Good weekend with a bad ending

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

I’m just feeling the need to share my weekend…

Well, Monday is my birthday, so I wanted to use that as an excuse to do something I’ve been wanting to do for a few months - a good, long camping weekend at Red River Gorge, with lots of hiking and a trip to the Kentucky Reptile Zoo. I went out Friday with a friend, and we got a private tour of the Zoo (we were the only visitors there). Then we hiked a trail I’ve never been on, to see one of the just plain coolest natural formations ever (You round a bend in the trail and find yourself at the bottom of a valley with an arch at the other end. It’s a surreal, beautiful place). Then we went and set up our campsite, and were joined later by my husband and some other friends. Saturday, we did another new trail, and when we were at the shortcut point, got egged on by some other hikers into taking the long way - an additional 3-4 miles. We hiked it in about two and a half hours. We were so proud of ourselves for making it!

Today, we went on a trail I had been on before. We were monkeying around on some rock formations, and as we were descending, I botched my footing, and ended up dropping from about six feet up onto a tree root. My husband was already at the bottom to help me (I was expecting more like a five foot jump, so I wanted someone there to help anyway), so he grabbed me and set me down. One of our other buddies is first aid certified, so he rushed over and pulled off my boot, and started checking things out.

It was straight compression, no twisting, thanks in part to my sturdy hiking boots (Best $30 I’ve spent in a long time). It hurt like all get out, but I was able to walk (slooooooowly) the rest of the 3/4 mile of the trail back to the car. It hurts when I move up and down, but not side to side, and I’ve got a few degrees before it starts hurting. So, all in all, it sucks, but it’s not so bad as far as these things go. I used to have some pretty bad ankle problems, so I’m used to the whole RICE routine (I’m R, I, and E ing right now), and hopefully it will only take a coupe days to heal up.

Things I am grateful for today - that I did a big grocery trip last week, so I don’t need to go until at least Wednesday, and that I may be able to parlay this (and my birthday) into my husband picking up dinner from my fav restaurant tomorrow :slight_smile:

2

Happy early birthday! Hope your ankle gets better soon. You just had to test things to make sure you were still alive, right? :wink:

3

Thanks for the good wishes, NinetyWt!

lol, yes, I was feeling great all weekend, pushing myself quite hard and getting through it ok. Guess this was just fate telling me to slow down a little :slight_smile:

4

You’re too young to slow down. Just look first.
Happy B-Day!

5

Thank you :slight_smile:

And, lol, I think in this case I should have been looking a little less. I was trying not to hit my husband, and he was trying to catch me. If I had just gone for the spot I had orrigionally said, and he had stayed where he orrigionally said, we would have been good! Ah, well, these things happen.

6

Obviously your first mistake. (Happy birthday)

7

Happy Birthday. Tree roots can get you good! Keep icing and it sounded like a beautiful place to hike.

8

Happy Birthday! It sucks that you hurt yourself, but be thankful…so many people die at the Gorge due to alcohol/drugs/climbing inexperience.

I had an 18 year old kid I used to work with in the mid 1990’s that died there, and he was an experienced climber and an Eagle Scout…

9

Oh, yes, I’m aware. In my quest to hike every trail at the Gorge, I’ve come accross half a dozen little placards in memory of people; I assume that for every one I see, there’s at least three more people who have died nearby. And while we do have a few drinks when we go out, it’s not until after we’ve settle into the campsite for the night. And while we do night hikes, we carfully select trails we’ve hit previously durring the day, and know to be relitively straight and level. We generally camp near Sky Bridge, and once or twice, we’ve seen groups of drunkards going up to the Bridge at night… always drives us crazy.

I think what did me in here was that I had forgotten that the Gorge was a scary place, in addition to being beautiful. I was running off of the addrenaline of three days of good hiking, and feeling cavalier. I’ve learned my lesson.

10

What an awesome birthday (minus the whole injury thing)! I love love love the Gorge, and the Natural Bridge is amazing. When your foot heals up, you have to try the Indian Staircase and Cloudsplitter… I wish I was in Kentucky now.