vettech2112

When I go back to Lost Maples, I want to camp in Area C - that was about as perfect a camping site as I've ever seen. High canyon walls, a pond to swim in, wildlife everywhere... perfect. Even the hike in is pretty basic. The park maintenance folks were building a new latrine in the area as well.

So, now I'm sitting here, ice on my knee, wondering how bad the damage is. Best guess at this point, after digging through a few nursing books and checking some stuff on the net is that I probably have a mild meniscus tear - apparently a common injury for hikers. I'm going to stay off it where possible, ice it, take anti-inflammatories and hope for the best. I see no reason to go to the doc just yet. If its not signifcantly better by Monday, I'll go.

I have another trip planned in 9 days that I expect to make but I'm going to
be shuffling plans around a bit - a bit less hiking primarily. I'm headed for Dinosaur Valley & Fossil Rim Safari Park (according to my boss, one of the few in the country thats worth seeing) first - after that, I'm not sure. I think I'm going to scrub my plans to hit the Lake Mineral Wells Trailway but I might still check out the park for the hiking opportunities. Anyone have any suggestions of stuff within a few hours of Dino Valley? Ft Richardson is on my list. Ft Griffin looks like it might be a let-down. Old Fort Parker is on my way home from there - might have to plan a stop there.

I'll send y'all a link to my photo site once I get them sorted, edited and
labeled - right now there's 208 to play with so likely they won't be posted
until Monday or Tuesday at the earliest. Shannon, I don't want to spam y'all with my so-so pics so why not take a look at what I have and tell me which ones you think would be nice to have here. Don't worry, you won't offend me.

ploddinTod

Ed, Thanks for taking the time to write such a descriptive report. Sorry to hear of your mishap with your knee and I hope it heals quickly so that you can get back to your planned hikes. Unfortunately, you're getting into the time of year where you'll definitely be battling the heat, humidity and bugs. And being a student, you really don't have much choice as to the time of year you go hiking. Thinking back on your fall, do you think your footware made a difference? Or was the trail surface at that point just like walking on marbles to an extent that even walking barefoot, a person would have fallen?

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PloddinTod

Shannon

Hehe... I'll be happy to pick some keepers, but you don't have to worry about posting too many. We do limit folks to 1 megabyte of photos right now, but at web resolutions that can support a goodly amount. I may need to increase that for our active forum participants, anyway. If you think you'll have more than 1 meg of photos, let me know. I'm flexible, and so is the software I'm running here.

Between your knee, the snake bites and bee and scorpion stings, cat and other wild animal bites and other assorted outdoorsman/woman maladies, I might need to host a Wilderness First Aid Forum at some point! <grin> Not that I'd be a good moderator for it, since my stock answer is: "Does it itch? OK, Benadryl." "Does it hurt? OK, Aspirin." "Can you breathe? OK, well then it's not quite an emergency, yet. Where's the cellphone?"

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- Shannon Moore
Your Host @ WildTexas.com
http://www.twitter.com/ageekgal

vettech2112

Hehe, you're politely calling me "long-winded" but that's okay. I always made A's on English papers, even in college. The only professor I had a hard time pleasing was my "business writing" prof - she always dinged me for 3-5 points for being "too wordy - this is business writing, not prose. Make your point and move on..."

As far as the accident, I really think it was simply not watching my footing. It had been muggy and drizzly all morning so the rock was slick. I simply put my foot in the wrong place. I never actually fell, the knee and ankle buckled on me but not enough to drop me. Otherwise, likely I would have slid a bit as it was a fairly steep section of trail (the SE potion of Trail 4 between where it turns from double-track to single-track and the canyon floor). A lot of that trail is loose fist-sized rock but, IIRC, I slipped on bare bedrock.

vettech2112

Sadly, even as a nursing student, I'd not be much better. I had the same plans as you - I took Vicodin, Tylenol (not enough), Immodium, and Benadryl with me. My first aid kit had a lot of extra goodies "borrowed" from my clinic or left-overs I had in my pockets as I came home from a clinical rotation - bandage material, scalpel blades, suture, sterile saline flush, etc. I debated about the suture but figured, "Why not? I've closed surgical incisons on dogs & cats so I could sew if the need should arise besides, its a handy needle and thread as well!"

The cell phone idea wouldn't have served me. I was dumb and left mine on auto-roam. By the time of the accident, the battery was drained even though it was at full charge when I left Houston Monday morning. At the camping area of Lost Maples, I never got a signal.

The very idea of a wild mammal biting me scares the living daylights out of me. 10 years in veterinary medicine has taught me just how much scary stuff they can carry. Besides, Texas was in a rabies quarrantine for better than 10 years. It was just recently lifted but we still have it worse than any other state - esp in the skunks, bats and coyotes in south Texas.

Turn Key

Great trip report and thanks for the info! Not the hiker I once was as I've had surgery on both knees and the left never came back as well as I'd would have liked. "Age" probably has a good bit to do with it, as well. Not a big problem. Just means I need to stay on the easier trails and a hiking staff is a "must have" item. Stay off the knee for a few days and see what happens. One thing; if your not better in a few days, go to thhe doctor as you said you would. Unfortunatly, this won't heal.

Noticed your other post about Dino and came across it here as well along with request for info about Mineral Wells. Camp both pretty regular and like them both. I will say that Dino is VERY hot this time of year. We camp with "power & water" so can't help a lot about primitive sites. Mineral Wells is one of the best as far as we're concerned. If your not interested in "power & water" I would suggest "Post Oak" over "Cross Timbers" camping area. Nothing wrong with Cross Timbers but it is mainly an equestrian area and you may not be interested in that.

