Waymaker on the A.T.: Day 112, Saturday June 19, , 2021

Acts

Wildcat Shelter campsite to East Mombasa road - 6.3 miles hiked today - 1383.5 total AT miles hiked to date.

Well it finally happened. I took a potentially hike ending fall today, dropping off of a rock face I was climbing and breaking my left wrist. One misstep and off I went. I fell backwards about 8 feet, and landed awkwardly. Fortunately my backpack took the brunt of the impact, but my left arm hit a fallen tree and snapped. I knew right away that it was broken by the odd new angles that appeared. I was fortunate that Anvil was right there. Using his Army Ranger training, he had me splinted up and lugged my pack for me back to the nearest road. We were fortunate that a passerby stopped and gave us a ride to the closest hospital. Anvil and Pinot accompanied me. Another day hiker we encountered offered to hike back to his car and provide transportation after dealing with my injury.

In the picture below, I fell from the diamond shaped rock in between the two white blazes to the crushed section of tree in the lower left corner.

The hospital emergency room was relatively efficient, and I was in and out in a few hours. They X-rayed my wrist, set the bone, splinted me up, and I was on my way. Anvil had secured us motel rooms at a nearby Days Inn, and we headed there, courtesy of our trail angel. I was able to shower (with my splint wrapped in a bag), and Anvil took care of laundry duty. My plan is to rest up and see how I feel tomorrow before deciding whether or not to attempt to continue right away. We’ll see what tomorrow brings.

We did pass a nice waterfall this morning early, and managed to get 5 miles in before the fall. Picts below.