Date: 2005-06-21
From: Hostel, Blackburn Center

To: Hotel, Harpers Ferry WV
Miles today: 12.0
Weather: clear sky

Today was hike naked day. I decided that was too tame. I decided I should participate in the Injured Hiker¢s Day. Believe me - Injured Hiker¢s Day is much more fun for all those involved. NOT!!! When we left the Blackburn Center this morning, Troll took off like a bat out of hell with Padre. Oblivious hiked with me as part of the help the sight disabled mom program. All seemed to be going well. Oblivious and I stopped to get out our radios and find good stations to listen to. At 0905, I did something that I often do. I dragged my foot over something (rock, root, stick, air, etc) and caught it in a trip. I fell forward and tried to catch myself with my poles. WHAM! I hit a rock face first. I honestly thought that I had broken my left cheekbone. I felt around and didn't find excessive blood or excruciating pain. I screamed and told Oblivious to go get his dad. My poor little guy dropped his pack and took off running. He was so scared. I picked up his pack and kept on walking. I walked for about 50 minutes. Then I saw Oblivious. He said he had to come back because he was worried about me. Boy, was he scared when he saw me. We kept on walking. Finally we got to the shelter where Troll and Padre were. Oblivious and I were both really glad to see Troll. We were still 3 miles from a road. So we walked some more. By the time we got to the road, I had decided that I needed some medical attention. We started hitching. That is when we were fortunate enough to meet trail angel Donna Stone. What a godsend. She drove us to the urgent care, waited for us to find out if they would accept our insurance and gave us her cell # to call when we were done. I'm telling you, an absolute godsend. An icepack helped reduce some of the swelling. The doctor manipulated the entire occipital area to check for broken bones. That process hurt like holy hell. But there was nothing broken. Both of my boys were pretty worried until they found out nothing was really wrong. Of course, I have scrapes on my forehead, nose, cheek, lips and below my lower lip. I am growing a spectacular bruise, which should stretch from an inch below my hairline down to below my lower lip. Eventually we made our way to the Appalachian Trail Conference Center and had our pictures taken. We were logged in as thru hikers 371, 372 & 373. We will be taking several days off in Washington DC to show Oblivious the sights. Of course, now everyone will be staring at Troll, the wife beater. Maybe I should just get a sign with an arrow that says face plant. Today was very different than we expected it to be. We expected to be celebrating 1000 miles done. We expected to be playing around with the hike naked thing. We expected to be celebrating the accomplishment that reaching Harper¢s ferry is. Instead we are all making fun of my clumsiness. Lots of gallows humor. We are so grateful that only my face and pride are bruised. We are thankful that we met someone like Donna. We are thankful that our family is still ok and able to keep hiking. And you know these not so small things are somehow much more important and exciting than what we had planned for today. Take care and we will see you on the trail. Me, you can recognize by the big ass bruise on my face.