April

April 1, 2003- Good hike today despite a throbbing knee. Planning to make an unscheduled stop in Franklin, NC tomorrow to arrange meeting with family and to pick up a knee brace. They are the latest fashion item here and I am one of the last to break down and get one.
At any rate I know I am getting stronger, except for my leg. Went up and over both Big Butt Mtn and Albert Mtn. The main feature of Big Butt was a narrow ledge walk. The trail was perhaps 18 inches wide with a sheer drop of a few hundred feet to my right and a vertical wall to my left. Erosion caused the trail to slope toward the drop and the trail was covered with rocks and mud. The stretch was only for a few hundred yards. I did not become afraid until I tried to stop to take a picture. I quickly decided that my perch was not a good place to try to fish for a camera and decided to move on. Albert Mountain reminded me of the climbing wall at America Outdoor Adventure. I would have stopped for a picture but both hands and both feet were hugging onto rocks. There was a fire tower on top but I did not climb it. It's strange how I feel relatively comfortable at altitudes in the mountains but that man made structures still cause me concern.

6.8 miles completed today. I am at Big Spring Shelter at mile point 97.7

April 2, 2003- A big day for me. I crossed the 100 mile mark and am at mile point 106.8 at Winding Stair Gap. Actually that is where I stopped for the day. I am actually in a motel in Frankin, NC. I had to come into town to re supply and pick up a knee brace. I had to put in a 8.9 mile day. Not bad for walking on a leg and a half.
In case I didn't mention this hiking in NC seems easier than GA. The climbs and descents are larger and steeper in North Carolina but there is more relatively level ridge walking between the ascents and descents. Tomorrow morning I will have a 1,500 foot climb to get out of the gap but then the trail moderates for a few miles before starting a descent into the next gap. In GA few climbs were more than 1,000 ft, most were in the 300-500 ft range but there were no ridge walks in between. You were almost always going up or down.

April 3, 2003- Today has just been a wonderful day. I left Franklin via a shuttle and started hiking at 9:30. By 1:00 I had covered 4 miles and climbed 900 feet to the top of Siler Bald one of the strange but magnificent Appalachian Balds.

They are strange because while they are below tree line, no trees grow on top of them. They were treeless when the earliest settlers found them. When standing on top, you find yourself in a clearing a few hundred yards in diameter, surrounded by a ring of trees. No one knows why they are bare although theories range from UFO landing sites to fairy rings. The cleared tops do form almost a perfect circle. Even stranger too is the fact that they are vanishing because over the past 20 years or so, trees have started encroaching on them. Why they remained bare for centuries and why trees have only recently started invading them are unexplained mysteries.

I am camped at mile point 115 at the Bartram Trail Junction, 8.2 miles further along and a net 1,500 feet higher than where I started. I say net elevation gain because to get there I had to ascend 900 feet to the top of Siler Bald, descend 800 feet, and then re climb 1,400 feet to get to tonight's campsite. I generally try to compare feet to flights of steps or stories in a building and I allow 10 feet per story. In other words today I climbed to the 90th floor of a building, went down to the 10th floor, and then climbed to the 150th floor. There are no elevators. I am very tired tonight.

April 4, 2003- I only managed 7.6 miles today and am at Cold Spring Shelter. Eight of us are packed in a space for five as the rain started pouring down. I am at mile point 122.6 only 11.4 miles from the Nantahala Outdoor Center (NOC). I would have gone further but the knee I injured in the fall is extremely sore and stiff and hurts more on descents. The remaining trail to NOC is one long descent. Considering my leg, I anticipate that it will take 2 days to make the descent.

I am considering the option of going home for a few days. The general prescription for my type of injury has been to take 4 or 5 days off with plenty of ice packs .I can't really afford to take 5 days off on a town as town stops with associated motel and restaurant costs run between 80 and 100 dollars per day. Resting the leg in the woods is generally not practical as water sources and latrines are deliberately set a good distance from shelters and established campsites and are generally in opposite directions of each other to prevent contamination of the water source. When hiking the trail the water source for the shelter may be a tenth of a mile or more before the shelter and the latrine may be a 10th of a mile or more past the shelter. Not really a bad distance with 2 good legs but a difficult distance if the leg is supposed to be rested.

The risk of going home involves not returning. The overwhelming majority of people that return home to recuperate never come back to the trail.

At any rate, today's hike would have been completely enjoyable if it weren't for the knee. Hiked up and over Wayah Bald, another of the Appalachian balds

Cherokee legend says that a wise man used to climb to the top of this particular bald to gain wisdom from the stars that he in turn could pass on to his son Wayah, hence the name of the Bald.

