Wednesday, 6/10

AT Miles = 15.2 / 974.8
Other Miles = 0.2 / 36.0
Total Miles = 1009.8

Hey look, I've hiked over 1000 miles! That's not 1000 AT miles yet, though. I should reach that milestone sometime on Friday.

The tendon in my left ankle is still very tender. The only way I could hike was to wear my boot very loose on that foot, which means my foot moves around a lot inside the boot, and also that I end up jamming my toes on downhills.

If I tightened my boot normally, it hurts enough that I make audible whimpering sounds with every step. When I loosen the boot I only wince silently. Needless to say, this sucks all the fun out of hiking. I am taking ibuprofen (known as "Vitamin I" on the trail), and I soaked my ankle as long as I could stand it in the cold stream in front of the shelter.

I hope the ibuprofen gets this under control. I don't know wqhat I will do if it continues to hurt, or even gets worse. I can suffer through a few days of walking gingerly, but I can't do it indefinitely. Well, I have to get to Harpers Ferry by Saturday no matter what, or I will be a very hungry hiker. I guess by then I'll know whether it is getting any better or not. Who knows, maybe I'll wake up tomorrow and it will be magically healed!

Other than the ankle, it has been a hot, muggy, oppressive day without a breath of air moving. It looks and feels like we are definitely in for some rain. Tomorrow I will hit the Roller Coaster, which is a 13.5 mile stretch where the trail goes up and down something like 14 peaks. Basically, I have to hike up and down the same few hundred feet 14 times. That should be fun with a tender ankle.

Okay, obviously I am in a negative mood this evening, so I'll quit now. Tomorrow is another day, and hopefully things will go better then.

Monkeywrench
Allen Freeman
allen@allenf.com
www.allenf.com
allenf.blogspot.com