Ugly Foot Alert!

I had my first hiking injury recently, which can be a little scary when hiking alone in the desert. I'm generally very careful, planning my hikes in detail, marking waypoints on my phone to help me keep my bearings, and even using a tracking app that allows me to follow my exact tracks back to the start of the hike. I do a short write-up (complete with waypoints) prior to going on a hike. I print out out two copies (take one with me, and leave a copy for my wife) so there is no question of where I will be hiking. If for some reason I don't return, she knows where to find me! Perhaps most importantly, I STICK TO THE PLAN! There can be deadly consequences if I change my mind at the last minute and hike in an area where nobody knows where I am. I consider all this more or less mandatory for off-trail hiking in the desert from a safety and survival perspective.

So a few weeks ago I decided to hike the "Twin Tanks" area in Joshua Tree (more to follow about Twin Tanks on my next post, so stay tuned!). I had never hiked here before, and there is no trail leading to the Twin Tanks area. It requires some navigation ability and use of waypoints and landmarks. Also, I checked out a trusted resource before doing the hike (patricktillett.blogspot.com). My friend Pat had this to say about the area:

This place is a warren of washes and small canyons, many of which terminate in a dead end. What I'm saying, is that it is very easy to get lost and/or injured in this area. For most people, getting lost in the desert or wilderness, is a very bad thing. Sometimes, it is a fatal mistake. This is made all the worse, by the absence of cell phone signals here.

OK, this definitely raised a red flag in my mind to be careful. Thanks, Pat, for the heads up! So off I went on my Twin Tanks hike, well prepared and with camera gear, plenty of water, snacks, as well as other safety gear.

There is no trail to the Twin Tanks area, so right at the start of the hike you have to make a decision: Follow the wash (photo above), or take a more cross country approach? The wash is sandy, which makes hiking harder, with lots of twists and turns. Cross country can mean more rugged terrain with ups and downs. I chose the cross country approach, but rejoined with the wash from time to time.

Early in the hike, at about 3/4 of a mile or so, the rock formations started getting interesting. It might have been at this spot that I started hiking up one of the boulders to get a better vantage point for a photo.

Or maybe it was at this spot? I guess it doesn't matter, but I ended up slipping as I climbed a boulder. I went down hard, holding my DSLR in one hand and my hiking stick in the other. I heard a "clunk" as my camera base hit a rock, I felt a sharp pain in my right ankle and my right palm was bleeding. My first thought was "Oh s**t, I broke my camera!" My second thought was "Am I going to be able to hike out of here??" Thankfully, my camera was fine. I had some mild ankle pain, but I could walk on it.

Yup, I warned you. This is my ankle a few days after the hike as it's starting to turn purple. I don't know why the purple bruise follows that sharp line above my heel.

View of the other side of my right foot. Ugly, bruised and swollen, but nothing broken!

Since it didn't hurt too much to walk, I continued on my hike. It was actually a great hike, and I intend to go back for a second visit. There are some petroglyphs I would like to see that I didn't quite make it to on this hike. I'll leave you with a few pretty sky shots from the Twin Tanks hike.

Addendum: A sad ending to the young hikers that went missing in Joshua Tree in late July. Amazingly, it took over 2 1/2 months and thousands of search-hours to find the bodies (their bodies were found embracing on Sunday, Oct. 15). You can read a short article here. It just highlights how dangerous and sometimes deadly the desert can be.

Tune in next time for more photos taken during my hike in the Twin Tanks area.
Linking with Skywatch Friday.
Thanks for stopping by!!