I Got Lost on My Final Ruck Before the Death Race | Death Race Part 8

It's a popular rock people like to jump off of, but a college student did die just a couple months ago. Right here at the bluff. If you fall, you're probably going all the way down the end. Shoot, you could jump off this. Well, I kind of got lost. Welcome to my life. Yeah. Welcome to my life. Welcome to my. So, I'm one week out from the death race. I need to do one more good ruck in the woods, hiking through some trails. I've never done this before. This one is called the Deadening Alpine Trail. It's, I think, the most difficult one around Lake Martin. Again, never done it, so I can't tell you. It does say it doesn't recommend any children under the age of 12. I guess I'm covered. So, anyways, we're going to go do it. Don't know really what to expect. I've only done one other trail, and it was a good test. It was only a moderate. This one's hard. So, we'll see what it's like. I think it's about four miles. I'm going to do that, and I think it may connect to another one. I'm hoping, because I'd like to get more than four miles in, but we'll play it by ear, and I'll try to vlog a little bit along the way. Let's get after it. All right, let's go. It's been raining a lot here in Alabama, so the trail's going to be really wet, really muddy. Probably some, maybe even some flooding or some really wet spots. I really don't know. I should get along the lake. I think this is going to be some pretty good views once I get going. I think I've got to go a little ways before I actually see anything good. Oh, man, it's pretty cool, though. I like it being wet. Everything's nice and green. Again, trying to just mimic as much as I can what the death race is like. I even have the quote-unquote uniform, which is the white crew shirt. Of course, I'll have my death race bib on over it. The black cargo pants. Got my trail shoes. And then I got my rucksack. I have most of the stuff that I'll be carrying in the death race. I have my axe. I have my handsaw. I've got my first aid kit. I have my trekking poles, which I need to bust out. I have emergency sleeping bag. I have my rain jacket. Just a little bit of food. I have six liters of water, so I shouldn't get thirsty today. I think that's really a lot of the weight. And maybe just a few other little things. Oh, like a little fire starter. Maybe a few other little things in there. So the pack is right at like 34 pounds, I believe. And I still don't even have everything that I've actually got to carry in the death race. So I'm afraid the pack's going to be pretty heavy once I finally get everything loaded to go. And my goal is to have it as light as I can, but also have as much as I need. So that's the tradeoff. But anyways, I think it's going to be raining and kind of cold up there. I've been kind of trying to check the weather now that it's a week out. Looks like the high of 70 up in Pittsville, Vermont. And the low of like the 55s. So that'll probably be during the night and the early mornings. It's colder than I want, especially at summertime. And I know I'll be wet. And it looks like it's been really rainy all across at least the southeast. And it looks like it's going to rain up there as well. So I better get used to being wet and used to wet, muddy conditions. So that's why today's good. Today's actually one of the few days I think it's not supposed to rain. But it's been raining for multiple days. And it's supposed to rain again, I think, tonight. It was raining a little bit this morning. I think it's supposed to rain again tonight. And then just keep raining for the next several days. So today was really my only day to get out here and do it without doing it in the pouring down rain. I'm not against doing it in the pouring down rain. But I just don't want my pack to get soaking wet. And not be able to dry out good before I have to travel with it. So I'm trying to keep dry as much as possible. Alright, let's see. Alright, well that was quick. Already back out on the road. Hey, I see water. I guess here's my sign to head up through here. Let me get the trekking poles out. Alright, one mile down. 27 minutes. A little bit of a slow pace. I was just kind of slow getting going. Figuring out the trail and getting my trekking poles ready. Anyways, a little bit slow. The first mile has actually been relatively easy. Slash moderate. So I think as we get closer to the water it will get a little harder. So the next couple of miles will probably be a little more challenging. Several trees down and having to kind of walk around. Someone's cut this one. Kind of see the water down off in the distance. But, going good. Like here's another example of another downed tree. Just got to step over. Alright, down at the water's edge. See these. People enjoying the lake, man. Lake Martin. Yeah, I guess you could go down to the water if you needed some water. Oh, there's the marina where we keep our boat. Alright, let's keep trekking. A mile and a half in. Pretty views, man. Pretty views. Again, it's a shame we've lived here for four and a half years and have never been out here on these trails. I need to get L.A. and the boys out here. Nice, nice. Don't think I'm going to have these type of views up in Vermont. Probably some pretty views. Mountain views. Doubt I'll be overlooking a nice lake like this. Probably just more dense forest. Another little spot to get you some water. There's several little spots you better not lose your footing when you're going down into the water. There's Chimney Rock. See the boats gathered over there? It's a popular rock people like to jump off of, but a college student did die