Date: 2017-07-03
From: Harpers Ferry 

To: Ed Garvey Shelter
Miles today: 7.1
Weather: few clouds

Where to begin. This morning after a waffle breakfast, I left the Tea Horse Hostel at 7:30. It was going to be another scorcher of a day, so wanted to get going as early as possible, but had to wait for those waffles. Also today I wanted to hike 2 miles off the trail to take a photo of Harpers Ferry from an outcropping, high above the town. This place is known as Maryland Heights and is 2000 feet above the town. There is a separate trail, off the AT, that leads the two miles up to the lookout.Unfortunately I have my pack with me and it now weighs in the neighborhood of 30 pounds with food for five days and a liter of water. As I was walking up the trail, I thought that it would be nice to stow my pack in the woods, off the trail, till I come back from the lookout so I don't have to carry it all the way up and back . After all, it was starting to get hot and the trail was all up hill. I wanted to find a good spot to hide my pack that has lots of cover. A quarter mile up I found what I thought would be the perfect hiding location. It has thick ground cover and dropped off quickly, and it has a ledge about 7 or 8 feet down that I can get to, to hide the pack. Let's look a little more closely.The next thing I knew I was flying through the air, and at the same time rotating my left shoulder so as to roll onto my back, and landed on the pack. The ledge broke my fall, and also provided a springboard affect which propelled me to become airborne again till I landed in a pile of loose rock 12 feet below the first ledge. After sliding to a face down stop, I realized I made a big mistake. The first thing I did was to check all extremities. Still intact! Blood was staining the grey talus as I lay there wondering how lucky I was not to still be rolling down the hill for another 200 feet or more.I slowly gathered my strength to sit up and wipe the blood from my face. Surveying the situation, I came up with this. I fell about twenty or more feet. Nothing seems broken, but some mighty sore areas. Both elbows, right shoulder, face and left hip are all throbbing. I don't remember unbuckling my pack, but it lay next to me. Then I realized that my glasses are gone as well as my hiking stick. I struggled to stand on this steep slope and not slide down the hill farther, but stand I did. I looked for my glasses but to no avail. No walking stick either. I grabbed my pack, and decided to get back to the trail from where I had fallen. This took all of 30 minutes as it was a very steep climb on loose rock, and also I continued to look for my glasses and my Black Diamond hiking stick. As I emerged on top of the trail I found myself standing next to my walking stick but no glasses. I dragged my pack up behind me, set it on the trail and sat next to it to regroup. After ten minutes and some snacks, I started to feel somewhat better and was able to get my face cleaned up and blood to stop flowing. I checked all extremities and they seem all functional, so decided to continue my trek to Maryland Heights overlook. The view from the overlook was spectacular!After taking some pictures of Harpers Ferry, it was time to get down and start hiking on the AT. I am now in camp, with lots of Ibuprofen in me and trying to rest tonight before going slow tomorrow to the next campground. I thank God, for watching over me on that stupid maneuver. I always like to look for the positive in a situation like this, and believe me there are many positives that can be seen in this accident. Things could have turned out a lot worse. I will count my blessing tonight. Humbly signing off, Huck.