Josh's trip

“"2 Scoops and i got down to the gorge friday night and shuttled the cars to where they needed to be and went to meet a few high school buddies of mine a little ways off the road. we hung out for the night and got up and walked back to the car.
our parking lot was only a couple minutes away but we passed it up and went through Nada Tunnel to get some water from a little spring on the side of the road. we went back to the parking lot and 2 scoops had left his leki at the water spot. knowing the feeling, i took him back down to get it. it was like 11:30 before i took my first step on the trail, which was pretty brutal.
the trail went up the gorge and back down to the bottom 4 or 5 times with very few flats in between. the going was slow at first, i just couldn't get into my groove and 2 scoops takes his time anyway. he likes to take rest stops every 20 steps sometimes. the second last uphill of the day was an asskicker, it was like straight up for a half a mile or so.
i had just started to fall into my pace finally and 2 scoops wants to end the day early, no way buddy. he said he didn't know if he can do the last uphill section. i left him knowing he would follow and thank me later.
we switched trails at a parking lot and descended into Clifty Wilderness to camp on Swift Camp Creek. i ate and sat around for a while waiting for my dog to dry off. it was a pretty early night. 2 scoops was in a horrible mood and i was just wantin to go to bed.
today's hike was really rough. not as much ups and downs as yesterday, more rolling but the terrain was very rugged. huge slippery rocks adn tree roots and everything. most of it felt like a game trail. it took a lot longer than i expected because the going was so slow.
i had to leave 2 scoops in the dust today. that boy was just walking too damn slow for me. i got to his car about an hour maybe a little more before he did, just as it started raining. i sat in the stinky bathroom with my pack propping the door open waiting for him. correction, stood in the stinky bathroom, thinking he'd be along any minute. he did not come along nearly as quick as i would have liked him to. long story short, it was 4:30 by the time i was in my own car.
he said he was stopping at the first place ot eat and i told him i was just gonna go through the drive through so he took off while i was getting changed and everything. he was not at the food place yet when i got there(there's a food court in stanton, where they have all the restaurants together) i thought it was funny he wasn't there yet, so i hit the hardees, which was the only other place, on my way out. not there. im thinking he got lost. being the selfish #&%!$ that i am, i went home."”

“2 scoops?

No way????????????/

8o”

“LOL, thats why I didnt go!!













j/k”

“I just don't understand how 2scoops knew about this trip????

8o”

“i told you he was going the other night cm.”

“he needs some advice on bping




some one needs to help him, his club wont!lol”

“I HAVE HELPED HIM!!!!!

8D”

“he just walks real real slow, maybe cause of his 7 pound tent and 4 pound thermarest basecamp. it sure looks comfy, but good lord, guy that thing weighs 4 pounds.”

“how many times he blow an o ring?”

“LMFAO!!!!

8)”

“what you got goin on my way in october?”

“every weekend for him!”

“Go to the clubs 2002 trip list and check it out.

But I think there is going to be a change to the trips in Oct 11-13 me and Evergreen are going to be backpacking in Michigan.

Go check it out dude!

8D”

“but what are you gonna be doing? just to say hoosier doesn't tell me much”

“We have had a change of plans we are going to go backpacking in Yellow River State Forest in Iowa.They have a 25 mile backpacking trail there.

8D”

“:-)”

“I think we will have a good time!

8D”

