Date: 2008-08-03
From: Carter Notch Hut

To: Royalty Motel
Miles today: 2.5

The Fall (I am still not talking about the season)Our work for stay involved cleaning the bunks, which took a while. I was going to wait for the other hikers to go to make sure I was on the right path. While waiting, I went thru a fair amount of stretching, the first serious stretching I had done in a while.Around 9:30 we all started to head out and quickly separated due to variance in hiking speed. The 1 mile hike to the dome took just under an hour and I was feeling better and better about the 15 miles I needed to connect with Piper.At the top, the Trail got pretty smooth, and I started on the path. About a quarter mile on the path, I caught a root and fell down. This was not a ¢normal¢ trip where one kind of stumbles and catches his footing. It was as if I caught a root and went down immediately. The big mistake I made was in putting my hands out to catch my fall and in doing so, I impaled my hand on a small tree stump. I got up and my first words were ¢Don¢t panic¢. The cut didn¢t go all the way through, but it was deep and about 3 inches long and bleeding quite a bit. I got my bandages out of the top part of my pack and put a gauze on it, then looked for a way to secure the pad to my hand and stop the bleeding. Using smaller band aids helped a little, but didn't offer any pressure to stop the bleeding. The only option I could think of was my belt and that was buried in my pack and the rain was increasing. Then along comes Chief Daddy; I told him I was looking for something to secure the gauze and stop the bleeding. He suggested I use my bandana, which was on my head. Duh! He quickly got it on and I decided the best course would be to go back to the hut, get rebandaged and to go the road. That was a total of 51/2 miles.So I head out and get to the hut in about an hour. The staff redressed my wound and Chelsea, God Bless her, took my pack and we headed down the mountain. The hike down went well and we got to the parking area in about 2 hours. The cab showed up within a minute, so I was off to the hospital.The folks there, Androscoggin Valley Hospital, were just great. The ortho surgeon on call came in and determined I had not cut any tendons or nerves. The other doctor sewed me up (3 stitches inside and 5 outside) and the ortho surgeon said it was not a question of if I return to the Trail, but when. He was very concerned about it getting infected while on the Trail. That meant up to 10 days off the Trail.Talk about a blessing in disguise. Given how I have been working on improving my attitude and the constant rain, this would give me some needed rest and recuperating time. Piper decided to hang with me for a while; he needed some off time as well and he would help me change the bandages.So we got a room at one hotel, and then moved onto the Mt. Madison Motel for an extended stay. As I reflected on the day¢s and week¢s events, I realized how very lucky I had been. When I fell and got up to take care of my wound, I wondered if this was the end of my hike, was this the event that would end it, would I have to pack it in. From what the doctor said, I would be able to start hiking within 10 days. So I knew I would be able to finish. The other reality was that my finish would be delayed by 7-10 days. I would just have to enjoy the time off to rest, avoid the rain, and let my injury heal.Sleep came a bit easier that evening.