Date: 2004-06-29
From: Rausch Gap Shelter

To: 501 Shelter
Miles today: 17.4
Weather: overcast clouds

The story continues ... It poured big time last night and I was glad to be in the shelter. It let up before morning and at 6:00 I made my move to get up. Major problem here! Walking was a big problem. It was not like in Gatlinburg where there was the problem in the heel. This pain was was further up the foot, more in the ankle area as opposed to the achilles area from the earlier injury. Polar was pretty concerned. She was the only one awake at the time who saw my attempt to walk. I looked at her and shook my head. I was thinking that this was not a god thing. She asked what I was going to do. I had been running that through my head yesterday and the choices were: Start walking and see how it felt after a bit. If it was bad I could hitchhike out on the first road about 4 miles up. If it was doable, go to the 501 shelter which was right on the road, and an enclosed building should I have to lay up for a couple of days. After we talked a bit the rest of the crew was up. Pappa Bear, Badger, and Pilot were all concerned. I could see it in their eyes but I was not done yet. Southern Man and Now or Never were the only two that did not see me because they had tented and were a couple of hundred yards away. I limped out of camp and I knew things were bad. A lot worse than the previous pains but I kept thinking I can do this. After a bit the pain lessened to a dull throb and I was thinking that this was going to be OK. It was a beautiful day and after a mile or two I was walking OK .. gingerly but OK. Now or Never and Southern Man passed me while I was getting some water. We talked about all the berries we had been munching on during the morning. There were a ton in the area. Toward lunch Pappa Bear and Badger passed me and I gave them some money for pizza that night. Figured I would be the last one in as slow as I was going. (You can order pizza from the 501 if someone has a cell phone). I could walk but when I stopped for a bit and then started again the pain was almost unbearable. I was relying heavily on my pole for support and that is when insult was added to injury.. my pole broke .. The bottom part would not hold and kept sliding up. I had to laugh at the irony but I knew I wasn't going anywhere without a pole or stick so I used the old "if it doesn't work get a bigger hammer" trick. I laid the pole down and smashed the bottom part with a big rock. By doing this I "locked" it into position .. problem solved. A mile and a half from the 501 shelter I came to the last downhill for the day and that is when it hit the fan. Up till then it was level or uphill which was not to bad but going down caused some major pain, and I mean major. I thought I was going to have to get on hands and knees and crawl down the hill it hurt so bad. I finally made it down and hobbled into the shelter. Southern Man, Now or Never, Pappa Bear, Badger, Pilot, and Polar where already there. I looked at them when I got there and said, "I think I am outta here you guys". I knew, deep inside, that the injury was a hike ender. I have always been in pretty good tune with my body and this was not something a couple of days would take care of. My plan was to see what happened in the morning and take it from there. Heck, as long as I wasn't walking it felt great . We did have pizza that night and a thought popped into my head that I was eating my final supper on the trail. That is how convinced I was it was over. You all know now it was over. The next morning was hell getting out of bed. Pappa Bear and Polar watched me and all I could do was shake my head. They knew and I knew but I still put on the good face and said I would see them in a few days. I am going to leave it at this for now. The next post will be some of my thoughts, feelings, and plans. I should have it posted by the night of July 22 or 23.----------------------------------- This is your life and it's ending one minute at a time.