Date: 2022-05-03
From: Yellow Mountain Gap

To: Mountaineer Shelter
Miles today: 18.0
Weather: light rain

Crazy day. Went over the Roan Highlands. Big bald mountains that we could see a long way. I could see Grandfather Mountain in the distance and showed everyone in the crew. Ate a great Ruben Sandwich at Station 19E. Crossed the 400 mile marker. Wahoo! Played in Jones Falls and loved it.Sing Along, Gumby, Messenger, Strider and I had played in the falls and then were leaving when Fruit Ninja (Paula) came up. She was so excited for the falls she went running off the side trail toward it. The rest of us started down the trail. After a short time Strider and I being in the back heard a scream. A scream from a distance through the woods can only be described as unnerving. Strider said ¢Hey guys¢¦.¢ And my brain said ¢Paula!¢ I turned and ran. I made it about 50 feet with my pack on before I realized I needed to get it off. I unclipped it in stride and pulled my phone out. I let it fall to the ground and kept running. As I was starting to run it also began to rain. The whole time running I kept having worse and worse thoughts of what happened to her in the falls. There is an upped section that you can climb to and the rocks are very slippery. I had gone up there and knew better than to get close to the edge. If she had slipped from there, Lord in Heaven, only knew what could have happened. Broken leg, head injury, spinal injury, etc. I kept hearing screaming over and over. I thought I could make out ¢Someone Help!¢ I realized my mistake I¢m not grabbing my emergency beacon and yelled back down the trail for someone to grab one. I yelled ¢Paula we¢re coming!¢ As loud as I could while running. I slowed from being out of breath at one point but then had renewed energy at the next scream. As I got close to the falls I slowed as not to slip and realized that I hadn¢t heard a scream in a little while. I prepared myself for the worst. I rounded a bend and saw Paula sitting just up from the lower pool. At the sight of me she raised her arms into the air in what I perceived as an ¢I¢m saved.¢ manner. I asked if she was hurt and she responded with two thumbs up. With her being conscious I slowed even further but started climbing into the falls and over the rocks. Paula then started moving toward me. Perfectly fine. I asked her as she was standing in front of me if she was injured. She said ¢No. Why?¢ I was so relieved and out of breath I just crumpled to the ground. Strider, Messenger and Gumby came up right behind me and I waved to them and said she was fine. Paula was screaming from excitement at playing in a waterfall. I made the 0.5 mile run, back up the mountain, in the matter of a few minutes. The adrenaline pumping through my system. My heart rate was through the roof. But Paula was alright. She wasn¢t hurt. I have run for emergencies when I worked at camp. But even in those situations I knew there was medical staff coming as well. This time there was no one else coming other than those in my group. Sing Along (Robyn) is a doctor, so she would have been a wealth of knowledge but she was a long way behind me. In this situation I truly ran with everything I had. I gave everything I could to just getting to her. Paul realized that we had all thought she was hurt and came running. She said we were the most caring people in the world. We left her getting her things together at the falls and began to go find our bags and move along to the shelter we were aiming for. It was another 3 or 4 miles. It poured down rain the whole time. I was soaked by the time I got there. I got changed into dry clothes and started eating everything in my Bear vault. It had already been a long day, and then to have the adrenaline dump of running, I was beat. When Paula arrived she was almost in tears that she had caused such a panic. I immediately hugged her when she arrived. Soaking wet and in the rain. She apologized. I told her it was okay. I would have run that distance a thousand times just to make sure no one was hurt. I was so relieved she was fine. I wasn¢t mad at all. Of course on my walk to the shelter in the pouring rain I had felt with the little frustration I had about the situation but that wasn¢t her fault. She was just excited.