Day 9: Roll With It

2 June 2016

Start: Ed Garvey Shelter
Destination: Gapland Road
Trail Miles: 3.7 

Total Trail Miles: 37.5

Today was supposed to be an easy nine mile day. Minimal elevation gain. Nice views. A stroll to the shelter if you will. This is not what happened. I'm beginning to learn nothing goes as planned out here. If you're not flexible, you end up pretty miserable. 

About a half mile into our hike, I stepped on what appeared to be a nice bed of leaves in an otherwise rock filled path. A tiny little rock grabbed my foot and twisted it in a wicked way. I heard a loud pop and promptly fell to the ground. I looked at the ankle and within 15 seconds it was the size of a small grapefruit. Uh oh. 

Colton, aka my savior, was perfect. He also had tape! Thank goodness. I quickly wrapped it with tape and we used his sock to wrap over the tape. Don't even try to imagine what my grapefruit ankle looked like all tied up in his cammo socks. 

I hobbled out 3.3 miles to the nearest road and we got an Uber to an urgent care. Not broken! Sweet! But badly torn ligaments and soft tissue. Hmm. Doc said to stay off  it for a week, but knew that wasn't going to happen. So, tightly wrapped, some anti-inflammatories and my trekking poles. Slow and steady. 

We found an Inn in Harpers Ferry, called the Town's Inn. I found it online and called from the urgent care, so we went in blind. The place is adorable, built in the 1700s, riddled with Civil War history, and ran by a very sweet, but a bit strange family. They took great care of me actually. Let me stay late in the room the next day, gave me a military discount and just fussed over me in general. 

The Inn will be on Hotel Hell on Tuesday, 7 June. 

 

 

Once we were settled into our lovely room, Colton went on a beer mission while I elevated and iced my injured ankle. This should have been about a 45 minute endeavor. It turned into a four hour ordeal that entailed a six mile trek, losing his wallet, someone buying him a pity beer, making new trail friends, dealing with a crazy person and finally waking in with our beer! In the meantime, I was sitting on our porch and met Suzanne, a State Farm adjuster working here for three months. She lives in Nashville, but is from Alabama. We all became fast friends (even though she refused to drink with us) and she may now have the AT bug!

 

The Bistro, next to Towns Inn...conveniently situated outdoor patio is where I waited out Colt's adventure. I met Fugitive, a thru-hiker that only has one set of clothing that he proudly hadn't washed in over two weeks. He sleeps in the shelters as he doesn't have a tent. Avoidance is key here folks. He gave me some pointers, told me he's never seen an ankle that looked like mine and to get off the trail immediately. Hmm. 

 

Time for rest and ice! Back on the trail tomorrow for a test hike of 5.3 miles. Wish me luck. 

Shire