May First
Damascus, Virginia
It's been a long week wince I last wrote a journal, but then again, isn't
every week? I need to find a better spot in my pack to put my journal. every
time i think about writing it's, "Aw man, I don't wanna dig through my
pack, it's buried in
there!" and figure I'll just write tomorrow. Or the next day. Or the next
day... Well a week IS technically later, just a lot later than the initial
intention. The only problem is anything after yesterday is a year ago when it
comes to the trail.
Last I wrote, I was about to get back to the hostel Mountain
Harbor in Roan Mountain, Tennessee.
or it was the closest spot to the trail when it started thunder storming
(4/24).
The next day (4/26) after it stopped raining, four of us (Me, Wrong Way, Fromage,
and Rocky Mountain High) decided to slack-pack since a guy Swashbuckler was
going to get a shuttle 25 miles north regardless. He had gotten seriously sick
by the time he got there and desperately needed to come back into town to see a
doctor. That was about a week before i had got there and he was nearing 100%
and ready to get back out there. The four of us were going to slack-pack and
meet him at Kincora hostel for that night. Seemed like a great idea until Wrong Way and I
took a blue blazed trail to see some pretty awesome waterfalls. I got some neat
pictures, but my boots also found the most slippery rocks. I mistepped and all
of a sudden my feet flew out from under me. I hit said rock with a loud THUD
and got the wind knocked out of me. As i was on the ground, Wrong Way first made sure it wasn't too
serious, then just sat back down and laughed at me for climbing over wet rocks
in the first place. He also was initially taking pictures for/of me and
proceeded to take pictures of me fallen down. When i regained the ability to
breathe, I got back up and was alright enough, nothing broken for the most part
but my pride. My knee was pretty swollen and I had probably bruised my ribs as
well. It also didn't help that this was six miles into our 25 mile day. Oh boy,
here come 19 loooonnnggg miles. Luckily i had shoved my first-aid bag inside
the modified day pack I was carrying, but it was still a DAY PACK. i had to hike the nineteen
miles to get back to the rest of my gear. That was a pretty big motivating
factor. Long excruciating hike later and I made it to Kincora. It was past
8p.m. and getting dark quick, but i still made it, even if i did have to limp
down most of the mountain.
The following day (4/27) a largeish gorup of guys were going to get a
shuttle to Damascus because one of the guys (Forest) was sick and needed to get into a town and he
didn't feel like going backwards. My ribs and knee were still killing me and i was
going to zero there anyway, I figured I might as well be in a real town, too.
Besides it made the cost of the shuttle go down to split it an extra way; and
it was only a fifty mile jump and can be done in one day (The fifty mile
challenge on the Tennessee Turnpike). If skipping that much ever does weigh on
my conscience I know exactly where to do a section hike later in life.
Since then (4/28 - 5/1) I've stayed up here in Damascus, with a few more milestones out of
the way. I've hiked over 450 miles, as well as finishing off three states. Woo!
But for now I'm getting off the trail seeing as my ribs hurt just as much now
as they did five days ago. Hoping it's nothing serious, but my mom was going to
come out in two weeks to hike with me anyway. Seems like a reasonable time to
heal up before moving on
-Sam
