View Full Version : Another WB'er has headed north!
SuzyQ & I spent the weekend with 1Pint and saw her off from Springer this morning!
She arrived inATL on Friday, and we spent the nite at the AFSP lodge. Ate a great breakfast at the buffet. Then 1Pint & I slacked the approach trail while Suzy brought our gear up to the FS42 lot. It was a great hike up. We met sectioner who is also from Ohio (near 1Pint), Ian, (no trail name yet).
Chatted with Many Sleeps of the GATC atop Springer. Pitched our gear, had a good meal and headed for our tents.
Oh, by the way, it was 19* last nite atop Springer, and that didnt include the wind chill from the 20mph constant winds!! Thank goodness for down!!
1Pint headed north about 1130am today, Easter Sunday. She is looking for a good trail name, so be on the lookout for her and help her find that moniker!
Gray Blazer
04-08-2007, 18:38
I left a note for her at rock gap shelter. I wish her the best.
SuzyQ & I spent the weekend with 1Pint and saw her off from Springer this morning!
1Pint headed north about 1130am today, Easter Sunday.
Pleased to learn that 1Pint is now under way. I've exchanged quite a few PMs and emails with her and look forward to her arrival in Berks County, PA.
Go, girl, go! Adventure awaits!
Marta/Five-Leaf
Hey
sorry I missed your email in March hope you all have a great time
Every blessing
Alan
(natchez)
SGT Rock
04-08-2007, 21:37
Good to hear another one has started.
Go Laura Go!
Wendi and Suzi, I miss you! Works killing me but I hope to get back out on the trail soon. I'll email you!
Julie
peter_pan
04-11-2007, 15:47
Good luck.
Pan
Rain Man
04-11-2007, 16:16
Best wishes to 1Pint and all the hikers!
Rain:sunMan
.
Have a wonderful journey :)
Creekdancer and I ran into 1Pint on Kellys Knob. We hiked the rest of the way with her into Dicks Creek Gap on April 13. She was doing well and making good time. I believe she was going to stay at Cloud9 that night
Unless or until I hear otherwise, I will assume she survived Georgia and is now hiking somewhere in North Carolina.
astrogirl
04-22-2007, 12:38
Does she have a journal?
I'm about to PM you the link. You'll find there are no additions since she began her hike, hence my comment above. I'm looking forward to reading anything she adds to her journal as are others.
1Pint insisted on doing her own journal updates on the trail when she was able to get computer access... I have a standing offer with her to be her transcriber... She should be in Gatlinburg real soon and she may be able to update us all on her journey so far.
Thank you very much for the information. I'm waiting, but one can only wait so long.
If I don't see something soon, I'm going to need to take a road trip to confirm that this is actually something other than a cyber-hike about which we are all posting.
I've come to conclude she can take a good heckling. Well, keep it up and she'll get one!:D
Hey Wendi,
Tell Laura I said hello and good luck when you talk to her again. Hey to you and Suzy too!
Julie
I left a note for her at rock gap shelter. I wish her the best.
I saw your note about the Gators on the trail. ;) You'll be happy to know that I passed a group of SoBo day hikers who also had to warn me (after asking where I was from) to avoid the gators on the trail. Crazy Florida people! :sun
Wow! she's really out there hiking! Miss you much and hope you are well! (been chatting with Oregon to get your updates!)
Thanks Marta, Shades of Grey, Amazon Woman, Peanuts, Smile, Rain Main, AstroGirl, The Dude, Sgt Rock, Ewker, Gray Blazer and Natchez for your thoughts.
I haven't updated the TJ and won't have a chance today. Spent the night in Gatlinburg (mile 203 baby!!) and got some errands covered, but I'm late for the trail if I'm going to make Max Patch by Thursday night to hook up with my friends for a Friday sunrise. So, I'm sorry for the incomplete info but just know that it was great seeing Ewker and Creek Dancer on the trail and I'm having a blast out here. It's what I was hoping it would be and the people are really wonderful.
:sun
Hope to see you all in Damascus for Trail Days!
Laura/1Pint/S.I.S.
Footslogger
04-24-2007, 12:10
The StarSchlep Crew salutes you ...
ENERGIZE !!
'Slogger
Gray Blazer
04-24-2007, 12:37
I saw your note about the Gators on the trail. ;) You'll be happy to know that I passed a group of SoBo day hikers who also had to warn me (after asking where I was from) to avoid the gators on the trail. Crazy Florida people! :sun
To me, it was cool leaving you a note ahead of time and thinking you might see it. I guess that's how those geo-cachers feel. Have a great hike!
