april 14 - slackpack

April 14 me and apollo slackpacked. We woke up eearly again, about 7am, because we were expecting miss janet at 730. The day was planned to be a 24 mile slackpack. Froom sams gap to uncle johnnys hostel. Day started off well, we hiked very fast and made excellent timee. The hike took us over big bald, the highest mountain in the area, and its bald, which means theres no tress, only short grasses and the occasional shrub. So the views were amazing, with mountains as far as you can see out on the horizon. We got to spivey gap and took a longer break. We were 13 miles into the day, and figured wed break before continuing on the next 11 miles. We had taken a 5 minute break every hour and a half until then, so the longer break was welcome. The whole day both of us had been having stomach pains, and feared we were getting sick, so i used the time at spivey gap to take a dump. From there i also carried my bag across a shoulder instead of around my waist. The top of my backpack comes off and can be used as a daypack. I had been wearing it buckled around my waist like a fanny pack. Moving it to my shoulder took alot of pressure off my stomack, and the stomach pain lessened. After that gap there was a big climb then a relatively flat hike the rest of the way. We hiked the uphill very quickly, then when the flat began i decided to start running, which is way much more fun, especially over trails, whiich make your mind have to work super fast to watch out for obstacles and spot oncoming ones. It was maybe 30 seconds after i started running that i stepped on a tree root and rolled my ankle badly. I fell down and and waited a few minutes for the pain to begin subsiding, annd i made sure my toes could still move. From there i decided that ill continue to the end, even though we were only 2 miles out of the 11. after about a mile of hiking, i stopped and decided to turn around. The pain in my ankle was getting worse, especially on the descents. It was 3 miles back to spivey, or 8 miles to johnnys. I didnt wannt to hike in the dark with my ankle the way it was. I was compensating with my other foot and had almost rolled it twice since continuing. The best choice was to go back. Apollo called miss janet when he was able to get cell service. We hiked back to spivey and she came less than a half hour after. We drove back to her house and met back up with the rest of the group.