Nightmare on the Mountain—part 1

Mazeophobia is the scientific name for the fear of being lost. We all experience this emotional, worrying, and troublesome effect when dropped into a maze where there seems to be no end. For this episode of the Beach Boy Chronicles, we are traveling to another palm tree paradise where the excitement and glory of a fun-filled business vacation turned into the reality of a nightmare. 

During a recent meeting with a convention meeting planner who has been planning and orchestrating business meetings for over thirty years, a true story emerged that for some, might be too scary to read.

The setting for our story begins in Palm Springs California, when a large business group traveled from all across America to arrive in Southern California at the Sonny Bono International airport. After the group of over four hundred conventioneers checked in at a major convention hotel, the festivities and activities for the upcoming weekend began to unfold.

There were, of course, multiple golf courses stretching out among the palm trees in the hot California valley, but in the distance and surrounding the valley famous for movie stars at play, were the surrounding snow capped mountains.

For those not interested in golf, there was an opportunity to ride one of the most spectacular cable cars in the world and hike along the scenic trails at the top of a mountain. This was an idea that appealed to Kathy and Bob who worked together in the Chicago office of the business that brought everyone to Palm Springs.

Two full size buses brought the group of convention hikers to the bustling base of the cable car installation. After riding up to the summit and rising ten thousand feet above the desert valley, Kathy and Bob stepped off the tram and into the cool mountain air. All along the emerging rock and timber trails, were warning signs for hikers: “Stay on the designated trails.”

Kathy and Bob however - who were not romantically involved - decided that younger people who were in good physical condition need not worry about staying on the intended tourist tracks. After all, there were two full buses of hikers, and Kathy and Bob wanted to explore the natural beauty without the distractions of the crowded trailheads.

At the first opportunity, Kathy and Bob turned away from their company compatriots when they saw a descending path. The mountain air was cool even during the early afternoon and soon snowbanks began to appear beneath the overhanging evergreens. After finding another tempting path, Kathy and Bob began hiking along a ridge with even thicker pines and undergrowth. As the day progressed, the California sun began to slant, and when the golfers in the distant valley began to pack up their clubs and head back to the convention buses, Kathy and Bob, somewhere on the face of a 10,000-foot mountain, decided it was now freezing. With the evergreens casting even longer shadows, the young business colleagues from Chicago turned around and considered they should head back to catch one of the last descending trams of the day.

After a few minutes of hiking along the familiar ridge, both Kathy and Bob realized they had already finished the bottles of water that came up with them on the cable car. When the familiar trail ended with an abrupt rock wall blocking their path, the two experienced hikers from Chicago realized they must have missed the descending spur that led back to the cable car clubhouse and installation.

As the couple continued silently back along the ridge, the first serving of panic began to appear when the lengthening shadows from the evergreens were no longer shadows at all. When Kathy looked at her watch and understood they had missed the final cable car of the day, she realized she was also hungry and thirsty. When Bob noticed his beautiful colleague was no longer following along the darkening trail, he turned around and stopped, to acknowledge a dreadful reality.

“I guess we're going to be in trouble,” Bob announced, “When the tour guides realize we are not at the base of the cable cars and ready to get on the bus. I’ll tell them it’s my fault. I’ll explain that I talked you into hiking off the trial.”

“Bob,” Kathy shook her head in the darkness. “The buses have already gone back to the hotel. Cocktail hour starts in twenty minutes.”

“Don’t worry,” Bob tried to sound reassuring. “When they realize we didn’t come back to the bus, they will start looking for us. We will probably start seeing lights and hearing megaphones soon.”

Unfortunately, Bob was wrong. Earlier in the day, one of the tour guides called in sick. He was the person who rode on the bus and watched after the hikers. His responsibility was to count heads and make sure no one was left behind. His job was to be sure that everyone came back from the top of the mountain, but he was home sick.

Back at the hotel, during cocktails, dinner, and the following entertainment, no one in the group of four hundred missed Kathy and Bob on the first night.

By midnight, Kathy and Bob were huddled together for warmth. Both were shivering in the high desert air and they began to eat the clumps of snow gathered atop a floor of pine needles. Above the trembling colleagues from Chicago, there was no moonlight or starlight. The towering evergreens were blocking out the entire sky.

Bob and Kathy were wearing only lightweight clothing appropriate for the hot desert floor. They were nonsmokers and had no means of readily making a fire. They had no water, no food, and no cell phone service. Back at their separate hotel rooms, their luggage was still packed and waiting by the doors of the luxury accommodations.

The next day, housekeeping would arrive in each of the two rooms. The rooms, of course, needed no service because no one had slept there. The beds were perfectly made, but there was luggage waiting by the doors. This was nothing new to housekeepers at busy hotels. Convention people might have separate rooms paid for by a company, but sometimes singles became couples and ended up together. Empty rooms at a big convention was not unusual. 

Meanwhile, when the sun rose on the far side of the ten-thousand-foot mountain, the temperature was below freezing. Kathy and Bob were unaware that later in the day, before their second night on the mountain, they would find a dead hiker who was mummified because he had been lost on the mountain the year before. 

Part 2 of:  Nightmare on the Mountain arrives next week.

Tom Williams is a Marco islander and the author of two books: “Lost and Found” and “Surrounded by Thunder- the Story of Darrell Loan and the Rocket Men.” Both books are available on Kindle and Nook.