*Left the hostel at 9 and am back on the trail for the second half of the journey. Saw the Arkansas twins this morning at the hostel. They were there picking up a package which had their new boots in it.
Talk about a one in million chance, a hopefully once in a lifetime event, well it happened last night at the campground I'm at. To start I ended up hiking 14.6 miles yesterday from the hostel near Harper's Ferry. The last mile in a downpour. I made it to Dahlgren Backpack Campground, mile 1040.6. After the rain finally stopped I set my tent. Here camped as well we're three other groups, two of which were Boy Scouts from nearby Baltimore, Maryland. It was about 8:40 while lying in my tent that I heard the most frightening sound of my life. A nearby, huge Popular tree fell into the campground and onto a picnic table where six of the Scouts were sitting. This tree, at it widest, had a four foot circumference, a big tall tree. The four second sound from inside my tent sent chills through me. It sounded like the finale of a 4th of July fireworks display with pops and bangs, it was loud. Within those, what seemed like forever, four seconds, my life flashed in front of me. I thought the tree was going to fall on top of me and there was no time to react. When I ripped open my tent door and then rain fly I could hear the screams of the boys who were seated at the picnic table. The tree toppled over only twenty feet from my tent. One of the boys couldn't escape fast enough and was struck and pinned under a large branch. All the adults at the campground, about 10 of us, instantly sprang into action. The boy was struck in the head, blood pouring down his face and out of his mouth. With all our might, and with energy I thought I never had, we lifted the portion of a huge limb that was resting on top of him. My adrenaline glands were pouring it into my system. Once cleared away there lay this little13 year old boy with blood gushing out of his head and mouth, whimpering and crying. At that second I thought of my son Brian and my gut tightened along with a lump in my throat. One of the adults was an EMT and another a nurse, talk about luck and chance. The young boy was surrounded with helping hands. Everyone pitched in. Phone calls were made to 911 to summon an ambulance and paramedics which, since the campground was located near a road, provided easy access. They showed up within about a half hour. The nurse and EMT were checking him over from head to toe while everyone assisted them. Once the ambulance took him away and we knew he was in good hands it was a harrowing long night for all of us who remained there, difficult to sleep for fear of another tree doing the same thing.
5 / 17 This morning we all received an update on his status. The back off his head had a 5 inch long, deep gash which was stitched up. He bit his tongue which needed stitches as well. Thankfully he had only a slight concussion from the blow. He was one lucky boy......
Upon close inspection of the tree we found nothing unusual about it. Where it had split there were no woodpecker holes or insect damage. It was a healthy looking Poplar tree. It did however have a bend in the tree trunk that we all figured contributed to the tree being unstable. There was zero wind leading up to the tree fall. It was very calm. I took several pictures of it.
So all that said......I hiked with the Arkansas twins, and Boyd, and Hawkeye today. We did 18.8 miles and are camped at Raven Rock Shelter. All is well.
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