Date: 2007-07-20
From: Tiorati Circle

To: Just north of the Lemon Squeezer
Miles today: 3.2

Friday, July 20, 2007Tiorati Circle to just north of the Lemon Squeezer, 3.2 miles.ATC hike 2010Purple Rose and I set my car at West Mombasha Rd and drive back to Ramapo in hers. She¢ll be hiking ATC 2014 today from Warwick Rd to Rte 94. I¢ll join ATC 2010 from Tiorati Circle to Rte 17 (Arden Rd, Elk parking lot). When that hike ends, I¢ll continue on what was ATC hike #11 another 4.9 miles out to my car.At the Ramapo Campus, goodbye to friend Bluey. A day much fresher than any recent days, sunny, less humidity.Our hike leaves at 9AM. Not sure of the number of hikers, maybe 15? There are Kathy and Pam from VT, 4 women from the York PA Hiking Club, one named Janet and 3 others I¢m sorry I didn¢t write down your names, friends Jeff and Charles from Kansas City MO and Memphis TN, Howard from Long Island, Arlene from California, a couple who are section-hiking the AT, I think their names are Sandy, (she¢d taken a tumble on a hike yesterday, her right calf all swollen and bruised) and Sam, co-leader Bill O¢Hearn a staffer at the ATC and our leader Sarah (trail name Bluebird). I think a couple of others, sorry I didn¢t write down the names.Free parking at Tiorati! Start about 10:15. Everyone strides into the woods, feeling more vigorous than in recent days due to lower humidity and a refreshing breeze.I¢m feeling great. Brief stop at Fingerboard Shelter.The woods are green, inviting, no caterpillar damage. In many spots the forest is carpeted in soft 10-inch arcing blades of grass. No other plants or brush. Just the grass. I love the look of this grass floor, which looks as if it¢s been painted in, light and shape abstracted. I remember these grassy places from May 2003 when I hiked this piece, going in the opposite direction, with my son John.John, memories of that hike come flooding over me. Thanks for coming out to hike with me those 3 days. Remember Juiceman, Trip, your journal, cursing the forest, the freezing night in the tent sleeping with no pad between you and the bare ground because you wouldn¢t listen to your mother.12:07, as we finish an ascent, Kathy says, ¢This must be Mount Something or Other¢. Love that comment. I check the map. This one does have a name, Surebridge Mountain, but I like Kathy¢s name better.What¢s this? A sign with blue blazes that says ¢Easy Way¢. Curious.I¢ve hiked this section before. Wearing a fifty-pound pack. I remember the Lemon Squeezer being difficult with that pack on, but then I was inexperienced. Besides, today I¢ve got just a light day pack. No worries. I¢ll take the white-blazed trail.I come to a jumping down place. What the heck? This is a big drop. Maybe 2 feet?   ¢What are you thinking,¢ says my body, ¢You can¢t do this.¢I look more carefully. No rebar.   No ladder. No handholds. There is a root, but it¢s so thick I can¢t get my hand around it. Even if I could, it¢s not positioned right for me to use as a handhold. Over to the left, next to a rock wall perpendicular to the ledge I¢m standing on there¢s a chiseled-out chink in the rock face I need to descend. Work of the maintainers, no doubt. But for short-legged me to get a foot in that chink, I¢ll have to drop about 12 inches and land, listing to starboard, one-footed on my weak ankle, the one I broke back in 2001. Although that ankle is fine for ordinary stepping, it hurts and buckles whenever I have to drop down on it. Hiking, whenever I have to leap a bit, I subconsciously plan the stepping so I land on my right leg. Back to the present dilemma. If I try to land on my left foot in that chink, my leg will buckle and I¢ll fall on my head over to the right. Even if my left ankle were sound, I¢m wearing Crocs, footwear not stable enough for 12-inch drops to uneven unlevel surfaces. OK, how about landing double-footed, right foot first, straight ahead? I weigh too much for a 24-inch drop. Oh, I wish I were 40 pounds lighter. It¢s going to hurt. Maybe injure my right foot. I¢m already partly draped over the edge. Everyone else is waiting below, having successfully negotiated the jump. I pass poles and pack to Charles. I¢ll just go for it and hope for the best.How much of this decision is ego and vanity? Way too much.The minute I land I feel, and hear, a bone crunch. The outside of my left ankle swells immediately. Instantly I¢m queasy. Soon after, light-headed. I rest a bit and then walk over to the ¢easy¢ trail. There I¢m queasy and light-headed again. I have to lie down.Everyone¢s concerned. The ladies from the York Trail Club give me an ice pack, an ace bandage, and carry my pack. Everyone gives hugs, encouraging words, Bill calls for help. Help can¢t get in from the road to where I am, so I¢ll have to walk out 0.6 to Arden Rd. With ankle tightly-wrapped and leaning on my poles, no problem. Sarah and Kathy and Pam and Bill and Charles and Jeff and Howard come with me, clearing the path and carrying my daypack. Thanks, all of you. At Arden Rd are a park ranger and a policeman. The policeman, Keith, takes me to my car at West Mombasha. My right leg, my driving leg, is fine. Halleluiah for that. Anyone who knows me knows if this had happened to my driving leg, I¢d be a basket case. Keith gives me driving directions to Good Samaritan Hospital in Suffern, where Purple Rose meets me at the Emergency Room.Thanks to everyone for everything.At the entryway to the ER there are no wheelchairs. Rose asks an ER nurse for a wheelchair. My friend has a broken ankle. Sorry, we don¢t have any. Your friend will have to walk to the reception area.What? An ER