Yeah, I know......summer is just beginning - how can this be the last hike of summer? ..let me back track a week.
Over Memorial Day, we went for our FIRST hike of summer - Battle Creek Falls. Pretty short hike - 15-20 minutes to the falls and very popular. We got there at 7:30am and the parking lot was about 2/3 full. When we got back, it was full as well as all the overflow parking!
It's a short hike with a huge payoff! Especially this year - all the waterfall hikes will be so full of water! We decided this year to do one hike a week to get out and recharged in nature.
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Week 2: We planned our weekly hike and decided to go to Heughs Canyon, as it's been several years. It's a good one. But steep all the way up. It's just over 3 miles round trip, so not bad, but has an elevation gain of 1300 feet so it gets the heart pumping. It's a beautiful hike along a normally slow stream the entire way, but this year, the stream was pretty full as expected.
At the end of the hike, you have to go across a boulder field for about 50 yards, otherwise, the waterfall is hidden and you'd never know it was there.
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| It was steep, the entire way up and over rocks |
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| We finally reached the boulder field. No trails here, just pick a line and try to go somewhat straight. Be careful, some of the rocks are a little loose and rattlesnakes like to live in the dark holes between the rocks |
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| See the waterfall? |
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Now, the adventure really started! About 1/2 mile left, Shelley slipped on some loose rocks and twisted her ankle - she was pretty sure it was broken. She couldn't put any weight on it, and went in/out of shock twice getting lightheaded and just about fainting.
Should we call the helicopter? 911 have them come up with a stretcher? We decided to try and get down ourselves, taking turns holding up her leg under the knee so it wouldn't bend or hit the ground.
Hannah went ahead to get the car, and you have to park 1/2 mile away from the trailhead due to a very exclusive gated neighborhood. Luckily, as Hannah was walking to the car, some of the people were outside their houses doing some yardwork. Hannah asked them if they could let her in the gate when she went to get the car. It was a nurse and she said she would come and help! Hannah said it was ok, if we could just get the car closer. The lady opened the gate when Hannah was ready with the car, and the lady gave Hannah some drinks and snacks for Shelley and her phone number. She said to text if we needed any other help or anything at all.
In the meantime, we made a splint with some sticks and using Jacob's shirt. As we were making our way down slowly, step by step, two other ladies going up asked if we needed help as she noticed our homemade splint. She said she had an ace bandage in her backpack, and some ibuprofen - and that she was a doctor and the other person with her was a nurse! We wrapped it up a little better, and were on our way. Just about everyone we passed who were coming up (and it was a lot of people) asked if they could help - everyone was so nice.
We were thankful there were 5 of us all able to help Shelley walk down.
It took us an hour and half to go that half mile, but we made it!!!!!
Off to the ER where Shelley and I spent another 4 hours as they had 5 different emergencies come in during that time - all worse than Shelley, so they attended them first, as they should. One guy when we walked in to the ER, cut his thumb off and was laying on the ground bleeding. They took him in right away!
Well, broken in 3 places, all the tendons and muscles torn - and they don't heal on their own when they tear, so surgery is needed early next week.
The surgeon happened to be at the hospital doing an emergency surgery on someone so he was able to read the x-rays right then and came and talked to us, so that was nice.
Recovery is little to no weight on it for 6-8 weeks after surgery, then a boot for another 5-6 weeks. So, no more hikes for the summer. Things could have been much worse. We could have been in Italy at the top of a mountain hiking - just the two of us, and no phones. We could have been at the waterfall when it happened and had to go over the boulder field and much longer. It could have just been us 2. It's a "bummer" as Shelley would say for sure. Memories for sure!
So, you all need to go on hikes for us!!
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| The doctors and nurses were all impressed with the splint! And Shelley said it actually helped |
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| She's in a lot of pain and trying to hide it. She did so well all the way down over rocks and narrow uneven trails |
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| We all took turns and stopped often to rest and give her foot some rest time too |
OUCHIE MAMA!!!
