Date: 2015-04-29
From: Seely-Woodworth Shelter

To: Maupin Field Shelter
Miles today: 20.4
Weather: broken clouds

Day 57We left at 6:06 AM, our earliest start yet. The days are growing longer and the dim early morning light was strong enough to light our path. We had a big day ahead.I was tired, I felt that these past few days have been taking their toll. I am in a perpetual state of physical fatigue. Morale is low. We began with a climb over "the Priest". The shelter at the top, also named "the Priest" had a log book where hikers recorded their confessions to absolve their hiker sins. Being areligious and apathetic of any supersticious practice, I paid no heed to this. The Trail will make me pay for it, a few hours later.We stopped frequently during the day under the pretext that we needed a snack, but I think it was because we sought a diversion from the tedious task of hiking.Around noon, the Trail's elevation profile showed that we would experience a big dip, followed by a steep climb; a tall and narrow "V". We went from over 4000' to 970' back to 4000'. This type of day is so frustrating as it seems to me to be the definition of redundancy. The descent was demanding, but bearable. We ate lunch in the gap with Not Yet and Hot Pants. Then came the climb. There is a shelter situated halfway up the mountain which helped break up the hike. The first two-or-so miles to the shelter were suprisingly alright as the terrain was well graded and unencumbered. We stopped at the shelter to get some water. The rest of the hike was steep, extremely rocky and downright horrible. The mountain we had to pass over is aptly named the "Three Ridges Mountain" and boasts many overlooks and views equally appropriately named, like the "Chimney Rocks" and the "Hanging Rock Overlook". I saw a small field mouse scurry across the Trail to take refuge under a pile of dead leaves, it's tiny body rapidly contracting with each breath. Even the sight of the super cute mouse could not help my mood.We finally reached the top and started the three-mile descent that would finally lead us to the shelter. I was treading carefully as I was crossing over a large slab of rock, when my ankled rolled under me and I fell. I am a clumsy person and I quite frequently stub my toe and trip. I also have sustained many ankle rolls (everyone has), some of which have caused me to loss my balance and fall. I felt a small, sharp pain, but it subsided after a few seconds. No worries.I got up and two minutes later, as I slowly laid down my foot on an uneven surface, my weakened ankle collapsed, like a house of cards. I fell hard and was struck by immense pain; I head this loud, hiddeous "POP" and a wave of nausea and confusion overtook me. Luckily, Shrugs was there and his presence pulled me back to reality. I had the immediate reflex to raise my hurt ankle and concentrated on my breathing to ease the initial pain and shock to a more tolerable level, which took a minute or so. Shrugs then took a pack towel and wet it with cold water (in lieu of ice) and wrapped up my ankle. I also took ibuprofen. We waited like this for about an hour. Unfortunately, it was around 7 PM, so we had to move out soon. Shrugs helped me wrap my ankle with a bandage wrap and he emptied the content of my pack into his. I improvised my hiking poles as crutches.I was terrified of re-rolling my ankle at this point. The pain was nothing horrible, but I did not want to put any weight on my injured foot. I took extremely small, MINUSCULE steps as the terrain was still quite slanted and rocky. The sun was setting, but I was oblivious to the expanding darkness. For the first 20 minutes or so, my gaze was fixed on a white blaze painted on a tree - it seemed too out of reach, continually taunting me. We eventually took out our head lamps and continued hiking in the dark. I saw a great variety of nocturnal insects that suddenly emerged and were traveling across the Trail with us. Bright stars appeared and the moon, our ally for this night, cast a faint, diffuse glow which cut sufficiently through the pitch black to help us avoid any outstanding obstacles. These were my only consolations.After about an hour, encouraged by Shrugs supportive words and feeling slightly more confident, I managed to optimize my "walking" technique and mainly a steady, albeit still excrutiatingly slow, pace.It was 11 PM when we reached the shelter. It took 4 hours to complete 2 miles.- Axon