I have had a lot of crazy things happen to me when traveling, but at the end of the day, they always make fun stories even if they’re not fun in the moment. Since I’m mostly done traveling for 2022, I thought it would be fun to look back at my craziest travel experiences from throughout the year. In 2022, there are four stories that stick out above the rest as the craziest, which I’ll share here:
4. Congaree Basin
Back in May, I wanted to visit Congaree National Park to make it to my 15th national park overall. After all the research I did leading up to it, I learned that the best way to see the park is from the water, so I knew I wanted to rent a kayak for my visit. I stopped in Columbia on the way to the park and rented a kayak and then continued on to Congaree. After exploring the boardwalk area of the park, I headed down to the ramp that I found on Google Maps. I arrived, and the parking lot looked a little sketchy: it was small with no one around, and the trail leading to the water was kinda overgrown. I walked the trail first just to make sure it actually led to the water and then came back to get the kayak from the bed of my truck. I dragged the kayak down this narrow, overgrown trail until I reached the water and then carefully set the kayak down into the dark brown water. The water looked like coffee because of all the mud. It wasn’t a very good ramp either; in fact, I wouldn’t even call it a ramp as it was just a drop off, with the water being about two feet below the ledge. I didn’t want to get wet, so I slowly stepped down into the kayak as carefully as I knew how and got myself seated when I suddenly shifted my weight in the wrong direction and then overcorrected, and my kayak flipped completely over with me in it! I had my wallet, phone, and keys all on me and a backpack full of stuff. I quickly got myself out of the kayak and put my head above water, and when I went to stand up, my feet sunk into the mud, up to my knees, with the water level just below my chin. I then had to grab onto a nearby branch to pull myself up out of the mud and onto the ledge above. I was covered in mud from head to toe as I turned around to see the kayak start to float off. I started to freak out a little bit as I leaned out over the water again to try to retrieve the kayak before it was out of reach. As I pulled it closer to shore, I realized that it was going to be hard to pull it out of the water as it was completely full. Once it was next to the ledge, I tried to pull it out, but it wouldn’t budge at all. There was so much water inside that it was impossible for me to get it out. I tried flipping it over and using the nearby roots as leverage to get some of the water out, but it wasn’t enough. I stood there, trying to pull this kayak out of the water with all my strength for over 30 minutes before I started to consider giving up. I wondered how much it would cost to replace it for the rental company as I started to give up hope of getting it out. I had one last idea and decided to head back to my truck to grab a ratchet strap to attempt pulling it out with. And when I reached my truck, there was a father and daughter that had just happened to stop by, looking for potential ramps to use on a different day. They saw me, all covered in mud and at the point of exhaustion, and asked if I was okay. I told them my story, and they offered to help me pull it out. It took all three of us to get it to move just enough to start draining the water out, and not much longer after that, the kayak was free! I later put in at a much better ramp that they had told me about and saw a venomous copperhead in that same water that I had flipped over in. It could’ve gone really bad, but thankfully I was fine.
3. Tallulah Gorge
In June, I headed over to Tallulah Gorge in north Georgia to go hiking. I left very early in the morning because I wanted to hike down to the bottom of the canyon, and I had seen online that you have to show up early in order to get one of the 100 permits given out each day. I got there and had to wait in a long line because they weren’t even sure they were going to open up the trail to the bottom that day. It had rained overnight, making it slippery and potentially dangerous to hike. After standing in line for over an hour, they finally decided they were going to open it up and started handing out permits. We were instructed to first sign a waiver and then attend a safety briefing before we could officially get our permit, so I followed the group into a theater room where they went over the safety information with us. They explained that the rocks were slicker than usual because of the rain and also told us that the hike out would be a strenuous climb back up the side of the canyon. After agreeing to all the safety precautions, I got my permit and decided to start hiking down into Tallulah Gorge. The hike down was a long staircase, and then once at the bottom, I had to cross a river, jumping from rock to rock. Once on the other side, I had to follow the river down to the farthest point along the trail. But when following the river, there were large stretches of nothing but slippery rock that were very difficult to cross. They had steep slopes leading down to the fast-moving river, and if I were to slip, I’d get carried over the side of a nearby waterfall by the current. I had to use all four limbs to scoot across because the rock was so slippery. Once I finally made it to the farthest point within the canyon, there’s a waterfall there that you’re allowed to slide down. Of course I did it, but it was the climb out of the water that proved to be difficult. There’s a rope to hold onto, but because the rock slope was so slippery, I couldn’t pull myself back up. One attempt after another ended with me taking a hard fall onto the wet slope and sliding back down into the river. I landed on my back, legs, arms, chest, literally everywhere but my head thankfully. And the one time I felt like I was finally getting a grip, someone above me slipped and plowed into me on their way down, taking me with them. Completely exhausted, I attempted it one last time, and I told myself that no matter what, I’m not letting go of the rope. I got about halfway up and slipped again, but because I held onto the rope, my entire body weight landed right on my elbow. Immediately I knew something wasn’t right as intense pain shot through my entire arm, and I worried it might have been broken. With a bad arm, I pulled myself