April 5, 2003- Had a wild night last night as thunderstorms rolled and boomed overhead. We were warm, cozy, and snug in the shelter. As today's planned hike went over Copper Ridge, Tellico, Black, and Rocky Balds and no one wanted to dare a bald in a thunderstorm we decided to wait out the storm.

I didn't get started till 10:30. After crossing the balds there was a long descent into Tellico Gap followed by an afternoon long climb up and over Wesser Bald. It shouldn't have taken all afternoon but the descent into Tellico Gap exhausted me. My leg is getting weaker. It now hurts not only on descents but on level ground and ascents. My right knee, which had been bearing the brunt of the force on descents is also starting to get sore. I only managed 5 miles today and am at Wesser Bald Shelter at mile point 128.4. To get here I had to descend 1,100 feet into Tellico Gap, ascend 800 feet to over Wesser Bald, and then descend 500 feet down the back side of the bald.

I hope for an early start tomorrow for the 1,815 foot descent into NOC (Ouch).

April 6, 2003- As anticipated today was a short day mile wise but was still a long exhausting day. My estimate of the descent turned out to be conservative because it did not take into account the numerous small ups that were too small to be shown on my contour map. The total descent turned out to be closer to 2,100 feet. It was very difficult with a few near vertical drops of 8-10 feet and a true vertical drop of about 5 feet .These drops were made more difficult be the narrowness of the trail and ledges. A misstep would have resulted a fall of hundreds of feet.

At any rate, it took me about 9 hours to cover today's 5.6 miles. I met my family at NOC (mile point 134) and after a shower and a change of clothes got a hug from everyone. Please note that the shower and clothing change had to be first. They then drove me off to Cherokee, NC for a night on the town. Had a great all you can eat dinner at Ponderosa followed by a guitar serenade by Ellen, my daughter. Good night for now.

April 7, 2003- Spent the day playing tourist and spending money in Cherokee. We then drove to Fontana Dam Village where I hope to pick up the trail again. This will mean that I skipped about 35 miles of trail but those 35 miles involved 2 descents similar to the one down into NOC and I know that my legs would not last under that type of pressure. This means that I will have to go back and pick them up later but that is all right. My daughter Emily had been wanting to hike part of the trail and she is considering hiking this section with me. At Fontana Dam we had the opportunity to play magician. Trail magic is a term applied to some wonderful but unexpected event. It usually refers to an unexpected ride into town or a gift of food or soft drink. Hikers are proud and generally won't ask because asking is equated with begging and is frowned upon but freely offered gifts are gratefully accepted. The donors are referred to as "Trail Angels". At any rate we had a large home made chocolate cake which we took to a trail shelter. There just so happened to be 5 hikers in the shelter. They quickly devoured most of the cake. It was a special few minutes. We are staying tonight at the Fontana Inn.

April 8, 2003- Oh no! Can it be? Yes, it is. I'm afraid that I'm back in Louisville. I woke up this morning and the swelling in my knee extended down through the calf and ankle. I could not raise my foot more than an inch, nor put any weight at all on my leg. After hours of thought, soul searching, and even tears I decided to come back home with the family so that I can properly treat the le g. My biggest fear had been having a complete breakdown 20 or 30 miles from the nearest source of help and is was looking more and more like my fear would become reality. I hope this will be a short break. I plan to give it 4 or 5 days of rest and if there is no improvement, visit my local medical provider for a thorough evaluation.

April 9, 2003- Spent most of the day cleaning up my notes and cleaning and reorganizing my gear. I have also been reflecting on my past 3 weeks. The trail, while not the most dangerous trail in the world deserves respect. Errors in judgment will have severe repercussions. I've made a few errors and they have come back to haunt me.

My first error involved not resting enough. Hiking in mountains is hard work and nothing you do in the city can prepare you for it. Most hikers recommend taking a day off after every 3 days of hiking, at least in the beginning stages. This gives the body time to rest and recuperate. The periods of hiking are then gradually extended to the point that only one day in seven is reserved for a rest day. I had hiked for 18 continuous days thus setting myself up for injury. My second error involved not staying put after the snow and ice storm. I did not have the equipment to descend ice covered rocks but insisted on trying to do so any way. My last major error was not to stop after the injury. Had I stopped for a day or 2 then, I may not be having my problems now.

When I return to the trail I will rest more and eat more. I have lost 30 pounds over the first 18 days. I anticipated losing weight but 30 pounds in less than three weeks is neither healthy or safe no matter how overweight a person is. I will have to increase my food intake to slow the weight loss to a more sustainable but safer 2 to 3 pounds per week.

In those 18 days, I hiked 134 miles or a little bit more than 6 and a half miles per day. This is a little less than the 8 mile per day average I hoped for but is well within norms for the start of such a hike. I need to eventually pull the average up to about 12.2 miles per day if I hope to complete the trail this season.

