Date: 2021-05-31
From: Salisbury, Connecticut 

To: Glen Brook Shelter
Miles today: 13.1
Weather: light rain

One of my favorite manager bromides is ¢tell your story backwards¢ - simply give me the decision/conclusion/incident and then we¢ll decide how much backstory we need. So, story backwards: I thought I had an easy half marathon walk today that became my most humbling day on the trail and if you¢re keeping score at home - my first (and second) fall on Day 50. Story forwards:I slept in until 6 am at then did Spanish lessons in bed. The other two hikers at Maria¢s were getting a shuttle at 7:30, while I didn¢t plan to leave until 9;30. After they had left I striped all the beds and collected towels as Maria¢s grandson wasn¢t available this weekend to help her. So I made up the beds with fresh sheets and did a quick bathroom clean for her as well. Going downstairs I made some eggs, toast and coffee for myself per her instructions (she even had the frying pan sitting out for me with bacon grease already in it). Maria had told us the night before that she doesn¢t put in her hearing aids until 8:50 and doesn¢t get up before nine. Thankfully, my hiking clothes had dried out over night and even my shoes were 2/3rds dry. I got repacked and put my gear outside and true to her word, Maria came out at 9 for her morning waffles. I told her since she enjoyed the pizza last night she could keep it as leftovers as I wasn¢t going to pack it out. She tried to give me a $5 discount off my nighf¢s stay for taking care of the beds and bathroom, but I told her the two Pepsi¢s, three cups of hot tea and the Nilla wafers from last night were worth 5 bucks. On my way out the door she gave me a hug and told me she¢d be praying for my safety. I¢m glad I stayed here. So back to my easy hiking day. There were three climbs on the docket over 2000 feet - the first time I¢ve seen that elevation in 400-some miles. The rain had continued all night until about 5 am but the forecast for the rest of Memorial Day was dry. What I hadn¢t fully considered was three straight days of heavy rain and what that would do to these steep ascents and downhills. What it did was turn much of the trail into creeks and waterfalls. I had 5 miles of steady uphill to get to the start of Bear Mountain. I soon had given up on keeping my feet dry - it just wasn¢t possible with all the standing and running water. I had read that going down the North Slipe of Bear Mt could be tricky, especially in wet weather. The climb up was steep but not really much of a struggle and a met quite a few dhikers who had made the climb and were on their way back to the parking lot. After going over the summit, the humbling began. The sheet rock faces you have to go down were in many areas just covered with running water. It was difficult to look from above at a 8-14 foot drop and figure out how the hades I¢d be able to get down. About a quarter of the way down, I didn¢t. I had the classic ¢both feet slip simultaneously¢ fall and ended up on my backside sliding down a muddy rock face. Dammitt. Made it to Day 50 and now - bam!  I was kind of miffed that I wouldn¢t finish the trail ¢clean¢. Five minutes later, the real fun happened. There was another massive boulder about 10-12 feet high that I had to go down. It looked like there was a nice little ledge across its face I could use to traverse sideways down the rock to the far side and then zigzag back. On my third step both of my feet went and I was gravities pawn. I may have had to exclaim ¢good heavens!¢ when my right shin stopped my fall by colliding with a small white Birch tree growing out of the rock. Had it not been for that, I would¢ve been a** over tea kettle to the next rock 6 feet down. I grabbed the tree with my hand and reoriented myself feet-downhill and lowered to the rock. Inventory time;Did anyone see? Nope - phew!Am I ok? Too soon to tell, endorphins running amokWhere¢s my gear? One trekking pole next to tree - retrieved. Water purification bottle missing. It¢s back up at the top of the rock from whence I fell? Holy Bejeebus, how did that happen?!?So climb back up, retrieve gear, turn face towards the rock and go down feet first using hand holds to get down. (By the way:,there¢s a real good reason Alex Honnold does Free Solo climbs going up and not down, that being gravity is not your buddy). Maybe I should have done this in the first place, but might have ended up with all the skin missing from my face. The real tragedy occurred later as all the twisting and tumbling I did caused a permanent misalignment between my shorts and my skivvies leading to borderline wedgie issues all afternoon  A little further down I checked myself over and didn¢t seem worse for wear other than alarming swelling occurring on my right shin (pic above). The good news was it wasn¢t directly on the bone - the tree trunk just missed it. Over the next hour it got to the size you see, but then slowly went down over the last 8 miles. i, on the other hand, was mentally shot. It took me almost an hour to do the .7 mile downhill and then I had two more still to do. i saw two other day hikers take minor falls as well. There was so much water running straight down the trails that you could have filled your water bottles. It stayed like that all the way to this shelter. About two hours after my fall, I was able to experience what may be the high point of my life to date (I¢m still so pleased I¢m smiling in my hammock). I was talking with a SOBO section hiker who was telling me of Bear activity in the area. He looked at me and asked if I had fallen, I said yes. He said ¢did you know you¢re bleeding?¢ and I immediately answered ¢I ain¢t got time to bleed¢.  Thankfully he was my age and cracked up at the reference. We parted with mutual ¢Hurry! Run to da choppa¢ salutations. (Hit the google machine if you need edification).So that was my ¢easy¢ day. It took me seven and a half hours to cover 13.1 miles and I lost some confidence along the way. Tomorrow is a short mileage day (two more steep downhills, I don¢t anticipate they¢ve dried out) then a road walk into Great Barrington, Massachusetts where I¢ll be staying two nights and taking a zero on Wednesday. Sev needs a full day off. Please fell free to drop any comments or questions in the Guest Book (drop down menu) and I¢ll respond on Wednesday. Thanks to everyone reading this who served our country in the military. A special mention for my father in-law, Lee, who¢s brother Lupe was killed in action in the Mediterranean Sea in World War Two.  Hope you had a fall-free Memorial Day!