Last Saturday, on the first day of a trip, my 14-year-old grandson sprained his ankle. Fortunately, it wasn't a serious sprain. I finally got to practice my Wilderness First Aid! I used several feet of vet wrap (self-adhering foam bandage) and then used several wraps of Gorilla duct tape over it. Worked quite well, and no problems removing it when we got home!

My memories of ankle sprains include my foot's swelling up to the size of a football by the next day, with no possibility of wearing a shoe. We therefore decided to hike out that evening. I gave JP about 5 lbs of pack, gave me 15, hung the food in Ursacks on a tree and put a trash bag full of miscellaneous stuff (no food or smellables) in the tent, hoping it would be there when I came back. I put a note in a plastic bag and tied it to the front of the tent.

Hiking out, the last part in the dark, was rather adventurous. With one set of trekking poles between us, we compromised at one each. JP had my good Princeton Tec Aurora headlamp, while I was using a Petzl e+lite. . The latter was completely useless! JP had to turn around at every rough spot and shine his light on the trail for me. It was rather a slow process, 1 3/4 hours for a mile. We made it though, got home about midnight (no pizza places still open, much to my grandson's disgust). On Monday I left JP at home with his ice pack, lots of food, the complete Harry Potter movies and Oscar the Jack Russell terrier, while I drove up, hiked in, and retrieved the rest of the gear. It was so much easier in the daylight!

Anyway, the lesson I earned is that the extra 2 ounces for an adequate headlamp with bright light and long-lasting batteries is well worth it in an emergency!

JP is recovering apace and is now at home. It turns out that we could have waited until the next day, because he had minimal swelling, but I didn't know that and neither did he!