the entire way up, literally dragging my body across the rocky slope the rest of the way. And once I reached the top, I collapsed out of exhaustion and couldn’t feel my arm. A nearby nurse saw me and came over to check on me, and she was positive that I had broken it. I had a long-sleeved shirt with me and used it to make a sling. That’s when I realized that I still had to get myself out of the canyon somehow. Going back the way I came wasn’t an option because I was done trying to get across slippery rocks, so the only other way was to cross the river and climb up the side of the canyon. Eight different people that saw what happened offered to help me get back up, and we all decided to go back together. As I started to attempt the climb back up, one lady that had done this before warned me not to try going up with a bad arm. She said it’s way too dangerous. But with the help of these eight people, I ascended up an 800-foot elevation right up the canyon wall. Normally this wouldn’t sound too difficult for me, but with only one arm it was rough. But we all finally made it back up! I went to the hospital shortly after to find out it was a bad sprain. My entire forearm was one big bruise, but after about a month I was back to normal.
2. Andes Mountains
In July, I took a quick trip down to Ecuador. I spent a day in Guayaquil, then flew to Cuenca, and then had one more day in Guayaquil planned before flying back home. After a day of exploring the beautiful city of Cuenca, it was time for me to head to the airport to fly back to Guayaquil. I had no major issues so far on the trip, other than having to make a few last-minute logistical changes, but I was about to run into a problem I never predicted. I found myself in an area where there were no taxis. My last stop of the day was at Mirador de Turi, an overlook on the edge of the Andes Mountains, but when I walked into a nearby store to ask if they could call a taxi for me, they looked at me surprised and explained that vehicles can’t get to this area due to road construction. I did take a taxi here, but not all the way: he had dropped me off in a random parking lot and told me which way to walk. (I wasn’t too concerned because I had my GPS on and knew exactly where I needed to be). But now I needed to get to the airport to make my flight, and there are no taxis in the area. I started walking in the direction they directed me, toward a neighborhood, when I saw a tour bus parked on the side of the road. There was a tour group that had been using this bus and were currently in a gift shop. I guess because this was an official tour operator, they had permission to enter the area that is otherwise cut off to vehicles. I knew this would probably be my only option to get back into town, so I hopped on to talk to the driver. At first he wouldn’t let me join because I wasn’t a part of the tour group, but after explaining my situation, I finally convinced him to let me join for only $3. (Most taxi rides are $3-5 in Ecuador). When the group finally came back, we took off down the side of the mountain and back into town. Once in town, I finally found a taxi and went to the airport. I got through security and found my gate, relieved that I didn’t miss the flight. But then as my boarding time started creeping closer and closer, there was no plane to be found. I’m pretty good at understanding Spanish, but when it’s over the intercom, and I’m in a loud, packed-out airport, it’s hard to understand anything being said. So I went to ask the airline employees what’s going on. They explained that the flight had been delayed and gave me the new boarding time. I was annoyed but went back to my seat to patiently wait. The new boarding time finally arrived, and there was still no plane. I asked again and found out it was delayed again. Several hours passed when an announcement came over the intercom and then there was a mass exodus back toward the security area of the airport. I knew that couldn’t be good, so I found the airline employees that had been helping me and asked for an update. They told me that the flight had been canceled. I’m not sure what the issue was, but the plane that I was supposed to be on had to turn around midflight to head back to Guayaquil. So now I was in trouble. It’s midnight now, meaning it’s too late for me to book another hotel room, so I didn’t know what to do. Then I got a notification from the airline app saying I had been rebooked on a different flight the next morning, but this new flight had a long layover and would be arriving in Guayaquil after my flight back to the US would have already taken off. This was a problem! So I joined the chaos going on at the check-in area to see if there’s anything they can do for me, but I was all the way at the back of the extremely long line. Looking online, I saw that the next direct flight to Guayaquil was in 24 hours, which wasn’t an option for me. I then started to hear rumors of a group organizing a van to take them back to Guayaquil that night. I knew that there were tour operators that did this, but when looking online, I noticed that they don’t offer it in the middle of the night like this. If someone actually was contacting one of these transportation companies, they had to have a connection somehow. I knew that I needed to find whoever this was. There were a couple other Americans in the same predicament as me that were also searching for this person. (There are a lot of American expats living in Cuenca- so much they they even nicknamed a part of the city Gringolandia because of them). I finally tracked them down and convinced them to let me join for $15. Next thing I know, I’m jumping into an overly-crowded van with a bunch of people that I couldn’t fluently communicate with to drive 3.5 hours straight through the Andes Mountains in the middle of the night. The Americans I had run into were going to be in the next van. I was on the phone with my parents as I tried to explain what was going on: “I’m stepping in the van right now! We’re about to take off!” “You’re WHAT?!?” We take off and run into a few issues with roadblocks but finally find a way around them. Then for the next few hours we’re traveling on these high, cliffside mountain roads with low visibility, as Mom is worried watching my path on Life360, which I downloaded specifically for this trip. We did finally arrive safely in Guayaquil, and I made it to my hotel in the early hours of the morning before crashing until noon.