just a couple months ago. Jumped off and never came back up. He was out here from Georgia with several friends. Sad. Jumped off of it. Several times in college, but I guess the risk-reward is not there for me anymore. I think the boys have jumped off, at least the shorter version. I don't know if either of them have jumped off or any of them have jumped off the very top. I think it's a 50-60 foot jump. It's not crazy high, but high enough. Here's a spot. Don't slip. Don't slip. Cool trails, though. We've got a pretty straight-up climb here. This is where the hiking pole is coming in handy. I guess that's one of the sections that makes it hard. Another good view. I think somebody's up top, but they haven't jumped yet. Oh well. I was hoping we could watch somebody jump, but maybe they're still trying to build up some courage. Maybe get another view as we keep walking. Pretty cool rocks. I think we're right in front of Chimney Rock now. Kind of see. This has been really tight all the way along this water's edge. I'm actually using one of my trekking poles as a spiderweb protector. I've walked through so many spiderwebs. One pretty big spider got on me. I don't like spiders. I prefer snakes over spiders. So, I've been walking a lot like this. And I have saved myself from some big spiders doing this. Another steep incline. I'm guessing it goes up that way. Yeah, there's the white marking. Oh, see? Look at this spiderweb. See the spider on it? Knock him down. Knock him down. Very cool. I'm home. Another view of the lake. Chimney Rock. See some kids on the halfway point. I mean, that's probably, I don't know, 15, maybe 20 foot, I guess. Probably 20 foot, maybe. 25, I don't know. Another face full of spiderweb. Knock down spiderwebs. Do not reroute or remark trails. I guess somebody's been doing that. Get somebody lost. There's a spider up there. Knock him down. Knock him down. Another steep right here at the bluff. If you fall, you're probably going all the way down and in. I guess that's why they said they don't want kids out here on the trail. Probably wouldn't want anybody too old out here either. Oh yeah, that's a, shoot, you could jump off this. Look at that. Look at that jump. Yeah, that'd be a pretty good little jump. We can go down in there and jump off that one. A little shorter. That's a big old rock. Rocks. Spiderwebs. I've seen a bunch of those spiders. I don't know what kind they are. But I don't like them. Big step up. There's a bluff right here where you sure don't want to fall. Lose your footing. This is some kind of wooden something. A set of stairs maybe? Actually, a protector. Slide on this rock, I guess. Lose your footing on slick rock. Awesome stairs. Very cool. Old views. Top of the world! Very neat. A little tunnel. I think this is the trail. I'm not 100% sure. It looks awfully closed off. Maybe I missed the trail. Looks like there's a broken branch here. I'm going to try to go up through here. Let's see. This sucks. Maybe this is it. My gosh. I mean, that's almost like creating a trail. I'm not positive this is it. Alright, there's an arrow. Makes me feel better. Made my own trail. We're up even higher now. I think it's too far out to jump. This would be really high. This is over 100 feet. Getting nice views though. This is probably around 120, 140, 150. I don't know. It's up there. I mean, maybe if you got a big run jump I definitely would never try it. Let's keep going. Straight down. I just slipped. That's a cool little overhang. Another top of the world view. Another little set of stairs. I've just been back and forth across these bluffs. Tight trails. Lots of stinking spiderwebs, man. I'm so sick of these spiders. Gone through so many in my face. Like, why do they all have to be face high? Why can't they be down at my knees? That's a sketchy bridge. It's a slow go through most of this stuff. Not quite the three miles yet. This mile two to three has been slow, tight little climbs. Well, I kind of got lost. I came to a spot where it looked like the trail branched out into three different directions. So I went down one section. Didn't ever see any markings. It looked like it finally came to an end. Tried that another section. Kind of the same thing. I went a little ways. Like it was kind of a dead end. And then I just came up the third thinking this has got to be it. And I've come up here and it looks like it kind of basically dead ends as well. It doesn't look like there's a whole lot. I may try to go up that way just a little bit further. But I'm not seeing any markings. And the markings have been pretty common throughout. Like white paint somewhere. So I don't know if it was a tree that fell. Or what. Because it really, there was a big section. I'll go back down and show you where there should have been some kind of marking and there wasn't. So anyways, I decided to take a little break. Took the pack off. Had a little protein bar. Cooled off for a little bit. Trying to see where the heck I am. I'm still pretty long away from looks like my truck. Still down by the water edge. So, not like I can really take a shortcut back out of here. And I really don't want to backtrack all the way back. Because I am basically three miles in. I mean, I guess I could, but I'd really like to kind of try to find my way through the rest of this. So, let's put the pack on. Head back up this direction and see if we can find some white markings. Alright, so let's head this direction first. Maybe. I don't know, it doesn't look like this is a real trail. Looks like it kind of winds back down to where I was. Kind of, maybe, sort of. It kind of looks like it could be like an old deer trail. Which