Date: 2004-05-18
From: Spring Mountain Shelter

To: I Should Have Known Better
Miles today: 15.4

I should have known better than to have replaced the original insoles for my hiking shoes with insoles that are a half size larger. An outfitter I met at Trail Days offered them to me for free, so I accepted them. The originals were beaten up. They were also reasonably comfortable. I am now hiking with new insoles and new blisters. There is one blister forming on my left heal and another one forming on the inner ankle of my other foot. I am managing them with moleskin applications but each step I take is mildly painful.During the morning, I should have known better than to have hiked uphill at the same pace as a younger hiker named Underfoot. He is an Australian thru hiker who has traveled in much of the world. I enjoyed conversing with him, but the physical effort took the wind out of my sails for the remainder of the day.During the late afternoon, I should have known better than to open up the umbrella while passing through a particularly dense tunnel of rhododendron shrubs. The umbrella snagged on some shrubs as I was walking. As a result, some of the sprockets of the umbrella broke.Minutes later, it started raining hard and the winds gusted. I was caught out in the open on an exposed, high elevation ridge (4,100 feet) at Big Firescald Knob. I got soaked as I climbed up and down the rocks and boulders on the ridge. Sometimes, it became necessary to use my hands to pull myself up steep inclines as the rain continued to pelt. For what it was worth, I utilized the damaged umbrella, with its limp fabric flapping about in the wind. A bolt of lightening and a clap of thunder occurred simultaneously off to my right and above me. It came unexpectedly; there had been no rumblings of thunder beforehand. When it happened, there was a momentary yellowish flash concentrated in a small portion of the swirling fog. It scared me, being so close to a lightening ignition. The thought crossed my mind that holding an umbrella with a metal shaft might not be a good idea, but I kept it in my hand. As soon as that bolt of lightening struck, I performed a fast sign of the cross; I was getting soaked and cold what a miserable situation. The trail descended back into the woods and the rain let up. Soon, I hiked to the Jerry Cabin Shelter with soaked clothes, soaked feet, and feeling lousy. Most of the hikers there had eluded the worst of the rain. I strung out a line between some trees and hung out some wet clothes and hiking shoes, hoping they would dry. They did not dry. In fact, it started to drizzle for a spell.After stringing up my hammock, I should have known better than to wear sandals and wander off a side path in search of a water source for drinking. The skin off my right foot glanced against a sharp plant. I felt a prickly sensation and within a minute or two, part of my foot had broken out in a rash with tiny bumps on it. Fortunately, the rash was temporary.Not all of the difficulties I encountered today were my fault. Just before the rains came, I was descending a short and steep decline among some boulders. A rock gave way under my right foot. I fell downward and my right leg slammed into some kind of a protrusion, likely a rock. I felt sharp pains in two spots on the leg. But there was no time to dwell on the pain. The leg had stopped falling but my upper body was pitching forward and then downward. I did a kind of forward flip, with my head and outreached hands falling down into the bottom of a short crevice like hole, and my right leg remaining above me. I arrested the fall with my hands, saving my head and face from injury. For a few seconds, I remained in this cart wheeled position with my pack resting in an odd position on the back of my neck. I slowly moved my sore leg to determine if it was badly injured. I was dreading the possibility of a hike ending injury. Fortunately, the leg was okay. I returned to a normal standing position.I am resting in my hiker's hammock in the woods near the shelter. My hiking clothes are damp and my shoes are wet. This has been a downer of a day. Tomorrow, I am hoping for sunshine to dry my clothes and boost my spirit.