Emerald Pools
In May 2011 Jenya and I set forth for the American Southwest without any real plan, as we have often done before. We yearned to have one of our usual "make it lup as we go along" adventures - just us, our 4runner full of camping supplies, several maps, and the confidence of experience that we could always find something interesting to see and somewhere safe to sleep.
We've been through Zion National Park quite often en route elsewhere, except for the one time we stuck around and undertook the ambitious 16 mile backpacking trek down the narrows. So upon arriving there on the second night of our journey we decided check out the easy, touristy sections for once before pressing on.
After breakfast the following morning we hit the Emerald Pools hike - an unchallenging three mile round trip involving a trio of waterfalls. We expected to see lots of toddlers and senior citizens on the trail, and we did. Total piece of cake stroll to the upper pool at the top. We sat on some boulders by the creek and ate snacks, enjoying the red rock ecosystem around us until we thought, "Okay, cool. Let's get on with our day."
Literally two seconds after standing up my left foot skidded off a slippery stone and I twisted my ankle. Really badly. I became immediately dizzy as waves of nausea washed over me. I had to sit back down again as I almost passed out. Jenya and I were both in disbelief I could injure myself so horribly on this utterly novice trek. How embarrassing. Denial took over and I told her I just needed a minute. She explored some more as I recuperated a bit.
After she split I had the brilliant idea to soak my ankle in the cold water of the creek. This helped the pain as the joint had grown to the size of a tennis ball. An old man walking by saw me sitting there with my submerged foot and looked at me like I was some miscreant, sullying the otherwise pristine nature with my nasty appendage. Whatever dude. Jenya returned and we marvelled at the extent of the swelling. I really messed up.
I stayed there a while as the agony waned but felt the need to get out of there already. The removed lower half of my convertible pants made for a makeshift compression bandage. I wrapped that tightly around my ankle before squeezing into my shoe which I then cinched up tight. Oof. Once moving again it wasn't so bad. Back in town we hit the store and got a proper Ace bandage which helped.
So that sprain meant no epic hiking for a while. We continued deeper into Utah and aimed to just spend the night hiding far away from humans on Cottonwood Canyon Road. This required registering at the BLM office. While filling out the forms I realized we had cell coverage for the first time in a while. And I discovered Adam had left me a message wondering if Jai Young had gotten me a Secret Chiefs 3 keyboard to practice on yet. I hadn't heard anything from anybody about that, and up until this point I remained somewhat unconvinced I would actually ever be in the band. But I guess maybe I will after all? Cool.