[at-l] Ankle report and on and on an on (OT)

[mapster at charter.net (Frank Looper)]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: <Slyatpct@aol.com>
To: <AT-L@backcountry.net>
Sent: Friday, February 20, 2004 12:18 PM
Subject: Re: [at-l] Ankle report and on and on an on (OT)


> It's not the heat, it's the humidity!
------------------------------------------------------------

It's both! When it gets to nearly 100 degrees here in SC, and the humidity
is around 90%, trust me, it's both!

Back on (nearly) the topic line, let me tell something stupid I did, so
maybe others won't.

Tuesday morning, I left for a 7-8 day hike, leaving from Table Rock State
Park in Pickens County, SC. I hadn't had much sleep, and only hiked about
6 miles the first day. Wednesday morning (well, early afternoon!), I got
up--after a good, long sleep--feeling good, and went on my way. Sometime
in the afternoon, I got turned around, probably while I got "misplaced"
bush-whacking around a big downfall on the trail.

After I re-found the trail, I apparently went the wrong way, and didn't
catch it until I was almost back to the top of Pinnacle Mountain! Next
comes the stupid part.

I had a schedule that I wanted to keep, and because I felt very energetic,
I decided to just hike extra and keep to it. I ended up going nearly up
the 2nd tallest mountain in the state (Pinnacle), and over the tallest
mountain in the state (Sassafras), and doing somewhere around 16 miles
with a heavy-ish pack. I guess that I thought it'd be alright, because I'd
walked that distance a few times before at the END of a long hike (read:
much lighter pack, and not having to hike the next day). Yesterday
morning, I got up, after hurting too much to sleep very well, and after
missing a turn off a logging road, decided to climb a 100-foot, very steep
bank to get back to where I was supposed to be.

After that, I laid down on the trail for a nap, 'cause I was WHOOPED. When
I woke up, I'd had enough, and walked the 3 miles back to the nearest
road-crossing point, and hitch-hiked home. On top of everything else, I'm
walking off into the woods in a little over 3 weeks, and decided that I'm
going to sleep with my wife every night between now and then.

I got lost twice (maybe I'm earning a trail name, lol), made a REALLY
stupid move, and pulled a muscle in my right calf, which hurts extremely
bad. If I pull something like that on the AT, the best result will be that
I take a couple of zero-days, and the worst result would be that I come
off of the trail.

Hopefully I'll learn something from this, and remember it, and won't have
to repeat it anytime soon.  :-(

Frank