About 12 miles from Albert Mountain (and the 100 mile mark), I felt a tickle in my right knee. Four miles later, that tickle was unbearably painful. The past two days have been tough. We've been pushing for high miles and long days. My optimism was dwindling and I was starting to feel homesick. I knew we had a zero coming up on Tuesday, but it still felt so far away. Monday, as I cried and cried while I hobble-hiked, we took out our book and found a U.S. Forest Service road that intersects the trail. We hiked onwards to that point, hoping to catch someone willing to give us a ride into town- I needed the zero day, and my knee needed the rest even more. We stopped for lunch at Betty Creek Gap, which is less than a mile from the road. Despite my knee pain we pushed almost 11 miles in four hours. While we were eating and giving my leg a break, a girl we've been hiking with on and off came by. Knowing she was a runner, I asked if she knew anything about knee injuries (runners seem to always have the answers to leg injury questions). She took a look at it and said it was probably just stressed, but that I should get it checked out when I get to town. Feeling a little better that I most likely wasn't completely broken, we started to pack up. A group of guys we met the night before came singing out of the woods. Literally singing. We told them what was going on and one of them gave me a spare knee brace that he thought he needed but didn't. Talk about perfect timing for some trail magic!
When we were half a mile from the road I convinced Sullivan to hurry ahead to the road, just in case a car came by in the time it took me to limp there. I got to the road and saw an amazing sight- about 30 teenagers and some trip leaders. Sullivan talked to one of them, and told him our situation. We were about a mile from a parking area and we were told that our best option would be to go up there to try and get a ride. Sullivan took off sprinting, since it was getting close to 5, and fewer and fewer people were going to be around.
A man who appeared to be the trip leader called their nurse over who looked at my knee. He scolded me for pushing too many miles, but told me to rest and I'll be fine. A truck came along and the leader of the group ran over to flag it down. I got into a total strangers car and we drive a mile and found Sullivan. Their names were Kate and Christy. They drove us to our motel and we settled in for a nice rest day and lots of food. Tonight we're doing five miles to the shelter immediately after Winding Stair Gap.
This zero day was much needed, as was a pair of new shoes, two nights in a real bed, and our mail drops.
Thanks to everyone who has been a part of this first week, especially Mountain Crossings at Neel Gap and MSR were kind enough to replace our defective stove, free of charge.
Now for some photo spam:
First full day on the trail, after a night of rain
Blisters on blisters
Low Gap Shelter
Gnarled Oak near the GA/NC boarder
