Here I am, the great backpacker. I have legs as strong as a mule and can cruise trails at 2mph. Nothing can get me down. I have a the pace set for a good twenty miles today. So I'm hiking along, taking in all the splendor the trail has to offer. I hear a Pileated off in the distance while admiring the Laurel in full bloom. Suddenly, to my suprise I am struck! This tree root jumps up at me and completely takes me off my feet! I fall foward, struggling to gain my balance as my momentum carries me away. I think I have gained control of the situation, but to my despair the rock I stepped wasn't flat after all, it was a fulcrum. In order to save my ankle and prevent my knee from blowing out, I take the fall. I roll off the the side of trail and down the steep embankment. Appearing to many as a double-black slalom skier who took a gate way too fast, my poles are flying around in all directions. I roll and roll and........ finally I stop. I open my eyes, praying that I didn't break anything. Thankfully, the only thing hurt was a bit of my pride as a group of hikers heading south stopped to view the carnage as I sifted my way through a bed of Multiflora Rose.
The moral to the story is, it happens to everyone. I know you hikers that have hundreds, thousands, and some ten thousands of miles under your belt have some classic spills. Do share.