To me, it was cool leaving you a note ahead of time and thinking you might see it. I guess that's how those geo-cachers feel. Have a great hike!
You never know just how inspirational those "left-ahead" messages can be...
I thru'd the Pinhoti last month... Mr Parkay did it in January... He left me a note in a shelter register knowing I'd be thru behind him... I arrived at that particular shelter on the worst day of my hike, feet were not going to go another step and thobbing in pain. I read the register and found his note to me, and I couldnt have been more ecstatic about reading it! It just took the pain right out of me and I had a great trip the rest of the week.
So keep leaving those notes and messages, you just never know who you will inspire!!
Glad to hear your hike appears to be unfolding in a most satisfactory manner.:)
ms doolittle
04-24-2007, 21:01
Does 1Pint have a trailjournal started yet? I searched for "1Pint" and it turned nothing up. I'd like to follow her up the trail.
Thanks!
Gray Blazer
04-24-2007, 21:55
You never know just how inspirational those "left-ahead" messages can be...
I thru'd the Pinhoti last month... Mr Parkay did it in January... He left me a note in a shelter register knowing I'd be thru behind him... I arrived at that particular shelter on the worst day of my hike, feet were not going to go another step and thobbing in pain. I read the register and found his note to me, and I couldnt have been more ecstatic about reading it! It just took the pain right out of me and I had a great trip the rest of the week.
So keep leaving those notes and messages, you just never know who you will inspire!!
Mr Parkay is a cool, thoughtful guy. I met him on the trail last year. I have a pic of him in my WB gallery (Yes, another shameless appeal for people to look at my gallery.) Anyway, it's cool you met him. Last year on the AT a lot of people had never heard of WB. This year, I was out for a few days in NC and not only had a lot of thrubees heard of WB, but they had also heard of me from reading some of my posts. Matt, they had a lot of questions about you!!
Does 1Pint have a trailjournal started yet? I searched for "1Pint" and it turned nothing up. I'd like to follow her up the trail.
Thanks!
This question was answered off-board. No need to reply.
spec_grade
04-25-2007, 00:28
Does 1Pint have a trailjournal started yet? I searched for "1Pint" and it turned nothing up. I'd like to follow her up the trail.
Thanks!
At the risk of violating the protocols of this particular forum –-dedicated to the Class of 2007-- but in the interests of keeping her fans informed, which includes me, her Dad in far-off Oregon, I’m going to post the following.
1Pint does have a trail journal, but she didn't do an update when she was in Gatlinburg. Instead, she did a fast resupply and rushed back to the trail, to all of our disappointments. (Too busy doing the hike to talk about it, eh?) But among her hurry, she did commit the following words to print:
"Greetings from Gatlinburg, TN. I can't believe I'm already at mile 203 of the 2170 total. It feels good and I'm sooo happy to be here. Good trail companions and good solo hiking make it all just really great.
The weather has been really awesome. Had a significant storm blow through the Great Smoky Mtn Nat'l Park about a week ago. Lots of trees blown down and blocking the trail. The incredible trail crews were out and completely cleared all but 2 of the trees by this morning. It was a huge amount of work for them, especially since all work within the Smokies is done without power. Yep, handsaws and hatchets and such was all they had to work with. I was able to thank one of the volunteer workers on my hike in this morning.
I'm off to the grocery store to resupply and then to a hotel for the night. But I'm thinking of you all and hoping you're doing well. Love, Laura"
Today’s mail (04/23) brought me a postcard, which helps fill in some of the details of the earlier days of her hike:
--------------------------
Laura writes:
At Mile 160.9, Fontana Dam Village. Just did a resupply for 3 days to take me to Gatlinburg (Newfound Gap on the trail inside the Great Smoky Mtns). It was my first store resupply, and I’ve got an odd mix of food & snacks. Hopefully, it’ll cover me. Feeling pretty good other than a cold that won’t go away and now, today, a pulled right quad. I’m going to the doc & optometrist in Gatlinburg to get all fixed and new contacts. I’m enjoying the folks who are hiking a similar daily mileage but may take tomorrow off for my leg. Hope to use the internet and my phone in Gatlinburg to catch up with you.
