Post #14 The Unexpected

My week started off with a two night stay in Bennington, VT, for a re-supply and much needed muscle recovery time.  When I got back on trail, I enjoyed the benefit of higher elevation- namely cooler temperatures.  For every 1000’ of elevation gained, the temperature decreases by 3 degrees.  Since I was hiking at an elevation that was 3000’ higher than Bennington, the temperatures were in the low 70s instead of the low 80s that were forecasted.

  I feel like I’ve had more energy this week than I had in previous weeks.  The rest in Bennington and the cooler weather helped.  And since I was planning to rendezvous with my better half this weekend, I needed to cover fewer miles this week, so there were days when I finished hiking in the early afternoon.

  This past week seemed to be family week.  I saw several family units out backpacking.  Many were dads out with their sons and daughters.  It kind of made me feel guilty for not taking my kids backpacking when I had the opportunity, but then I remembered the canoe trips that we did, and I didn’t feel so guilty.  Anyway, I was glad that I got to see some good parenting.

  Vermont doesn’t seem to have any rock outcroppings that create natural views.   But we do get views from fire towers and at the locations where the trail intersects with the top of an alpine ski slope.

  Last Wednesday was one of those low mileage/early finish days that allowed me to spend the afternoon relaxing and visiting with other hikers.  Late in the afternoon, I met a couple of guys from Charlotte who had spent nearly two hours waiting for their older buddy, Joe, to catch up.  When he finally appeared, Joe plodded right past his friends without acknowledging them, which was very out of character for him.  They caught up with and turned Joe around and then realized that he was experiencing some medical issue which was impacting his ability to reason.  Joel, one of the group, got camp set up and proceeded to get the sick man re-hydrated, fed, and rested.  The other member went on ahead 12 miles to drive their truck to a spot closer by to get Joe.   Joe was monitored throughout the night.  In the morning, Joe and Joel back-tracked one and a half miles to a forest service road where their companion would meet them with the truck.

  Also on Wednesday evening, I was reunited with Grimm.  If you recall, I hiked through a lot of PA with him but we split up when he had to take a couple of days off to allow blisters to heal.  Since I was signing trail registers, he was able to see how far ahead I was and spent the past 3 weeks trying to catch up to me.

  A couple of other events unfolded on Thursday morning.  A woman that was missing/late was located.  Her husband had been wandering around the camp/shelter the previous evening but didn’t tell us that he was looking for his overdue wife. We had head lamps and could have helped if we had known.  So she spent an unexpected night curled up next to the trail beneath her emergency blanket.

  The second event that happened on Thursday morning involved me.  I once again left camp before 7 AM.  After hiking for only ten minutes, I came to a bunch of boulders that I failed to traverse successfully.  In about a tenth of a second I found my left arm horizontally supported by a boulder with my entire body weight trying to make it bend a direction it wasn’t designed to bend.  Since my body was wedged between two boulders, it wasn’t easy to get off my misshapen arm.  As I sat slumped against a rock, trying not to pass out, I weighed my options.  The shelter was only ten minutes away, but since I was too light-headed to walk, I chose to just wait and let help come to me.  Joe and Joel arrived in about 10 minutes and Grimm arrived in another 15.  Joel explained their plan to get Joe picked up at the forest service road that was 1.5 miles away and that they could take me to the urgent care in Manchester, VT.  So the three of them took turns carrying my pack and keeping an eye on me while I slowly made my way up the trail, trying to walk smoothly to reduce the jarring and pain in my arm. 

At the urgent care, I said goodbye to the three guys from Charlotte. The x-rays confirmed what we all suspected- a dislocated elbow. While the doctors sedated me, put my arm back in place, and placed it in a sling, Grimm reserved a room for us at the local Hampton.

I was originally optimistic that I would be able to get back on trail in less than a week, But after I was told to see an orthopedic doctor, I did some research on the interweb and learned that recovery usually takes several weeks and involves physical therapy. So my friend Bruce, who was going to join his wife Phoebe and Anita to hike with me this weekend, picked me up and returned me to my family on Friday evening. While I was glad to see my family, I’m not really excited to be home.

   On Monday I will try to make a doctor’s appointment and will practice my Jedi powers in being patient.  I’m pretty sure that I can get back on trail this year, but I may not be able to complete it until next year.  I will be forever grateful for the help I received from Grimm and the guys from Charlotte.  God knew I was going to get injured and surrounded me with the support I needed.  My hope is that I will be a support for someone else in need.

  I’ll keep you all posted on what’s happening.