“beautiful weather all weekend. started down the trail about 9 am saturday after paying an outrageous price for a shuttle. the balds were beautiful. this whole section of the AT was nonstop picture spots.
we made it to overmountain shelter about noon. got some water and ate some lunch. put some moleskin on a few hot spots also. took care of em right away.
there were these 2 guys who thought they were hiking 35 miles back from where they were. they didn't have a clue. we tried to tell em they were lost but they wouldn't listen. their water pump had broke down also. i think it was best for these dudes to go back to their car. they couldn't even find the right trailhead.
then we started the long, long, long climb up to the top of Big Hump where we would stay the night. there were a couple good ones before we got there but they seemed like nothing after walking up to the bottom of that thing and looking where we were heading. we had to carry our water all the way up too. my pack was HEAVY.
got to camp about 3:30 and enjoyed a pretty uneventful afternoon, unless you count the scenery as eventful. it was AWESOME up there. 360 degree views of mountains.
right before it got dark 3 kids with 10 pounds of gear between all of em came walkin up. we had heard about em already and were expecting them a long time ago. they kept going past us. i had no idea where they thought they were going. we'll find out about that in the morning.
sunset was the best part of the trip. prowler took like 2 rolls of film of it. BEAUTIFUL
i woke up in the middle of the night to a huge bull staring me down 5 feet away. this thing had a rack bigger than i can stretch my arms.
woke up this morning to catch some very pretty fog down in the mountains below us and started the downhill trek to the car.
about a mile into into this morning we ran into our gearless buddies sleeping on the trail on a pretty good incline. one of em had slid almost completely off the tarp. they had cans of food laying out right next to them.(don't forget, we're just north of bear heaven, the Smokies) glad they didn't stay by us.
bout a half mile after that i got my foot caught in between 2 rocks and fell. i hurt my ankle really bad. i knew immediately i wouldn't be able to jsut walk it off. it hurt BAD. only thing to do was just keep going so i kept going. about an hour and a quarter of a mile down the trail i stopped to take a look. i really didn't want to take my boot off but i had to see it. it was really swollen and i wrapped an ace around it and put my boot back on. i had prowler tie it up nice and tight for me. boy, that part sure hurt.
we found a nice wide 4 wheeler road. thank god. i was throbbing at this point. without my leki's i wouldn't have been able to walk anymore at this point. im walking, walking, walking down the damn hill and a truck comes pulling up wiht prowler and a lady in it. i was so thankful. my ass was spent from walking on 1 foot for what seemed like forever.
after being off it for a while in the truck it got bigger and started hurting pretty bad.
now here i am with my leg elevated hatin life.
im going to the dr in the morning to find out what's up. i would go to the hospital tonight but they woun't do anything except take x rays and send me to the doctor tomorrow. it's way to swollen for a cast right now and i hate to pay 2 places for 1 thing.
still an awesome trip and i managed to keep my spirits high(mostly) until i got off the trail and mostly for the ride home.
after being dropped off i discovered i can't even drive my car so i got a lil frustrated.”

“This is getting serious. Did somebody put a hex on TT?”

“Major bummer about the ankle, I hope it heals up quickly. I had a really bad ankle sprain about 13 years ago. I was on crutches for a few weeks and had to wear a brace for a couple of months after that.”

“#&%!$ty trip report!!!!








to much left out!”

“it's too hard to remember now. it just keeps hurting more and more. i thought maybe it would chill a little after i laid down but it's not.
plus, everytime i get situated i have to get up again.”

“GO TONIGHT!! YOUR STUPID IFIN YOU DONT!!”

“Go tonight!! Yes they'll send you to a Dr. tomorrow, but the doc will have your x-rays from tonight, and know what to do !!!,,, Gezzz,,,,, They can provide you with some pain meds so you life won't be a living hell overnight !!!!!!!! Do you have someone to drive you ???”

“my mommy took care of me. i had parked my car on the street a block from her house. when i pulled up she came out with crutches for me and a bagful of vikes.
i had a nurse who lives in my building look at it and she seems to agree going tonight won't get a whole lot done. they don't really do anything at the er on weekends for this type of thing she said. they'll just send me to see another doc.
being the poor man that i am, one deductible is fine for me.
thanks for caring, though.”

“BULL!?!??!


sorry boutcho ankle dood. did mrs prowler go?”

“wait for x-rays will be alot shorter than the 15 hours you'll wait tommorrow..i'm guessing if there is only one other getting ray'd tonight you should have to wait around 13.5 hours..

what is up with that..do the techs pace themselves...i know the machines don't need that kinda warm up time!”

“im going to a sports medicine office so it won't be like the emergency room, i hope.”

“Gee, Josh - Sorry to hear about the ankle problem. I trust you have it elevated and are putting ice on it for 20 minutes than off for 20 then on ....etc. You get the idea, right?

You're right, if it's really swollen they may have to wait a bit til the swelling goes down, all the more reason to ice it well tonight.

How's you pedal pulses, are they okay? Nice and regular and strong? What about you capillary refill? Any problems there?

I know you know this stuff, but it can't hurt to remind you when you're in so much pain.

Good Luck tomorrow!

