the event in my mind. The blank spot in my memory is odd. It's like my lizard brain took over to shield the rest of my brain. I still consider my choice the best course of action. Though I've gotten a lot of 'You did WHAT? I'd have waited.' reactions when I tell people.
The day after my fall, I found out that the trail was closed. I called in to let the city know about what happened. The guy was all 'those trails are closed. You shouldn't have been there.' I asked him how the heck I was supposed to know that and he didn't have an answer. Ah, Oregon. Change. Please change.
Anyway, that is the story of the time I went over a cliff. Well, one of two times I went over a cliff. I think it's just been the two.
no subject
Also… one of two times?!
no subject
I ran off a cliff in Norway when I was 9. I was fine. We were visiting relatives at high altitude in northern Norway. We were north enough that the sun didn't rise or set. It was stuck at 1-hour to sunset. I was on day 3 of no real daylight or darkness. I running in a field and there was a super narrow ravine. I was a bit out of it at this point and didn't see it in time. I walked back the house with a rock stuck in the middle of my forehead.
I think that is my only other time falling down a cliff?
no subject
But, yikes!
no subject
I've never been back. If I saw the spot again I might be a bit freaked out by it. Hrm, maybe I should go back and complete the hike this spring.
no subject
Not having signage for this stuff is honestly infuriating.
Would you mind if I linked to this post? I think it's interesting from a storytelling perspective for multiple reasons.
no subject
I love this place, but in some ways it's a hot mess.
Sure! I am glad you found it interesting :)
no subject
That's appalling about the signage, though. Nothing on the trail?!? Geez.
no subject
Glad you found it interesting :)
no subject
[here via sylvaine]
no subject