--------------
I did catch up with her by phone yesterday afternoon. But when I called again this morning, I have to assume she’d already stuffed her phone in a box and mailed it forward to herself Erwin, because all I got was her standard message: "Hi, I can’t answer right now. I’m out hiking the AT."
If she’s looking for a trail name, I’d call her "The White Rabbit", as in
[I]"I’m late. I’m late. No time to say Hello. Goodbye. I’m late. I’m late. I’m late."
Charlie
Thank you for your contributions spec_grade and a hearty :welcome to WhiteBlaze.net!
just out of curiousity why can't her Trail Journal be posted on here. Other hikers have had theirs posted with or without their permission.
Glad to see she is having a good hike. I know when we saw her she was hiking with a few folks and it sounds like she is still hanging with them.
spec_grade
04-25-2007, 15:06
Ewker
It’s not the location in cyberspace of her trail journal that matters, but getting her to do updates that all of us –-her included— would like to read. She intended to keep family and friends, fellow-hikers and fans, informed of her hike and to share her reflections on her hike. But the present reality is that, right now, she’s too swept up in the adventure itself to want to step outside of it to talk or write about it, which is a question any traveler, on any journey, has to deal with: the levels of self-awareness/self-expression that one wants to take on. For most people, just "hiking the hike" is task enough.
Had it been my hike, I would have done a zero in Gatlinburg to let my leg heal –she pulled her right quad and now reports pain after about two and half hours of use—and to catch up with chores, like updating journals while the details were still fresh. But she wanted to be there on a mountain top for Friday’s sunrise with the group she’s walking with. So, she did a quick resupply and zoomed out of GB. Her hike, her style, which is a never-ending intention to dot i’s and cross t’s but an invariable settling for "good enough". So the brief message she did post in this thread, saying a quick "Hi" to everyone, was the extent of her update from Gatlinburg, to all of our disappointment.
My guess is that as the newness of her adventure wears off, and her days of hiking become a pattern, she’ll make more use of her resupply time to sustain the connections to the people of her other lives. And then we’ll see more regular updates. But, as a parent, I can pull rank, as well as do some behind-the-scenes things. Friends who launched her on her hike at Springer took photos. So when next I talk with 1Pint, I’ll get the password to her trail journal and post a few that are really good.
Charlie
Thanks for the info Charlie. I've been following her journal...patiently awaiting updates. I'm glad she's having a good time, that's what it's all about. I hope her pulled quad doesn't cause any unexpected downtime.:)
spec_grade
04-26-2007, 14:29
Update on 1Pint
Laura broke two bones in her ankle and possibly chipped a third. She will have surgery around noon (4/26) and be out around 4PM. She is at Mission Hospital in Asheville, NC. The direct line to her room is (828) 213-3817.
The old "toe-under-the-tree-root-across-the-path-while-headed-fast-in-a different-direction" is what did her in. She was headed down a steep ravine, caught her foot under a root, snapped the bones, and crumpled right there on the trail. So there were no head injuries, etc., "just" a fractured ankle. A fellow hiker had just finished a First Responder course (like, last week) and was able to render immediate treatment and then the group of hikers she was travelling with packed her out of the ravine and across the flats to their car and then on to the hospital. (Thank you, guys and gals who were there, if you’re reading this.)
Initially, she was thinking she’d be off the trail for six weeks and could flip-flop to make the full distance before year’s end. But the docs are saying 4-6 months of rehab will be needed before the ankle can be fully loaded again. So her hike is over for this year.
In one sense, she’s still in shock, without a clue for her best course of action, which will mean a return to the work force. But where to return to is the question for having cut loose her housing, for expecting to be on the trail for the next six months. It isn’t as if she can’t crash with her Mom (in California) or me, her Dad (in Oregon). But Akron (Ohio) has been home base for her for the last 7 years. So where to hang out while rehabbing won’t be an easy decision.
In other sense, accident or not, she’s as determined a hiker as ever, always looking for way to cut her pack weight. So when the docs were discussing the surgery with her, saying they’d have to set permanent, stainless steel pins in her bones to stabilize them for healing, she asked:
"Hey, could you make them out of titanium instead?"
She’ll heal, and she’ll hike again, as Class of 2008.
