Date: 2006-11-10
From: Near Pen-Mar State Park, Pa

To: Raven Rock Hollow, Md
Miles today: 5.9

I slept good last night and got a late start today because I was meeting up with one of my favorite Trail Angels, Rosie Suit, just 6 miles into my walk today and she was going to slack me from there.I couldn't believe how mild out it was again...probably about 50 degrees at the start of my walk.It didn't take me long to get to the Pa/Md border once I started walking.The sign at the border was gone, but someone wrote on a post that this was the Mason-Dixon Line.I'm done with Pa and looking forward to Md!! :-)))I walked through PenMar Park, stopping to take a few pictures, but didn't stay long.There was some trees that still had some yellow leaves in them in the park.I walked along, looking around and I noticed that there aren't hardly any leaves left in the trees in the forest now. I really like it this time of year on the Trail. :-)))I had about 3 hours to walk the 6 miles to where Rosie was meeting me, so I was really taking my time and looking all around.It would have been a great time to catch some leaves...if only there were any left to fall. :-)))I got to where there was a steep switch back in the Trail that leads up to the summit of Quirauk Mountain.I took that switch back and remember thinking to myself that it's nice here, now that they have repainted some blazes...the Trail was easy to following in the rocks.I was just turning onto the second steep switch back when the weight of my pack pulled me back just a little. I stuck my right pole back to push me forward, but it hit a hole and I was leaning too far back to recover from that. I think I tried again quickly, but the pole went into another hole.I remember thinking to myself...watch your feet so you don't get them stuck in one of the big rocks and break a leg.The rest of the fall seemed to almost go in slow motion.I guess my feet popped up in the air when the backs of my legs hit rocks up about a foot. I know that because I've got the cuts on the backs of my legs where they scraped over the rocks.I was free falling backwards, just waiting to hit something.I fell back and finally hit rocks about 7 feet below where my feet where on the Trail. I hit hard, square on my backpack, my legs and feet where over my head and after my backpack hit the rocks, my legs kept going right over my head....I was still seeing this in slow motion in my mind and thinking...ah, crap. :-)))Thank goodness for the cushioning of the backpack, or I could have really been hurt.I rolled down the hill more until my legs came full circle over my head and slammed into the rocks below.I remembered thinking to myself...look for broken bones because this was a much worse fall than the one I took earlier this year when I fell and broke my arm.The first thing I saw was a punctured can of Coke spraying everything, then I saw my hat another few feet down the hill.I rolled over and sat on my butt, looked my legs and feet over, saw some blood, then wiggled my toes. The toes worked...that was good. :-)))I moved my arms, moved my legs, looked at that can of Coke and mumbled; "Dang."I stood up slowly. My left leg was bleeding at the shin and my left knee was cut up and sore, but it held me up...another good thing. :-)))I sat back down and got out a bandana and tied it tightly around my left leg where all the blood was coming from. I got that to stop bleeding, so I slowly gathered up my stuff. That's when I saw my left hiking pole broken completely in half. :-(((I don't know how that happened. It was the right pole that slipped into the hole in the rocks, but that pole was fine. I must have pulled the right pole out and tried to plant it on another rock. The left pole was in pieces.The bottom half of the left pole was about 10 feet away from where I landed at.I got myself together and slowly started climbing the mountain.I had 4 miles to get to where Rosie was meeting me and I wasn't sure how fast I could walk.My left leg felt alright as long as I kept the knee straight, but that's hard to do when you are climbing or descending.It took about 30 minutes before my breathing slowed down to normal.I had to stop a couple more times in the next 4 miles and retighten the bandana to stop the bleeding.I would have taken more time if Rosie hadn't been there waiting on me, but I figured I could finish taking care of things when I got to where she was parked.I passed by three guys that were out walking for a few days. I just said hello and walked on.When I got to Rosie, I sat down and started cleaning up some. The 3 guys walked by.Their names were David, Mac and Bruce and they were all retired Army Medics.Mac poured some stuff on the wound and wrapped a dressing he had around my leg. He said that if he would have had his stuff to sew up the cut, he would have. They walked on and Rosie took me to Charles Town, WV to Urgent Care and they got me fixed up.The doc said I severed a small artery and that was why it kept bleeding. I guess I also cut some tendons or something like that. Too much information all at one time for a thru hiker to comprehend. :-)))He sewed me up with 9 stitches, gave me a tetanis shot, rewrapped my leg and gave me a few supplies to change the dressings.He also told me to take at least 72 hours off from walking to give the artery a chance to start healing.I got a script for some antibiotics and Rosie took me to the pharmacy and I had that filled.Rosie drove me over to Bear's Den where I figured I could rest for a few days before I get back to walking again.I introduced Rosie to Queen Diva and they both went right into talking bad things about me. Each one was trying to out-do the other on telling just how bad I am....some kind of friends, huh???. :-)))I can't believe how everything worked out today. Rosie was there waiting to slack me, well, she didn't get to slack me, but she helped me out more than I can say...thanks Rosie!!! Sorry you had to witness all that happened today, but THANK YOU, THANK YOU!!!!Oh yeah, I showed Rosie the proper form to be a successful leaf catcher...I grabbed three leaves right in front of here while we were waiting on Queen Diva....150 leaves now. :-)))Ken and Kieth are sectioning the AT and were at the hostel tonight. We watched a movie on Ken's DVD player.I ate popcorn and drank soda's while recovering. :-)))