Alpine Bomber

I know journalling hasn't exactly been my forte lately, but then again, neither has hiking. I kept opening WhiteBlaze, writing a few sentences, and ultimately deleting them and procrastinating. I'm currently in my own bed at home in Virginia, and I couldn't quite bring myself to tell all of you that my hike was over. I hiked out of Gatlinburg a few weeks ago feeling amped up and ready to hike. My left foot had been bothering me a little, but heck- it's the AT. Something always hurts a little. We cut the day short a touch because we had heard the shelter we planned on stopping at was going to be full, and we wanted to secure a spot in the shelter considering it was supposed to be about 15 degrees that night. Snuggling up was really the best possible plan. Got an inevitable late start the next day, not to mention taking about a 2.5 hour lunch break, but still managed to push on to do our first 20 mile day into davenport gap. We finished the Smokies feeling strong. My foot was bothering me a bit more, but I took some Vitamin I and ignored it. When I got to the shelter at the end of our long day I felt pretty much invincible. I was hiking with the absolute best group of guys. Yote and Rambles play off each other perfectly and the combination can make me laugh even when I'm in pain and dejected and it's pouring outside. They have my back 100%, and have definitely become trail family. Harrison and Dangerpants are a newer addition to the group, but they mesh perfectly, and bring a certain sense of respectability to the table. Anyway, I was pretty much on top of the world that night. The next morning, however, I could barely walk. My foot was excruciating. I took more Ibuprofen, and eventually a vicoden, but nothing was helping. I only made it three miles that day, and slacked one of them. I holed up at Standing Bear Hostel with Camel, Croc, and (of course) Rocket. I sent my crew on ahead and told them I'd catch them as soon as I was feeling better.

A nero and two zeros of resting my foot wasn't making it feel too much better, and I decided I needed to move. Camel, Croc, Turtle and I decided to do the ten miles to Browns Gap where we knew Ox and Rat we setting up a 3 day hiker feed over the weekend. I was babying my foot, and it didn't seem to be getting worse (although I almost threw up from taking too much ibuprofen). Somewhere around mile 7 Camel slipped and sprained his knee really badly. Despite my injury, I was still the strongest hiker in the group at the time in terms of being able to move quickly. I gave up on babying it and raced ahead to the gap, dropped my pack, and then ran (ignoring my foot) back to get his so he didn't have to do that steep downhill on a bad knee with a pack on. Let's just say by the the end of the day, I could have kissed the trail angel who dropped off two cases of beer for us. I was pretty sure I had a stress fracture. Two more zeros at the gap later, Ox pulled Camel and me aside and offered us a ride into hot springs because of our injuries. He was going to take Pink Panther (the most awesome 9 year old I think I've ever met) and her parents in, and he had space for us. The purist in me wanted to cry, but I knew I wasn't going to be able to safely do the 23.3 miles from the gap to Hot Springs. I saw a doctor in Hot Springs the next day. Essentially, she told me to go see a doctor. They don't have an x-ray machine in town, so they wanted to me to get a shuttle to a town an hour or so away, and then shuttle back. She was pretty sure it was fractured. I knew that hiking out wasn't an option, and that no matter what it was, it was bad enough that any doctor was going to tell me to stay off it for a while. My friend Joe from back home came and picked me up in hot springs that night and took me home.

I saw a specialist when I got back, and he's not sure if it's fractured. Nothing showed up on the x-ray, but that's inconclusive. He wants me to get an ultrasound on it to see if it's a nerve issue. In the meantime, only day hikes until my follow-up appointment on the 23rd, and only if it doesn't get any worse. I've been staying off it pretty entirely, until yesterday. My ex, who thru-hiked sobo in 2011, (Foot-z) and I went out to Bears Den Hostel and did a short hike to a shelter 3 miles from there and dropped off some cinco de mayo trail magic (snickers, canned margaritas, and some little debbie snacks) and hiked back. My foot did okay- it still hurt here and there, but nothing like it has been, and I don't think it's worse today. I'm going out to great falls for another day hike tomorrow, and we'll see how that goes. In the meantime, Im missing the trail horribly, and can't wait to get back out there. If there's one thing I'm sure of, it's that I'm not finished with my hike this year, and the trail isn't finished with me. I'll be back out as soon as I can. I'm still undecided as to whether or not I'll have to flip-flop or southbound the rest, or if I'll just get back on trail with my old group (or a few days ahead of them so i have time to get my trail legs back!) and then go back after Katahdin and make up the parts I missed. I may get back on at Standing bear and just try to make big miles without hurting myself. I'm for sure heading down to trail days and I'll talk it over with everyone there. In the meantime, I'm loving hearing from everyone who's still hiking. Rambles, Yote, Sawyer, Camel, and Uke have been keeping me in the loop about everything, and it's always good to talk to them. See you all at trail days!