Charlie
what a friggin bummer to hear. So sorry her journey this yr had to end like this
Gray Blazer
04-26-2007, 14:55
The girl has spirit! What a year! First the football team, then the basketball team and now this. One Pint, I would rather the gators had lost every game this year than see this happen to you. I have some titanium in my knee so now we are the titanium twins. Good luck and God Bless, JJ
Creek Dancer
04-26-2007, 14:56
Man, I am so sorry to read about her injury. Ewker and I met her at SoRuck last January and then again on Kelly's Knob during our recent section hike. She was in great spirits and absolutely loved being out there. She and I had made tentative plans to meet up on the trail when she reached central Virginia. Well, we will just have to delay that one year. I have no doubt that she will be back on the trail this time next year. Best of luck to you 1Pint!
oh wow, sorry to hear what happened. we will send our collective good thoughts. hope for a good speedy recovery for 1pint!!
I'm so sorry to hear about this. Good luck with the healing!!!
My condolences for the end of your hike. Good luck with the surgery and recovery!
Marta/Five-Leaf
StarLyte
04-26-2007, 16:38
I am so sad to hear of this. NOT that she had to end her hike, but the pain she might have suffered.
Laura! What a bummer. I am so sorry to hear this! I just knew you were going all the way! Looking forward to seeing you in '08 though. Good luck healing! Keep us posted.
JUlie
ms doolittle
04-26-2007, 21:57
Geez! So sorry to hear this! Hoping you have a quick and painless recovery, 1Pint! The trail isn't going anywhere and it will be ready for you when you are.
Maybe we'll see each other on the trail next year. :)
Trillium
04-26-2007, 22:32
WOW; I'm so sorry to hear of your injury, OnePint. Best wishes for a full recovery. I know you'll be dedicated in rehabbing.
Charlie, thanks for sharing.
~ trillium ~
Jester2000
04-26-2007, 23:45
Sad to hear that 1Pint is off. But at least it was spectacular! Not everyone gets to end their hike in surgery, after all.
Sad as well is the fact that we will all have to wait an additional year to see how this plays out:
1Pint:
I've survived for months without drinking your favorite crap and I'll continue right on doing so. Hey, we're all allowed to be snobs in 1 area of our lives. And this is my 1 high-maintenance snob area.
So, if we're hiking together and arrive upon some trail magic, you should hope it's the everyday stuff 'cause I'll gladly let you have my share.
(geez, I hope I don't need to print a retraction in a few months!!)
Jack:
I assure you, that at some point on your trip, someone will offer you an ice-cold PBR and you'll make the announcement that it's positively the most magnificent malted beverage of your entire life.
And you'll be 100% right.
Jim Adams:
LOL, you will!!!
Lone Wolf:
yup. she will. guaran***nteed.
Mags:
Ya know..this has the makings of a great pool. Better than the Minn. Smith one! I lay down oh, 1:2 odds. She is adamant about not wanting cheap beer. The trail veterans disagree.
Khaynie:
Now...I'll bet you 50:1 odds that you can't pass up an ice cold Bud or Coco Cola Classic that you've either found or will have been offered in your 2100+ mile journey. Either way, good luck and safe travels!
Two Speed:
Better, but probably not as protracted. Besides, what's wrong with 1Pint preferring good beer to undrinkium? Yeah, I know the odds are against her, but what the heck, at least she's putting up a good fight.
1Pint, good luck, heal well, we'll settle this little matter in '08 . . .
spec_grade
04-27-2007, 02:02
Good News
Laura just called me (04/26, 12PM Eastern). Her surgery had been bumped to late afternoon, but she now out of the recovery room. Her voice was strong and clear, and her leg is medicated with pain blockers from the knee down. So she’s not discomforted from the surgery on her ankle, though she having trouble with her O2 levels, which they are treating.
Her new room number is (828) 213-3919, and she welcomes a call anytime, because she’s being woken up anyway every half hour for monitoring her vitals. But, obviously, the middle of the night is the middle of the night, and the morning would be a better time to call her.
It took a plate and nine screws to patch her back together, and the docs are now saying it will be 6 months before she can put on a pack again. Her plan right now is to motel it in Asheville for two days, leg elevated, and then get herself home to Akron.
It will be a few more days before she has Internet access again and can tell her own story, but this will be my update on her behalf, as I fade back into my role as concerned parent of "one them crazy, thru-hikers".
My thanks to all here for your best wishes for her, and especially my thanks to her trail buddies, who so selflessly rendered her prompt, emergency assistance out on the trail. Such fellowship makes the AT and its hikers the much-honored community it is.
Charlie
Gray Blazer
04-27-2007, 08:42
I tried to call her last night, but I guess she already switched rooms.
