We drove down from Indiana right to the park. I did about 13 miles and climbed about 3600 feet on the first day. My lower back was super tight on the climbs which caused me to take multiple forced walk breaks during the effort. Snow was about three to six inches deep on average and some drifts were between one and two and three feet at times. I ran up a trail called chimney tops. Named for unique rock formations at the top of the mountain.
The trail was hard to follow since it was covered up by all the snow and I had to follow the footprints of my buddies who were ahead of me and, at times, the blazes painted on the trees along the trail. The run was hard and my back stayed stiff most of the run. At one point on top of the ridge by one of the chimney formations the snow gave way and my right leg shot down off the trail. Nothing was there to land on and I suddenly found myself crouching with all my weight supported by my left leg with my right leg dangling down. I was on the verge of falling down about fifteen to twenty feet. There wasn't anything to grab onto and I found myself powering up with my left leg. Kind of like an impromptu pistol squat. I got my right leg on solid ground and a few seconds later realized how close I just came to being totally fucked. Thank God for all those Bulgarian split squats my trainer had me doing at the gym. I honestly think things would have gone horribly bad there if it wasn't for my leg strength and balance that kicked in at that moment.
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| Chimney Tops and the trail |
Thankfully the rest of the journey up and down chimney tops wasn't as eventful as those couple of seconds. The formations were pretty awesome and the scenery amazing. I mostly just followed my buddies footprints the rest of the way. I eventually came out to a service road and a junction with another one after that.
The trail was snow covered and I had to follow blazes. Nobody had been on this trail to give me tracks to follow. About a third of a mile down the trail, ice and loose snow hampered my progress. My Altra lone Peak shoe's traction was useless. I started sliding down the ravine every other step. I resorted to a kind of reverse kick where I drove my heel into the ice and make steps. The going was slow. I had to cling to trees and saplings in order to keep from sliding down. At one point I had to break a stick in two and use them to stab into the ice and snow. At this points I was using all upper body to drive one stick into the ice, reach over with my right hand and stab the stick into the ice, reach over with my left hand and stab that stick next to the right stick, and repeat. My feet couldn't get traction so I had to lay on the side of the hill. I advanced this way for about ten feet or so. The feat was straining the tissue of my abdominal injury. The stinging sensation near my groin was familiar and was not comforting. This sucked.
When I got over a small hump in the trail, it become walkable again. I contemplated keeping the two sticks just in case I encountered a similar section again. I decided not to. I pictured myself falling on them awkwardly and stabbing myself with them accidentally. That's how my luck was playing out.
I made slow progress sliding my way along the trail. At one point I supported myself with a large stick to give me more stability. This lasted a small while until I hit a slick patch of ice and found myself sliding down the ravine. I slid about 6 feet then I stuck my right foot out towards a small tree to stop my momentum. I hit the tree rather poorly and my big toe screamed at me !!! At best I just jammed the piss out of it.....at worse I just broke my damn toe !!! It hurt like hell. I clung to the small tree and rested for a couple of seconds. I had to climb up the icy edge to get to the trail on a compromised toe. This sucked.
About a three quarters of a mile down the trail I encountered some footprints and signs of a person or people falling. Falling a lot. Whoever the tracks belonged to, they were having the same traction problems I was having. They turned around at this point and headed back towards the parking lot. This was fortunate for me because it gave me some hint of where the slippy spots were. The unfortunate thing was that there were a lot more slippy spots. None were as bad as what I encountered previously though. My progress was made worse by my compromised big toe. Damn, it hurt.
About a mile and a half to two miles down the trail I encountered a young couple coming towards me. I greeted them and just as I was going to tell them about the suckfest they were heading for the young man asked me "Have you seen a set of keys on a red laniard?"
"Nooooo," I said slowly. I turned around and looked back the way I came and then at the couple. "That sucks. This way is no joke."
"Yeah. We might have dropped it along here," he said.
"I'll keep an eye out for it and leave it at the ranger station if I find it," I said. "Wow. Good luck." That sucks. I felt so bad for them. I immediately felt better about my situation. This encounter meant I was closer to the parking lot....I hoped. The trail became better and I kept an eye out for their keys. I didn't find the keys but hoped that they did.
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| stream heading up to Chimney Tops trail |
I eventually made it back to the car. The toe wasn't much of a problem, but that was probably because of a mixture of the cold from the snow and just moving on it. I had just jammed the toe and had significant bruising. Later that night I had a slight limp and hoped that things would be better on day 2.
