Unfortunately I’ve got bad news. I’m back off the trail and my journey has come to an end for this year. When I woke up at the Bears Den Hostel my hip was still a little sore. After relaxing for a little while I hit the trail. I was only planning on doing a little over 10 miles for the day so I wasn’t in a hurry. About 3 miles into the day my hip really started hurting. I slowly made my way to the David Lesser Memorial Shelter and stopped there for the night. I had slowed down to about 1.5 miles per hour. I hoped that an afternoon of rest and a good night sleep might help.
The next morning my hip was still bothering me. I had less than 9 miles to Harpers Ferry. Once again I slept in a little bit and hit the trail about 8. My hip was bothering me from the start today. Luckily this part of the trail is easy with a decent amount of “flat” trail. I made it into Harpers Ferry by about 1 and made my way to the hostel where I would stay for the night.
When I woke up Monday my hip still hurt. I was not going to be able to keep hiking this way. I decided to catch a ride back to my place. I scheduled a doctors appointment for Wednesday. At my appointment the doctor told me I had an inflamed tendon in the hip. The only thing that can be done to fix this is rest. Then after some rest I have to do some physical therapy to rebuild strength in the hip. That is where I am at now. I’m resting and will soon start doing some PT. My hip is feeling better, but it sometimes still hurts.
I had an amazing time on my trip. I learned a lot about long distance backpacking and I look forward to getting back out on the trail and doing some more long trips. Maybe in a few years I’ll take a few months off of work and finish the trail. Then when I retire I’ll try to do the whole trail again.
Thanks everyone for following my journey. I glad that I decided to record my journey here. I’ll be able to enjoy my write up of this trip for years to come.
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