Early on a Wednesday, we packed up the car and drove the 10 hours to Yosemite National Park. We were going to spend three full days exploring the park. Thursday morning, we got up early, had a filling breakfast, and headed into the park. We were going to hike to the top of Yosemite Falls. We took our time going up and made it the 3.5 miles around lunchtime. We had a picnic lunch by the river and watched people climbing on rocks a tad to close to the raging waters. After lunch and a few photos, we decided to head down. We proceeded slowly and with caution because going done was harder than up! We were nearing the end, less than half a mile from the parking lot.
The switchbacks were extra slippery due to the fresh dirt/manure mixture the Rangers were putting down that morning. We picked our way slowly and carefully down. As we turned a corner of a switchback, I suddenly slipped. I heard a pop, and then I went down. Shock set in. What had happened?? I looked down, and my ankle was about three times its usual size. At first, we thought maybe it was a bad sprain. We sat with it elevated for about 10-15 minutes. I tried to get up, but as soon as I tried to limp forward, my ankle collapsed.
AT THIS POINT, I KNEW WE HAD TO CALL THE RANGERS.
We waited for rescue to come. Two came to assess the situation. The EMT was pretty sure it was broken based on my reactions to certain spots he touched. They asked if I could make it down on crutches. I may have laughed at that point. Could you imagine going down switchbacks on crutches? That meant I got carried out on the big wheel. It was a different way to see a trail. I could only see the sky and tops of trees. I heard over the radio there was a car accident with an altercation.
Once in the car, we headed to the Yosemite Hospital. Well, they had a hectic day and were unable to see me. We drove the 30ish minutes out of the park and another 30 minutes to Oakhurst only to have the Urgent Care not answer (despite it being 15 minutes before close). We finally found an ER about 30 minutes away.
At the ER, the doctor didn’t necessarily think it was broken at first. The X-Ray tech took her first X-Ray from the top. She looked at the image and then had me turn my right leg to the left, takes the X-Ray, looks at the picture, and then I hear,
“OHHHH.” THAT WAS ALL I NEEDED TO KNOW IT WAS BROKEN.
We, well I, spent Friday on the couch bingeing Deadwood and reading Alex Cross. We drove around a bit on Saturday to places I could see from the car or nearby. Sunday we headed home. I cannot recommend being a passenger in a vehicle with a splint on your broken leg for 9 hours. It wasn’t the most comfortable ride.
WHAT I’VE LEARNED: ACCIDENTS HAPPEN, ALL YOU CAN DO IS ACCEPT IT.
- No matter how prepared you are, accidents still occur.
- Sitting around is hard when you are used to being active.
- I won’t let this deter me from future adventures.
I do have a few photos from Yosemite that I’ll be editing and adding to the shop. We tried to make the best of our shortened vacation! (We were supposed to go to Kings and Sequoia Canyon on Sunday for a few days).