with no wheelchairs?Not arriving by ambulance, I had entered the ER through its "Walk-in" doors. My mistake. Who'da thunk "Walk-in" is means "walk-in" literally.Finally a double-wide wheelchair is produced. It¢s so wide it won¢t go through doors and I can¢t reach the foot supports.This kind of stuff drives me over the edge. Tears brim.After reading the xrays, the P.A. tells me, You¢ve got a fracture of the distal fibula or lateral malleolus. I¢ll splint it. You¢ll need crutches. No weight-bearing. You¢ll need to see an orthopedist as soon as possible. It¢s Friday night. When I¢m back in Syracuse on Monday, I¢ll see the same orthopedist who treated me 5 years ago. Can I please take him these xrays?We won¢t release our original xrays and we have no means to make copies.Ridiculous. I¢ll have to get re-xrayed on Monday at the orthopedist¢s office.I¢m handed a pair of crutches. No adjustment to fit my proportions. No training how to use them to walk or to go up or down stairs. Purple Rose, if it hadn¢t been for you helping me, I¢d have fallen in a heap in the parking lot.Purple Rose and I drive our cars to Canaan NY where we stay the night at my sister¢s.Saturday, July 21, 2007 About 2PM Purple Rose and I leave for Pipesmoke and Mrs Smoke¢s house in NH. Good news! Pipesmoke has agreed to take my place in the Whites starting tomorrow and the AMC will transfer my hut reservations from me to Pipesmoke!So far Purple Rose doesn¢t have to abort her planned hike. I¢m going to do whatever I can to help her stay on schedule. I feel so bad not being able to hike NH Glencliffe to Crawford and VT Cross Mill (County) Rd to Upper Cold River Rd as we¢ve planned.Back in school, Phys Ed was always my worst subject. I can¢t dance. I have no sense of my body in space. Mrs Smoke has noticed. On the sly, she's called her daughter, who¢s a physical therapist, asking her to stop by and teach me how to maneuver the crutches.The Smokes¢ daughter is a patient instructor. Do you have insurance? she asks. Yes, I reply. Funny, she says, this bandaging job looks like the kind they do on someone who doesn¢t have insurance. She adjusts the crutches, and teaches me a mantra, ¢Bad foot down (towards Hell), Good foot up (towards Heaven)¢, for handling stairs.Watching me practice, she's too considerate to be physically rolling her eyes. Mentally, well, that's gotta be another story. Sunday, July 22, 2007Purple Rose and Pipesmoke head out early for Franconia Notch. I enjoy the company of the wonderful Mrs Smoke. Memere comes over to join us for lunch! We have a great visit. Thanks, Mrs Smoke, for taking us in, for feeding us your special Swedish meatballs and shrimp/salad and for all the moral support. Thanks too for the game of cribbage. Can¢t believe that hand I dealt you, Q-Q-J-10-5-x. Tough discard! I won¢t say more here about the outcome except to say the Queen needs to retract her comments about you.Thanks, Memere, for coming by. It¢s so much fun being with you.Mrs Smoke, you and I will have to expand our repertoire by learning how to play Mah Jonng, that classic Chinese game for 4 that both Purple Rose and Memere play. About 2PM I start for Syracuse. Kathy and Keith call to find out how I¢m doing. How thoughtful is that?When I¢m just east of Springfield on the Mass Pike, Bush Whacker calls. I¢m on Greylock!, he says.We meet at the MA 2 AT crossing about 6:30. About half a mile from the crossing there¢s a motel, restaurant and supermarket. The motel is a rather extraordinary place. You¢re invited to negotiate the price of a room. Negotiations structured just like buying a car, except instead of thousands of dollars on the table it¢s only tens. Bush Whacker proves a master of the deal. Because his alternative is camping, which is free, he can drive a hard bargain. He starts the process, departs, goes out to dinner with me, and returns to the motel with a lowball offer.I sealed the deal, he says, with a smile.I drive on towards Syracuse, spending the night in the Element at a rest area.Monday, July 22, 2007Good news, good news, good news.My driving leg is intact.My hurt leg doesn¢t need a cast. Just a removable equalizer brace that immobilizes the ankle, and, in my case due to short calves, partly immobilizes the knee. I can sleep with the brace off. I can shower with the brace off. I can put weight on the broken ankle. In fact putting weight on it will help it heal.They tell me it¢ll take 6-8 weeks for that broken bone to heal.Can I hike Stratton to Monson starting Sept 14? Probably not, say the doctors. I may show you something, think I.Co-hike leader Bill calls to find out how I¢m doing. Great, I tell him. I ask him if he¢d be willing to report this incident to the NY/NJ Trail Club designers/maintainers. If they decide to add a handhold, next time I¢m through that way I¢m going to scratch or carve my trail name into it, in a hidden spot.Purple Sherpa and I work together to try to line up hiking partners for Purple Rose, so she won¢t have to interrupt her hike. As always, the wonderful wonderful AT family comes through!!! What a family!!! Calvin, Purple Rose¢s grandson, will join Granny Rose for the section between Franconia and Glencliffe and Upper Cold River Rd to USFS 21. ShortCut and Sea Eagle, who will be backpacking the Long Trail beginning August 2, will hike with Purple Rose from Cross Mill (County) Rd to USFS 21. When Purple Rose comes out at USFS21, all she¢ll have left north of Connecticut will be 100 miles from Upper Cold River Rd to Glencliffe. South only Graymoor to Mt Everett and Front Royal to PenMar, doable in Sept and Oct! Oh, Rose, it's in sight!