Date: 2007-08-11
To: Carlo Col Shelter
Miles today: 9.0
Weather: scattered clouds

mi. 9sleep hammockdest. Carlo Col Shelter day 30 Well today was one of those roller coaster days that keep getting thrown my way. In terms of terrian, mountains, physically, and mentally. Pretty much all the way around. The day started off prefect. I got out of the hammock before 6am. I packed up and hit the trail south before 7am. I tried not to make too much noise, but nylon isn't the quiest material. There was a northbounder camped a few feet away on a tent platform. But he was sawing some wood big time snoring. Something about snoring always makes it hard for me to fall asleep. I got some good pics of the pond on the way by. I also found the best spot to for my morning coffee. At the top of the moushic arm was a rock sticking out above everything else. It was an easy shimmy to the top. Great views all around. There was also great views of the low clouds blowing around the mountain. I took a few pics of the views and a few self portiats of myself. That had to be some of the best coffee I had in awhile. I lucked out and the cartaker came up. I had him take what turned out to be one of my favorite pics of myself so far. The hike down to the notch wasn't as bad as I heard. It was a good down, with some granite slabs to slide down. But other than that not too bad. I only had to turn around and back down a couple times, with a couple more where I couldn't use my trekking poles. Anymore that is the bar I'm going by for downs. The notch was really fun, well the first 3/4. It was fun doing a huge rock scramble over flat land. This is called the hardest mile on the trail. It is a valley where at some point a lot of huge boulders fell and covered the bottom. Not the trail goes through it. There where a couple spots that you knew they took the trail that way just to make it a litle harder. There were a couple small rock caves to crawl through. This really is a fun section to hike. It took my 1.5 hours with lots of breaks, pictures, looking down all the holes, and a couple incidents I'll talk about in a minute. I met up with Jen and Maieh. I got a couple funny pics of them going through. I think this will be the last time I see them unless I do a few zeros. They are hiking pretty slow. Ok. Now the first incident. Afterwards I came up with a good analogy. It's like when you go to the casino and play blackjack. You start off making small bets. But you keep winning, so you slowly increase your bets. But you still keep winning. After awhile of winning your bets start to get pretty big. After awhile you start puttin most of all your chips down. And you win for awhile. But eventally you lose. Well that is what happened to me. this incident was completly me going something I shouldn't have. After a break I decided to shimmy up this huge rock and get a good look around. Well I walk, I mean rock scramble, over to it. I decided, no I better not. So I move on. I looked at it some more and though I could do it. So I go back over. Big mistake. I try to jump and lift myself up. Lets just say I didn't make it. The fall felt like forever. I pretty much fall once or twice a day. Those are all really fast. Not this one. I had time to think that this isn't goin to turn out well. Luckily I only fell a few feet. I also landed on a huge flat rock. I landed on the meat inbetween my hips and back bone. That combination was huge. I think that help distribute the forces enough, that no serious damage was done. I was pretty worried at this point. This was my biggest fall to date. I kept wondering if this would be the fail that knocks my back out of whack and me off the trail. Lets just say after this I wasn't in the best of spirts and taking it really easy as I press on. Then I smell it. Ok I have been hearing about this since I started from northbounders. Which ment it has been there well over 2 months. I also have been hearing about it from almost every northbounder I pass. Needless to say I'm pretty sick of hearing about it. If you haven't heard, there is a dead moose on the trail in the notch. It is smack on the trail. Just northbound of it is a white blaze. It stays pretty cold down there. I was looking, but I couldn't see any ice. Other people told me they seen some. It smells something ferce though. It is actually still in good shape with it being so cold. Going south you can just see part of it's head from around a rock. You can tell it's there from the smell. Here in lies incident 2. There is a little side path around it. Keep in mind this is only a 20 minutes after incident 1. I think my problem was I was overly cautious. But in stepping from one huge rock to the next I slipped. I fell a little further backwards this time. This one was also in slow motion. This time I stopped when I landed on a ledge in between the rocks. But lets just say I landed really hard on my tail bone. I also was just below the top of the rocks where I was walking. The crack I fell in was just bigger than I am. I let out a few choice words. I managed to pull myself out and around. This time I scraped up my legs and all of the underside of my arms. I had to sit for awhile and compose myself after this one. Thinking back I can feel myself loosing a lot of upper body strength. I get some from using my trekking poles, but not much. I think that added to the first fall and some of my difficulty getting out of the crack on the second. The walk up out ofthe notch and over a small mountain names Fulling Mill Mountain wasn't bad in terms of terian, but I was still pretty shacken from my incidents of the morning. I am really worried about my back and tail bone at this point. I stop for a few beaks on my way up. I got to the backside of the mountain and came across a big bald spot with geat views. It was a huge slab of grainte. I laid in the sun and took off the shirt. It felt wonderful to sit and relax. It gave me time to think over the days events, it was only around noon mind you. As I was laying there Jason rolled up. They packed somewhere before the shelter I was staying at and got there just after I left. I mentoned my falls and my worry about if my tail bone was broken. He said that I probibly wouldn't to walking if it was broken. Coming from an old army medic, I think I'll believe him. He hiked on and a few minutes the other 2 rolled up. I talked for a mintue and then they went on. They where trying to get out of Maine today. They keep talking about taking off on me, but never do. We'll see how things go.