1. Mongolian Steppe
After spending a week hosting medical clinics at a camp in Northern Mongolia, it was time for my group to head back to Ulaanbaatar, the capital city. Driving back would take an entire day, so we had booked a charter flight from the next closest town, Murun. We all woke up very early in the morning so we could make the drive to Murun, which was a couple hours away. We are located right on the border with Russia in the region of Siberia, and the temperature was well below freezing. Most of our group was taking a bus, but there weren’t enough seats for everyone with all our luggage onboard, so a couple friends and I rode with a local family who was following the bus to the airport. The drive started out pretty smooth, but as we started gaining elevation, we started to see snow. This was exciting for me! Living in Florida my entire life, seeing snow is always a treat. I was glued to the window as the snow became thicker and thicker, and eventually we realize we’re in the middle of a big snow storm. Not long after, the bus we’re following gets stuck in the snow and stops. We stop behind them as we watch a couple people get out to try to dig the bus out. Those of us in the car jump out to take pictures of the snow storm, but we could only be outside for a couple minutes at a time before needing to jump back in the warm car. The bus was finally freed and takes off. So we start to take off behind them, and…. the car won’t move! Now we’re the ones that are stuck as the bus takes off without us. So we all jump out of the car and start pushing. It wasn’t too difficult, and we finally freed the car and took off following the bus. Not long after, the bus gets stuck again, and this time it’s REALLY stuck. We see it ahead of us as the back of the bus starts swerving from side to side while the front won’t budge. Finally they give up and jump out to try to free it again. But this time we can’t get close to the bus because we’re also stuck again. We jump out to push the car a second time, but no matter what we do, the car just wouldn’t gain traction. We started switching out and taking turns to try to push the car, but no matter what we do we can’t get it out. And visibility was so low at this time that all we could see in every direction was nothing but white. Meanwhile, the airline is calling Bradley our team leader, wondering where we are. He explained that we’re on our way, but they said they can’t wait any longer and are going to take off without us. He convinced them to agree to wait one hour for us. He then called our host missionary, and he decided to grab his truck to try to come tow us all out of the snow. Now we’re in the middle of nowhere in the Khangai Mountains region of the country. Western tourists don’t typically come to this part of the country, and it’s completely unpopulated except for the occasional nomadic family living in a ger. The only thing here is this road connecting Khatgal and Murun, so the likelihood of anyone passing by, especially in this weather, was very low. We tried pushing the car again and again with no luck, and we were all completely exhausted with very little energy remaining and couldn’t feel our hands because they were so cold. Then out of nowhere a random guy came driving by in his little pickup truck. He stopped and offered to try to tow the bus, and somehow it worked! He was able to pull the bus out of the snow and towed it to an area that was more manageable. That gave us in the car the motivation we needed to push it one last time until we freed it! We arrived at the airport much later than planned, but miraculously the airline hadn’t abandoned us yet, so we were able to make our flight to Ulaanbaatar!
I felt that it was important to share these stories on Thanksgiving week because they’re all so evident of what I’m thankful for: God’s protection in my life. This year has shown that whether I’m deep in a swamp, at the bottom of a canyon, at the top of a mountain, or in the middle of a storm, God is right beside me, and in each of these situations, He provided random strangers who were willing to help. I have had to trust God more this year than any other as I moved to a different state, away from family and friends, right after spending most of my money to buy and renovate a house. And His protection and provision have never failed. He has continued to provide everything I need and has been so good to me. Yeah, I’ve had some crazy things happen to me, but in those moments, it’s even more clear to me that God is with me. Thanks for reading!
Tyler's Travels 