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>hiking in Polish mountains
>absolutely deserted area, 3 days into my 7 day wilderness trek
>largely off trail and bushwhacking, following deer trails
>come across caves near forest
>enter for the fun of exploration
>sudden deep drop off 20 meters into cave
>barely visible daylight behind me, using torch on dank walls, starts to get drier
>untouched, no footprints in dust, not even animal tracks (weird)
>climb down drop very carefully using handholds
>plateau, pitch black. On the other side of the plateau is another drop off into a huge gulley, can barely make out the far side with my little torch
>smell fetid, rotten stink on the cool cave breeze
>stinks like oily bird feathers, shit and the time I accidentally left a packet of liver in the car for 5 days
>I begin walking back to the wall I climbed down
>hear sound coming from down the cold breeze of the gulley
>”heeeelp”
>I freeze to process it, then call back “Hey! Hello! I’m here to help!”
>nothing
>no reply
>stink is incredibly intense now
>everything is telling me to run (I usually always stand my ground even when I should have fled)
>fucking fuck this
>scramble up cave wall, drop bandana and berries and other shit I’d collected
>get out
>run the fuck out of the cave and down the hillside
>march about 20 miles, long into the evening and through the night until I’m at the peak of another mountain
>don’t sleep the whole night, every pair of animal eyes and cracking of twigs gets me
>finish hike a much faster route
>to this day, the stink of birds and rotted flesh makes me shudder