Date: 2009-06-17
From: Campsite near Turk Gap 

To: Turk Gap - back to Waynesboro
Miles today: 0.0

Well folks they just can't keep me outta Waynesboro! Back to the hospital, this time for a laceration on my wrist. I've spent more time in the ER here than I have my entire life. Never a dull moment (as Berry so eloquently puts it)!It poured all night, never stopped, and we waited in our tent for a late start this morning seeing if the rain would let up. It got pretty chilly last night and it looked like the day was going to be wet and cold. Finally about 9:00am we decided to get going and weather out the day. We packed up everything quickly, saving our food bags and eating breakfast for the last thing before hiking today.While Berry was getting some last minute things together I went to gather our food bags. Because I saw the bear last night we decided to use the PCT method for hanging the food bags. Last night was very windy with several powerful gusts of wind. Anyway, the bags got tangled and twisted due to the wind, I think, and I couldn't release them with the cord. My mistake was that I hung two bags on the same cord. Berry sat on my shoulders and tried to get the bags but they were still a good 5-6 ft above her. Running out of options I decided to monkey climb (like climbing a rope) a small tree which was close to the bear bags and use my weight to bend the tree toward the bags and release them. The first time I tried and still couldn't reach the bags out to the side. I rested a bit and tried again this time climbing higher and shifting my weight differently, using the cord slack to pull the bags toward me. I pulled out my knife and cut the cord above the bags. I was anchored by one arm at the moment and didn't have my feet locked so when the cord was cut I slid down the small tree quicker than I would've liked. When I landed Berry noticed blood on my knife and then saw that blood was running/dripping down my hand. Somehow I sliced myself pretty good on the pinky side of my wrist. I felt fine and wanted to press on but Berry was pretty adamant that we call the Ranger station and get it looked at. The cut was about a quarter inch wide and three quarters in length. We took a bandana and tied it around my wrist. We walked back to Turk Gap and called the Ranger station.It took a while waiting for the Ranger (also EMT). He arrived late morning, took a good look and said I needed stitches and a tetanis shot. The funny thing is that it was the same Ranger we had seen three days before waiting on a taxi to take us to the hospital for my leg. He remembered us! We learned his name, Joe Sergeant.Joe gave us a ride to the hospital and we viewed it as an opportunity to learn more about being a Park Ranger (I have been considering this career field for some time). He answered a lot of our questions and told us all about his experience and training. He gave us good advice and encouraged me to get on board. We will see - praying about the future.We said goodbye to Joe and thanked him for everything as we were dropped off at the ER. The nursing staff recognized us right away so we had some explaining to do. They gave me 4 stitches and a tetanis shot. Thank the Lord for health insurance, it sure has come in handy these past couple of days. Being that it was already well into the afternoon, pouring rain and nasty on the trail, Waynesboro will once again be our home for the night. It's strange being back, we feel as if we are moving backwards and we are ready to move forward. I'd rather be on the trail today. However, I need to keep these stitches clean and we are already so filthy from the trail...it's probably better to be here.A trail angel picked us up from the hospital and we coordinated a ride out to Turk Gap tomorrow morning at 8:00am. We are so thankful for all these wonderful people in Waynesboro.One plus to our situation is that Denali and Gorganzola are here now so we will try to find them today. We have been keeping in contact through email and we always just miss each other. Lord willing, tomorrow will be a big mileage day and we'll be back on track. At the moment Berry is at walmart getting some gauze wrapping for my wrist b/c it's still bleeding and we'll need it for the next week on the trail to keep my cut clean. Hopefully we can get these stitches out in Front Royal, VA.All of you friends and family out there are so worried about Berry being on the trail. See! I told you, don't worry about her- it's me you gotta worry about.