Date: 2006-04-20
From: Lost Mt. Shelter 

To: Wise Shelter 
Miles today: 17.3
Weather: overcast clouds

We woke up to birds singing and no rain. We got off by 8 to make our way up Mt. Rogers Mountain. We climbed 3,640 feet but had a lot of switchbacks, which we love. However we also had a lot of rocks in the trail which made it very difficult at times. When we reached Mt. Rogers, we began to see the "Feral Ponies", see pics. We saw about 24 adults and 4 young. It was so great because sometimes people hike through the highlands without seeing any of them. After leaving the ponies, we saw some beautiful views of rock formations throughout hilly pastures. It seemed like we were in the foothills of Colorado. Then, when we were about a 1/4 mile from the Wise Shelter, Craig thought he heard Cathy scream out his name. He ran back and found her lying still on the Trail. We'd been hiking down a hill with a lot of roots and loose rock. She said she tripped on a loose stone and when she fell, hit her head on a rock. After taking off her pack Craig started to lift her and saw she was bleeding and the rock was covered with blood. Craig cleaned and bandaged the cut above her left temple, but was concerned as to how deep the 1" cut looked. Cathy never lost consciousness, her eyes continued to dialate and she never felt sick. We were able to stop the bleeding but the cut was too deep and her face on the left side was beginning to swell.   Craig knew he had to get her medical attention but where and how. When we finally got to the Wise Shelter three section hikers from Vermont were there and said that they had a car parked at the Grayson Highlands State Park. Jamie Smith offered to hike with us to the state park and to drive us to wherever Cathy could get treatment. It was about 3 miles to hike to the park but when we got there, no park staff were there to give us any information as to where to go. Craig's cell phone finally worked so he called 911. They told him that Jefferson, North Carolina, was the closest city with a hospital. It was 30+ miles, but Jamie was more than willing to drive us. What a guy! The hospital staff were great; Cathy ended up with four stitches, a big bruise, but nothing more serious. The doctor said it was a very deep cut and it was a good thing that we brought her in. When we were trying to get a ride to a motel one of the staff said she lived close to the park and that she'd give us a ride back when she got off at midnight. She didn't think we'd get a ride by hitch-hiking. We were looking forward to a motel room but the thought of walking 30+ miles tomorrow wasn't a good thought either. We decided to take her up on her offer so we went across the street to Pizza Hut at 9:30 to eat and kill time.   When we returned to the hospital at 10:45, we discovered that a Boy Scout from The Grayson Highlands Campground, had been brought in to the ER with a cut knee. In talking with his leader about our circumstances, he offered to take us back to the campground. We arrived back at 12:45 a.m. so we decided to stay in the breezeway of the camp store. We got to bed at 1 feeling very lucky and very thankful to all the people who helped us out. This was a very frightening situation and reminded us again as to how vulnerable we are in such remote areas. However, experiences like walking the AT are what make life so great, so for now we'll just keep walking.