is actually kind of where I was. It's the most promising thing I've seen. So, let's keep going. Alright, this looks the most promising of all the places I've gone. You'd think there'd be a white marking somewhere. Well, no, this doesn't look as walked along as the other ones. I kind of have a feeling this is a trail someone made when they got lost. Let's see what we got. I kind of think the original trail may have been down there. See, it looks like I'm about to get up here. Just kind of dead space. That doesn't really look like any trail this possibly could be. That just looks too old and grown up. Looks like there's something down there but that may have been the trail I was already on. That may be backtracking. Let's cut down and see. This is not where I was going to trail. Maybe? I don't know. It kind of looks like an animal trail or something. I don't think. Foot traffic. This doesn't look like an active trail. Oh, brother. Don't know what to do. Not real sure. Dang, I may have to backtrack. Alright, I made it back to the part where I was confused. I came up out of this trail and this is what I see. There's no white markings anywhere on any trees that I saw tell me where I'm supposed to go. I came up here. I kind of wandered up that way a little bit. I wandered back down that way. That's actually where I just came from again. I did see a couple water bottles down there. Makes me kind of wonder, but again that's where I went up there and took a break and eventually circled back around. I'm going to go back down where I came from. Maybe I missed a turn somewhere. I shouldn't have come this far. I missed something down in here. See, this all looks like a trail. Dang man, they need some better markings. I guess I'm going to keep backtracking and see if there's somewhere I missed something. Did I miss something here? Maybe that's where I went wrong. Maybe there's the white marking. Crap, now I don't remember if I came from up there or from down here. You know what, I bet I came from up there because the paint is on this side. So maybe this is where I missed. Either that or I'm backtracking. Let's see if there's paint on the other side. Okay, surely that's it. Alright, I feel better. I feel better. I'm back on track. Oh man, there's a bunch of people getting off track. I found water bottles and everything else. I did not see anybody, so I guess people survived. Survived the trail. Man, they got to mark that section better. Alright. Alright, I feel good. I'm going to keep a-trekking then. Just got to the three mile mark. It's taking me almost two hours. It's a really slow go through here. Tease with the tease. Alright, let's keep trekking. Back down along the water's edge. Right off the side here. Again, you better watch your foot. Watch your step. You'll end up where I swim. Needles eye. I think I'm going to go bypass with my big sack. Let's take a look at it. It's pretty cool. With this big ol' rucksack I'm going around. Alright, that's four miles. Two and a half hours. I did kind of take a little tour. Down there was a it's called Whiskey Ridge Park or Whiskey something park. This is like a little RV park. Walked around down there. This is supposed to take me back out to the trailhead. Obviously it's a lot flatter. A little easier ground. Probably getting pretty close to the end. I need to go a little bit longer so I'm probably going to just keep walking after I get out of the trail. So I need to get at least at least 30 more minutes in. I was really hoping to get more mileage in but um man that trail is just so slow and kept getting lost. Just couldn't move very fast through it compared to the one I did the first time. Which I was hoping they would link up somewhere but I think I saw somewhere where that happens but I obviously could not figure it out so and if I did it would probably put me out somewhere way away from the car so I'll just keep doing around these trails I guess around the entry and exit. There was another spider web right in my freaking face. Alright oh yeah here's the main sign right here where I started. So I may actually take a left and go back down some of the beginning of the trail and back to the right is where I came from from the road. So we'll hop back and do a little bit more. Obviously I've come through here already one time because I'm circled back trying to get some extra mileage in so I've come about a mile in. I thought you know what let's do something good let's clear this path. I need to practice with my axe anyways to be able to let it work out. Let's get to chopping. Just add to more of what the death race is going to be about. Hiking, rucking chopping let's put in some work here and let's continue on. That's it I actually got lost once again but I was going backwards through the trail so there's no you know the markings on the opposite side. When I went back from the road into the woods I think I kept too early and had to go down and up a ravine but good news is my phone could show me where my truck was on maps and then I used my compass using a little compass navigation to figure out how to go 60 degrees so I just kept going 60 degrees up and down this ravine to get to the truck and as you can see I made the truck and back to the entrance so that ended up being 6.16 miles 3 hours and 35 minutes let's see what else it says average heart rate 109 elevation gained almost 1800 elevation so anyways good workout that'll be my last real rut this next week I'll start just tapering things and making sure I'm fully recovered so I can arrive in Vermont feeling 100% great, recovered and ready to take on the death race alright guys stay tuned to the journey