Sorry I can't give more details but I've got to get ready to go to work . It's a pain to work weekends at times but it does leave the state parks open to me during the week!

Take care of yourself!

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vettech2112

Yeah, Lake Mineral Wells was on my list. Before the accident, I'd planned to give the Trailway a go but I'm going to pass on it this time.

I work weekends as well (3 13's back to back to back) so I can attend school during the week. While this schedule prevents my friends from joining me on these trips, it allows me to go during the week when there are less people. I'm braving Dino on Memorial Day only because the holiday allows me an extra day on the road. If I hadn't already made a reservation, I'd be tempted to hit Dino later in the week and maybe start at Mineral Wells or Ft Richardson where there's likely to be a smaller crowd.

Turn Key

Don't bet on it! I know from experiance that MW gets a heck of a crowd most any weekend and holidays just make it worse! Wishing you a great trip!

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ploddinTod

I couldn't AGREE more with you, Turn Key. It's amazing how much more stability one has with a pole or staff. I always take one with me even on level surfaces. And you can use it as a weapon to ward off charging feral hogs.

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PloddinTod

vettech2112

You have a good point. I think I'm going to cancel my reservation and push DV back a day or so. At this point, I'm thinking (in order) Ft Richardson, Lake Mineral Wells, DV, end with a tour through Fossil Rim Wildlife Park. I'd hit DV likely Weds so maybe the Memorial Day crowds will have eased.

Anyone been to Ft Richardson?

ploddinTod

I'd never say that. It was enjoyable reading. By the way, I assume you scrapped your idea of using a bicycle to transport your equipment to your basecamp? What about your final food decisions for your trip?

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PloddinTod

vettech2112

Nahh, I walked everything in. Quite frankly, there were a few stretches where I, as the novice biker, would have had troubles.

Food-wise, I took too much of the wrong stuff, not enough of the right. Too much food that can't be easily eaten on the move, too little than can. I have some ideas how to do things differently on that front. For one, I found no good way to carry my trail mix so it ended up staying in my backpack and only came out when I stopped. I have a small tie-string bag that I plan to line with a ziploc and strap on to my fanny-pack's belt next time.

Water-wise I took too much in the car but carried about the right amount to the site. I didn't need to wash dishes so all my water went in me or on me. I kept my 1.5 liter CamelBak full (and mixed with Gatorade powder) and made sure another 2-3 liters were at the camp at all times. As the car was in a fairly central location, I stopped there and topped off the CamelBak when I got in the area. I also grabbed whatever I needed to replenish the camp supply.

I also carried way too much extra junk - camp shovel I never used, too much extra clothing, too much extra TP, extra matches (I think I used a grand total of 4 matches at HC SNA and had 4 boxes of 'em in my pack), etc.

Eh, I'm a packrat, this trip proved it.

I've delayed my North Texas run due to my knee. Its only marginally better. I started rehabing it a bit today in the gym but it still hurts when I'm on my feet for more than a few hours. I just looked at the weather report for the area west of Fort Worth - looks like cancelling my trip was a good idea as they're getting hit pretty hard with thunderstorms. I may try again the last week of June, perhaps a bit sooner.

I may rethink it entirely and go more central texas. Go re-hit Lost Maples so I can see the rest of it then maybe S Llano, Guadeloupe SP, Colorado Bend SP, Longhorn Cavern... lots of stuff to see/do that-a-way. I'm going to try a "test-hike" in 2 weeks at Brazos Bend (only an hour away) to make sure the knee can handle it. If so, I'm go for another week-long.

ploddinTod

Yeah, My hiking pants and shirts have plenty of pockets for snacks (granola bars, beef jerky and snack-sized ziplocks for GORP) and still leave room for other essentials like pocket knife, compass and trail map. It's amazing how when you eat a little here and a little there on your water breaks that your body remains energized---visualize that pink bunny on the trail with you.

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PloddinTod

vettech2112

Nope, no water breaks... that's where the CamelBak comes in handy. Its become something I wonder how I ever did without! A friend even suggested a CamelBak full of margarita at the next BBQ.

Plus, I'm one that tends to keep moving and only rarely take breaks. Odd as it may sound, I find that once I stop its harder for me to get back on the trail than just to eat & drink on the move. If I stop for a break, its usually because there's something to see while I'm sitting there - a scenic overlook, for example. I give myself about a 20-30 minute break every 3-4 hours is all.

Of course, that pace is probably why my knee suffered more damage than the original injury caused. A former professor once told me there's a fine line between deterimination and stupidity. At the time, she said it because I was very near crossing that line (trying to clean the hoof of a horse that was trying to kick me to stop me doing it - I wanted to complete the task, not quit). I think on this last trip, I did, indeed, cross that line. Ah well, lesson learned.

Shannon

I love my Camelbak, too. Between taking photos, observing wildlife I hope to take a photo of, changing lenses or whatnot, these periodic short breaks make not having to stop to drink water a blessing (otherwise, I'd probably take 1.5 hours per every 3 hours on the trail! )

As it stands, I find for every 3 hours I'm in the field, about 1 hour of that is spent stationary or moving around in "circles" (scouting the right angle for a photo, documenting a scene in different ways, etc..

Most of my time in camp is spent documenting what I've observed (still far too many, "Interesting bird/animal. Here's the description & photo number so I can figure out what the heck it was when I get home!")

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- Shannon Moore
Your Host @ WildTexas.com
http://www.twitter.com/ageekgal