Jester2000
04-27-2007, 22:51
I tried to call her last night, but I guess she already switched rooms.
Or maybe she was screening her calls. . .
HA!
Gray Blazer
04-28-2007, 00:01
Or maybe she was screening her calls. . .
HA!
She answered yours? She's not taking calls from FL gators. Really, that's not the real reason, but I'm not allowed to divulge that.
buckowens
04-28-2007, 09:35
Hey 1Pint,
After carefully reading your comments and those of your Dad, I am convinced your name should be gallon as you pack a ton of spunk!!! Your dedication and enthusiasm is spectacular. I especially liked the comment about titanium in the foot -- got to cut the weight you know...
Rest, heal and get back out there. Your journal will be one I will want to read.
All the best,
Buck
I have so much to be thankful for! Thanks to all of you - Ewker, Gray Blazer, Creek Dancer, Peanuts, Camich, Marta, StarLyte, Amazon Woman, Ms Doolittle, MurphyGreen, Jester, and BuckOwens - for your responses and concern. :sun
I'm back in NE Ohio thanks to 3 of my girlfriends who drove all day Saturday to come get me and drove all day Sunday to bring me back. I'm so lucky to have such great friends!
I'm doing well. Very little pain and pretty good mobility on the crutches.
My dad's right about how great my hiking buddies were. Brady (the dude from Maine carrying a plastic bucket in his pack and considering the name Tater due to his family's potato roots (good pun, huh?)) was the Wilderness First Responder who organized everyone and got things done. Jake (Boom Boom Bandaid Bigfoot +8 (it's a good story, just ask him)), Blaze, Hoshaiah, Jake's girlfriend Stephanie and Jake's roommate Mike, were all complete troopers with the carrying, running, etc and most of them were in flip-flops or crocs since we were done hiking for the day and just playing around.
The short 18 days I was on the AT were some really terrific days. I felt that I was really in the right place. Therefore, I can't wait to get back out there next year. I have fully committed to doing my best at rehab and physical therapy and I can't wait to give it another go in 2008.
Gray Blazer - sorry I missed your call and thanks for trying
Creek Dancer - I'm looking forward to hiking with you and your friend somewhere in the SNP next year.
Jester - I figured I'd go ahead and pay up on the 12 bottles of some Ohio microbrews at the 2007 Gathering just so we have some good beer available to drink. If Mags is willing to entertain the bet again in 2008, I'm willing as well.
Thanks again everyone. I really love this community and am sorry I'll have to miss Trail Days. But nothing could make me miss the Gathering in PA, so I hope to see you there.
I'm currently staying with my Ohio "Mom", so my internet access is limited but once I get steady access, I'm ready to feed my WhiteBlaze addiction. :D
mountain squid
04-30-2007, 21:14
Ouch!!!!:( Sorry to hear about your injury. But, don't get too discouraged, the trail will still be there:) (it always is). Heal quickly...
See you on the trail (& at Trail Days next year),
mt squid
Skidsteer
04-30-2007, 21:21
Considering this year's Billville theme, 1Pint (http://www.ancientworlds.net/aworlds_media/ibase_1/00/08/95/00089512_000.jpg), you really should try to make TD '07.
Best wishes for a full recovery.
I am so sorry to hear of your injury.
Rehab the best you can and I'll se you out there in '08. :sun
Considering this year's Billville theme, 1Pint (http://www.ancientworlds.net/aworlds_media/ibase_1/00/08/95/00089512_000.jpg), you really should try to make TD '07.
Best wishes for a full recovery.
Thanks Austex and MtSquid!
Hey Skidsteer - That looks mighty fine! I could handle kicking back in that contraption while some strong folk cart me around the party. You volunteering? Things to think about....:-? Nah, with my luck, the carrying crew'd indulge in a little too much good stuff and dump me on my rump, and probably break some additional bones. Me thinks I'll pass this year. :(
Thanks Austex and MtSquid!
Hey Skidsteer - That looks mighty fine! I could handle kicking back in that contraption while some strong folk cart me around the party. You volunteering? Things to think about....:-? Nah, with my luck, the carrying crew'd indulge in a little too much good stuff and dump me on my rump, and probably break some additional bones. Me thinks I'll pass this year. :(
1Pint, that would probably happen :eek:
come on down!!! A friend of mine came to last yrs TD's in a wheelchair. She got all types of special care.