When we arrived yesterday, there had already been someone in bed…it was only 4:30. Naturally, the sleeping hiker was a heavy snorer and early riser. Also, he was an inconsiderate night pee-er, refusing to use the red light on his headlamp when shuffling around. I would have beaten him to death if I could have been sure he wouldn’t have enjoyed the warmth from the process (and if I could be certain of victory which I never am—the last fight I was in a fight was in 6th grade with Rob Comerford…Bill Reedy won it and he wasn’t even involved).
I was uncertain of my leg when I got up. It felt tender but I could put my weight on it. I went to get water for breakfast and noticed that my leg was a little stiff. I just ignored it because stiffness in the morning is par for the course after nearly 1900 miles of hiking. I was guardedly hopeful but not overly confident.
It was cold. Normally, if we were in our tent, I would make coffee in the vestibule on a morning like this. Today, we had to go to the cooking area since the caretaker was sleeping directly above us. In the breakfast area, I started talking to a young couple that was staying in the shelter with us. They were only in their mid 20s but were both in the Coast Guard and loved it. They were talking of retirement at 40 while having jobs they like and enjoy. As with the military, they get ample time off to travel and enjoy their lives. Last year, they spent several weeks hiking in South America. They’ve got their priorities right.
I took off first to see how my leg was going to hold up. The Imp Campsite is on a 0.2 mile side trail downhill from the AT. Before I was even halfway back up to the trail, my leg was throbbing. We had a steep climb up Mt Moriah. Before we even made it to the first view point, my leg was trying to get me to chop it off. There is no way I’m going to be able to make another 300 miles with this leg. I kept falling further and further behind.
In her previous life, Sassy was a occupational therapist. Her specialty was hand rehab but she agreed to have a look at my leg to see if there was anything she could do. Her first recommendation was for me to slide a few feet back so she could push me off the cliff. That way, I wouldn’t slow them down any more. She correctly reasoned that they’d all forget me before they made it to the Maine state line so, no harm done. Bunny’s biggest concern was all the extra weight she’d have to carry. Her second, least preferred course of action was to put some icy hot on my leg and try some K-tape to release the muscle. We took a group vote and option 1 was selected 3-1, but, fortunately, I was allowed a veto.
The placebo affect worked for about 15 minutes before the pain took over all available resources in my brain. We ran into, or rather Bear and Sassy ran into the couple that own the house across from Hikers Welcome Hostel in Glenncliff, NH. I caught up with everyone while they were talking. It was agreed that I should keep walking while they all talked for a bit. When we made the summit of Mt Moriah, I needed a break. It was already past noon and we had only walked a little over 2 miles.
Chip passed us while we were having some lunch. Bear gave me one of his “super anti-inflammatory pills” to try to mask my pain. Bear and Sassy even offered to carry some of my gear when we started moving again (Bunny was surprisingly quiet when the subject of carrying extra gear came up). I declined the offer. My goal has always been to hike the entire trail and not slack pack if at all possible. While we were eating, Peter and Marcia texted that they were back in the area and would meet us when we got down to the next road crossing. This gave me a ray of hope thinking Marcia might be able to perform a miracle on my leg.
I was able to find a way of walking where my leg only hurt while going downhill. This was great except for one small problem; we had 3,000’ of downhill in the next 4 miles. The steepest part of the descent was the first 1.6 miles. Every step was torture. Bear and Sassy went on ahead. They would stop periodically for us to catch up. Bunny had a plan to keep me motivated to move forward. She would just walk far enough ahead that I’d lose sight of her and then she’d yell at me to keep moving. I finally got tired of this and told her to just go on ahead and catch up with Bear and Sassy and I’d see them this evening. She did slow down a bit then but I was very depressed thinking that I was going to have to quit hiking.
It took me almost 2.5 hours to make it 1.6 miles. We could hear voices and calls ahead on the trail. When I caught up, Marcia and Peter had walked in and met Bear and Sassy at the bottom of our steepest descent. Chip was also there. They had been waiting so long that everyone was getting bored. They took turns making calls up the mountain to see if we were coming. They asked me to identify who made which call. I hadn’t heard anything being so immersed in self loathing. Chip said he had dealt with a similar injury when playing soccer. He always just wrapped it tight which helped quite a bit. He then produced an ace bandage which Marcia used to wrap me up. Bunny suggested wrapping my mouth rather than my leg. She always thinks of the greater good—relief for the 5 of them rather than just relief for me.
I felt the difference immediately. I was able to walk at my full pace for the final 3.5 miles. In fact, we walked faster than our normal pace trying to keep up with Peter. Marcia also insisted that I give up some of the gear in my pack. I was not willing, but she can be quite intimidating when she sets her mind. I gave up my garbage, tent, and food…about 5# total. When we got to the parking lot, she even gave me an adjustment while we waited for the shuttle to take us to the AT Barn.
We just claimed beds and dropped our packs at the Barn. Peter and Marcia were staying at Rattle River where we had wanted to, but they were full. Chip had gotten the last available bed. They followed right behind us and then we all walked to dinner at Mr Pizza. No one showered before bed because we had just had showers 3 days ago and we had agreed to take a zero day tomorrow to allow my leg to recover. Sassy even faked having some knee issues and claimed to want a day to rest as well. It was agreed, they’d wait at least one more day before ditching me.
EFG