Tex”

“for the refresher. i forgot about the 20 min thing. i been takin it off for a while when i get numb. then puttin the chicken back in the freezer for a while. i ran out of ice.prolly been around 20 min stretches.
think i should keep it wrapped all night? i got it wrapped up now but im not moving it at all either.”

“Hey Buddy - I don't think you need to ice it all night but keeping it wrapped and elevated would be good. Even in bed, it needs to be higher than the rest of your body.

Oh, don't apply the frozen chicken directly on your skin either..use a barrier (dish towel or the like) between the frozen food and your ankle.

Elevating it is the best thing for it right now. Remember to check your wrapping every so often to be sure you are not cutting off circulation to the extremeties - okay?

Hang in there, Buddy!

Tex”

“yea, im not giving myself frostbite. i just wasn't sure about the wrapping.”

“see if they'll give ya a few extra percocets for yer ole buddy strat......”

“Just 4 words!

GO TO THE DOCTOR!!!!

8|”

“THis guy was smoking dope at 4pm when he was done setting up camp! What an idiot risking his life up there knowing he had a 1000 ft per second elevation drop through some extreame grounds!!

Didnt bother to bring enough water!

I guess he figured some TT'er would bail him out Like I did. Carrying his pack and hauling his #&%!$ to cut my trip down.

I had plans for the morning to go have a nice breakfast at Mcdonalds! He ruined everything, dont forget the 20$ bucks I spent extra on his ride off the trail from a local! He didnt either bother to say thanks or Ill pay you back.

I would suggest never hiking with this guy, so un-prepared for the outdoors. It could have turned out a lot worse if TT'ers wernt there to bail him out, watch out for this idiot!!!!!!!!!”

“Hey Josh - nice trip report. I hope the news at the doctors was good.

Heal up fast eh?”

“sorry to hear about the ankle...Same thing happened to my friend Joe (stratusloop). he really messed himself up with torn ligaments...hope that's not what happened in your case.
'
Sounds like you had a great trip though...

Hey Prowler...it was nice of you to go and seek help for your friend...If it had been me...I'd a found a big rock and snuck up behind him and clocked him one and then taken all the gear and food and pushed the body down the mountain. Your too nice. See bein straight has turned you into a girl.”

“stay off it for 10-12 days. got a brace to wear for 6 weeks to 3 months and then any time i do any sports for life. FOR LIFE”

“what kind of #&%!$ is that, rest of my life. how can he say that already? im in a little bit of denial in case you can't tell.
not broken, but he said id be better off if it was.
ligaments, tore all up. i don't know what im gonna do with myself for 10 days. im gonna be bored and broke.”

“so go break it an then have it fixed...its just a little pain after all... if ya need help just ask theres plenty of people here who would enjoy helping you... :}”

“Sorry to hear about the ankle, dude.

Take two beers and call me in the morning.”

“Jeez Josh, we gotta start an invalid chapter of TT. Besides the break I dislocated my ankle and tore a ligament. The doc said the ankle is a bigger problem than the broken fibula.

But at least you got to ruin Prowler's trip, LOL. That should count for something.”

“he kept wanting to carry my pack and i only gave it to him for a short stretch. it did me no good. it still hurt just as bad.
besides, with me being hurt he could finally keep up with me:)
ill be healed up in no time. gonna do my stretches and take it easy. there will be many more trips to ruin.
im just thankful this whole thing didn't turn out any worse than it did. it could have been bad. if i would have needed to be carried out of there it would have not been good. someone else might have ended up hurting themselves on all those loose boulders. my quarter mile an hour speed was fine for me though. prowler finally got to catch his breath.
you always know getting hurt is a possibility.”

“Amen man. I, too, was thankful it didn't happen in the backcountry. We has to take our lumps with the good times. I'll go through a minor hell for a couple months and then start the rehab process. Then it will be "Come on Spring!!!"”

“good thing im not as big of a #&%!$ as everyone says.”

“Sorry about the ankle dude.

I still don't get the duct tape reference.

Nice satire prowler!”

“keep up w/ you ?? shoot you where the one trying to keep up w/ me on the desent, thats how you killed you foot!

every one cares about the foot and not MY DAM TRIP that was ruined!!!

How inconciderate!”

“lol prowler.........”

“!!”