Date: 2004-07-23
From: 501 Shelter

To: Home
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: light rain

I was going to just take a zero day in the shelter and then see how I felt the next morning. After a couple of hours of contemplation I realized that a zero day was not going to change things so I packed up and hobbled to the road where I got a ride into town. Bottom line ... a stress fracture ... In a nutshell a stress fracture is caused because the muscles,tendons,ligaments, etc. around the foot are no longer capable of bearing the brunt of the work so the body tranfers the load to the bone. Of course, the bone can't handle that much so it fractures. I am in a boot cast and will be for 3 more weeks. What can I say? I never figured that would happen. I was in a state of denial for the first week home and I am, just now able to deal with it. It is so different at home. I had a couple of friends over and during the course of the evening I held up my pack and said, "Take a look at this and then look at this house. I had everything I needed in life for 4 months in this pack and it takes up zip space in the house". Really makes you think. A lot has gone through my head since I got home but I have come to a decision and that is one reason I am able to come back to this site, read entries and post my final entries for this hike. I am not finished. I wanted to hike the trail and I am going to do so. At first I was thinking of 2006 but in the last week I decided, why wait. I am going to start again in March of 2005. Not from where I stopped, but from the beginning, except for the approach trail which I have already done. Why start at the beginning? Because the dream was to hike the trail as a thru hike and that is what I am going to do. One of my best friends here told me that once I get something into my head I go after it until the goal is achieved and I guess this is an example. Will it be different? Will the wonder still be there? Will the excitement of what is around the next corner still be there? What about the people, will there be people like I met this year? The answer to all these questions is yes. An emphatic yes. Why yes? Because I am more prepared. I know what I need to bring. I know what I have to do. I can concentrate on the hike. I can take more pictures. I know what not to do, like push to far to fast. I might be able to enjoy the Smokies. I can beat back the mileage monster. And most of all, I can make the walk with a completely healthy foot. The fracture occured almost 1200 miles into my hike but I think the seeds were sown back in Gatlinburg. During the entire hike there were not too many days that it didn't hurt or bother me in some form or another. Because I was so worried about the foot early on I missed a lot of the trail. Not the hiking but the enjoyment. There is so much from the early days of the hike that have become a blur of memory and to relive it excites me like no other. Does it mean I won't get another injury? Not at all, but I am not going to worry about it. Heck, we can get injuries just walking out our front doors every morning. I will be in better shape at the start next year than I was this year. I lost a lot of excess weight this year and I mean a lot! Badger and I were talking about the weight losses on the guys and he said something that I had not thought about. He said, take that excess weight you lost and think about putting that in your backpack and carrying it with you. It was not necessary but you still packed it along. The words were never more true. I am just as excited right now about hitting the trail again next year as I was when I was planning for this year. I am going to make some gear changes. I am going to do a few more maildrops this time around. I am going to spend less money. I spent more than I needed to this year. YOu can do this trail for dirt cheap. Like I mentioned in previous entries, you can get supplies for 5 days for $20.00. Heck, I can save a ton just by not having to lay up in Gatlinburg for 5 days To all of you I met on the trail thanks for the memories. There are several people I have been in contact with more than once since I left. To those of you who followed me in my journal .. a special thanks .. you made it fun. A lot more fun than you can believe. There were many times I would run across something on the hike and think to myself, "I can't wait to put that in the journal". I will do the journal again next year so if you want to follow Round 2, stay tuned . Right now I am planning on a departure date of March 20 or 21. Thanks again for reading and see you next year!