Day 88 – Stitches – The walk

This morning I was moving forward slowly as I put off putting on yesterday’s sweaty clothes as long as I could. The rain last night never let up and apart from a few drizzles we don’t seem to get much else. Which was a nice surprise, as my tent wasn’t very wet when packing up.

hot and humid

I arrived at the trail a little after 8am and was instantly greeted by rocky terrain. Fortunately, it only lasted less than a mile before the road smoothed out. In the rest of Pennsylvania it seems that the enemy will not be the ups and downs but the rocks. As I walked this morning, just like yesterday, we Red Efts were out and about. The humidity was tremendously high and by 10 in the morning it was already over 80 degrees. My original plan was to stop at the William Penn Shelter to fill up on water and use the toilet. However, on the way there, Shooter called me and informed me that there was a snake in the toilet and I decided I could go another 4 miles to get water and use the facilities. Luckily, outside of that first rocky portion, the first 6 miles of the day were pretty calm. After that, however, I had to traverse some rock gardens, but at least I got a decent view at Kimmel Lookout.

Shortly after the Kimmel Lookout, I stopped at a spring to refill water and grab a snack. I met up with Shooter there and we chatted about the 5 mile swimming hole we were looking to meet at next. With today’s heat and humidity, that might be the perfect thing for the afternoon. After the breakup, the rocks worsened and were hostilely persistent for the next two miles. During a short break on the rocks and when I was going fast again, I ran into this guy.

He was quite happy to sit on the trail, but eventually, after some verbal abuse from me, he gracefully, if reluctantly, left the trail. And then, just a few hundred feet later, I hiked 1,200 miles of trail!

It’s less than a thousand miles to Katahdin.

disaster strikes

After a couple more miles of varied but generally not too bad terrain, I caught up with Shooter as we reached our next rest spot, Hertline Campsite & Creek. This was our next rest stop as it was a water source and swimming hole that is relatively popular on the trail. With the heat and humidity of the day and arriving early in the afternoon, this was going to be the perfect treat and would help us cool down before hitting the extra miles later. Unfortunately, none of us would end up swimming today. Before jumping in, I wanted to collect some water to filter and made the poor decision of trying to crawl over some rocks to collect it at the exit of the dammed swimming hole. I knew it probably wasn’t the best way, but I was hot, tired, and thirsty. As I approached the water of the waterfall, my feet slipped out from under me and I slid/fell 10 feet off the rocks. Fortunately, I was able to slow my descent a bit by grabbing hold of some of the rocks and my feet briefly grabbed a ledge before I completed my fall and landed on my feet. I immediately knew that I was very lucky because it didn’t hurt at all. I landed on my feet and my fall did not continue any further than it could have. However, after a brief second I noticed a little blood on my right crocodile, which I knew meant I was probably bleeding quite a bit somewhere. I quickly discovered that I had a very nice, deep cut on my upper right shin. It’s amazing in situations like this how slow time can seem and how quickly you can assess what’s happening. Because I had all those thoughts in a few seconds and before Shooter, who had witnessed everything, could shout at me asking if I was okay. Which, in retrospect, I gave a very precise but ambiguous answer, something like: «Generally, yes, but not that much.» Then I quickly climbed up the embankment to the place where we left our backpacks and where I could sit, raise my leg and assess the damage.

The crime scene

Luckily I was surrounded by three incredibly capable and calm under pressure people! Birdie helped rinse the wound with filtered water, Shooter gave me a clean towel to stop the bleeding and put pressure on the wound, while Big Stick looked through our combined supplies and figured out the best way to bandage the wound. Then we were joined by Fritoes, who also started helping. Big Stick then pinched the wound closed, while others taped the wound closed. We then tied the bandana to provide additional pressure and absorb any extra blood before finishing with another layer of tape.

After resting for a bit, I got up and tested my leg. Surprisingly, everything looked pretty decent and I felt like I should be able to walk the nearly 4 miles needed to reach a road junction. Shooter had gotten me a ride to take me to a medical facility and we would meet them on the road. I began to walk carefully, cautiously at first, before gaining confidence. My right leg, with the large cut, felt good and didn’t bother me at all. In fact, it didn’t even hurt. I walked carefully mainly to hopefully avoid putting pressure on the wound so it wouldn’t reopen and continue bleeding. However, during the walk I noticed that my left ankle was quite sore, which must have been hit in the fall. Luckily the rocks weren’t too bad on the way out and we made decent time. A couple of miles later we were greeted by my shuttle driver, Zoom Zoom. She had come in with a first aid kit in case he needed additional help. Fortunately this was unnecessary and we walked with her the rest of the way. Along the way, I said goodbye to my friends as they continued walking, while Zoom Zoom took me to an urgent care center. 15 minutes later I was in the waiting room of an emergency center and they quickly admitted me to a room. The people at Penn State Urgent Care – Strausstown were simply fantastic! They cleaned my wound, stitched it, and gave me some antibiotics. Zoom Zoom was also amazing, he was there the entire time I was there and then took me to my hotel in Hamburg.

19 points!

Once at the hotel in Hamburg, I settled in and finally cleaned myself up. After showering and getting pretty clean, I headed to the attached restaurant and grabbed some food before heading to bed shortly after. A long and eventful day to say the least…

Statistics for day 88:

15.8 miles

1,801′ ascent, 1,755′ descent

Stealth Site to PA Route 183 to Microtel Hotel

34 DSLC…

Stove use times: 14

Snakes seen on the trail: 14

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