An excerpt from
Wrecked on Table Rock Mountain
by John-Forrest Bamberger
Jed couldn't understand what got into him to come way out to this godforsaken place in the middle of nowhere. When he saw what the road was like climbing up Table Rock mountain, he freaked, seriously considering turning back, only there was no where to turn back on those hairy switchbacks. He wondered if he was subconsciously suicidal.
Nevertheless, he finally got all the way up there, the engine working harder than it ever had in its existence. As would be expected, there were hardly any cars parked up there. There was a picnic area that was surprisingly well-kept and idyllic. He parked the car and proceeded to go on his hike.
It was more like a rock climb than a hike. There were a lot of scary places where one could easily just walk off a cliff. It took him a while to get up there, huffing and puffing, then he was at the top. He faced cliffs a mile high all around. He was dizzy just looking at it all. He peeked over the cliffs down into the precarious Linville Gorge. He had memories of when he was a teen when he and his boy scout troop did some hairy hiking down around there. He also did some terrifying climbing here when he was in Outward Bound a while later. He felt blessed to survive that program alive. Never again.
His one and only time he had climbed to the top before was on his last day of Outward Bound. He remembered a glorious view that day, crystal clear. He could see all the way over to the vast Black Mountain Range and Mountain Mitchell, the highest peak on the eastern United States. He could see far out into the lowlands across the Piedmont hills. He was blown away that day, he remembered. So he always wanted to come back here again.
Just the day before, he had spent the night on Mountain Mitchell. It was beautiful but cold that night. But ah, what a delicious pure night it was. The clouds rushed by just barely overhead past the face of the shimmering moon. When he was atop Mount Mitchell, the one feature that kept crossing his eyes was Table Rock Mountain in the distance, so he resolved to himself that he would climb up there during this camping trip.
However, this time the view was very morbid and cloudy. One could not see more than a couple of miles, which made it rather disappointing. Jed stayed awhile then made his way carefully back down. Somehow the sordid view put him in a foul mood. He thought about camping in the picnic area but there were "No Camping" signs all over and no water to be had. He wondered if it was time to end his camping trip.
He dreaded the ride back down that steep and dangerous road. He kept his car in lowest gear and pounded on his brakes.
Then at a particular junction, out of the blue, a peculiar faintness came into his brain. It was all too much for him. He suddenly found himself hanging upside-down fifty feet off the road in the woods, strapped firmly in his seatbelt.
He could not understand how he had wound up there so abruptly. His initial thought was that he had just run half-way off the road, though that didn't explain why he was hanging upside-down. Then he realized the doors were shut tight and he couldn't just open them. Like a trapped animal, he suddenly screamed in panic. He unbuckled his belt and dropped to the ceiling. He squirmed out one window to the right side that had been completely smashed.
He crawled up to the road, wondering what to do next. His initial thought was he'd walk down the road to the Outward Bound camp there and call for help. Then a car came by carrying a couple. He tried to flag them down, but they swung by him like he was the bogeyman. He looked down at himself. He was all covered with mud and filth. No wonder. Another car came by. They stopped and asked him what was wrong. Good Samaritans. They had a CB with which they called for help.
<back---------------------------------------------next>