April 11, 2003- The knee is healing but much more slowly than I would like. I was hoping to be away from the trail for less than a week but now it looks like I may wait till the Monday following Easter. I keep telling myself, "It's the journey, not the destination that matters." The truth is that few hikers complete the journey without some side expeditions. Many take a side trips to Washington, DC or New York City or some other area that is out of the trail corridor. In a way, I'm just taking a side trip to Louisville, KY. It sounds kind of hollow but it helps.

The truth is, this was so unexpected for me. I expected problems with exhaustion or problems associated with my lack of aerobic fitness (caused by 30 years of overindulgent living) but I never expected a leg injury. I've always said that I knew that my legs could carry me anywhere. I feel like they betrayed me. Oh well, I'll have to get over it. It's just that I'm itching to return.

April 12, 2003- I guess I'm over my little snit fit because I'm turning my attention to the things I've discovered and learned during the short time I've been on the trail. I've discovered how a group of strangers, and we were all strangers to each other when we started, form strong bonds when united by a common goal. We drew strength and motivation from each other and confronted situations that would have defeated us had we tried to face them alone. Food and equipment was shared when necessary and helping hands were freely extended and accepted by all. We all wanted to succeed but we also wanted each other to succeed and agonized over each person that had to leave for injury or other reason. It was a new experience for me who had become accustomed to the idea that one person's success had to come to the expense of another. It is quite a refreshing change.

The hardships of the trail, experienced by all, aid the formation of bonds between people. It will be a long time before I forget Cruiser and Indigo, Trekker and Molasses, Sarah and Jason, and Will and Bumblebee. We were only hiking together for a few weeks but the trail molded us into a family. We are more than just ships passing in the night. I still worry about them and wish them the best.

I considered jumping ahead when I return to the trail so that I could rejoin my trail family but decided not to. Their experiences would have been different than mine by then and it just wouldn't be the same. I may skip a few miles, the next 40 miles or so are really rough on knees but I will resume my hike at some point, start sharing experiences with a different group of people and will become part of a new trail family. Perhaps that what community really is; small groups of people, having a common goal, sharing experiences and coming to really care for each other.

April 15, 2003- Got in to the see the doctor today. Decided to go because a week of rest, ice, compression, and elevation made little improvement with my leg. I didn't hear what I wanted to hear. I was hoping to be told that exercise was the best medicine and that I should walk to keep the muscles strong and that I wouldn't do any more damage as long as I could stand the pain. If I were told that I would probably leave for North Carolina tomorrow. Instead of a green or even a yellow light I got a red light. I was told to stay off it completely until I got in to see an orthopedist. The best appointment I could get was for another 2 weeks. It's going to be a long two weeks. In the meantime I'm going to continue with the home treatments as I have been. Now if by some chance I wake up tomorrow or Thursday and everything is fine then I will have a decision to make.

April 19, 2003- My leg is showing slow but steady improvement and I am starting to turn my thoughts to returning to the trail. I am giving consideration to my re-entry point. In an ideal, perfect world I would return to the same point that I left. I am however considering jumping ahead and skipping the next 30 miles or so and then coming back and doing them later in September or October.

This section is the Cheoah Range and the Cheoah's have a reputation for destroying healthy knees. I don't want to chance re-injury at this point. I am also thinking about a thousand miles into the future. I want to get through Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and New York before the end of July. Drinking water is scarce in many sections of these states and the sources that exist start drying up in late July and August. Late summer hiking is possible in these states but it is recommended that you carry three or more liters (quarts) of water and at 2.2 pounds per quart that is a lot of extra weight that I will prefer not to carry.

April 28, 2003- I keep reminding myself that the journey is more important than the destination. It's difficult at times because this particular journey seems to be developing more and more detours. I saw an orthopedic today and learned that there apparently is no major damage to my leg at this time. Key words are, "major" and "at this time". That's the good news. The bad news is that the condition may change if I return to the trail at this time. The tendons are still very sore and unexpected stress may still cause them to tear. Basically, I received the official approval to start walking again but I was told to do so on flat, level ground. There are very few places on the trail that qualify as "flat level ground" and reaching them involves extensive climbing and descending over rocky, rooted ground.

The official word is to wait two more weeks and then re-evaluate. I am still planning to return to the trail and am still planning to complete it but not the way that I originally wanted to do it. Since I would have, in the best case scenario, lost a month and a half of hiking time due to this injury a may have to consider a flip-flop hike. This type of hike is frequently completed by slower hikers. It involves hiking in one direction to a certain point, jumping ahead to the other end, and then hiking back towards the original stopping point. This is usually done to avoid hiking the northernmost sections of the trail in late autumn. These sections may become impassable and are sometimes closed because of early season snow storms.

Still upbeat and ready to go.