Clumsy Hiker- My Broken Ankle, and Journey Back to the Trails

I had no idea that this would be the last photo of my pre-bionic right ankle. The accident occurred minutes later. The ‘break’ occurred on August 7 th while I hiked through a bog. As my foot went into a false-bottom (an area where the moss bed/mat is thin enough to give way to the water below), I felt my right ankle hit something hard, roll, and from what I can describe: it felt like a snap, crackle, and pop. When I pulled myself out of the 6 foot deep false-bottom, I immediately knew that something was wrong. I was able to rotate my foot and lift it pretty easily, but my ankle itself felt very unstable. The simplest way of describing it: “floppy”.   "Hey guys...so...I think I just broke my ankle ..." At first I thought it was dislocated, because I had never felt something quite like that sensation before. The entire ordeal involving the accident was pleasantly far-less painful than I had anticipated. I am not sure if that is a result of my self-proclaimed...

Why am I creating a Blog? Two Reasons: 1) I like to get outside (hiking, exploring, etc.) 2) I am fairly clumsy, and therefore injury prone As a result, I have had to deal with learning and re-learning to enjoy the outdoors after a few setbacks.  As I have been recovering from my injuries, I have always been curious about average healing time, how to improve range of motion, strengthening muscles for hiking and climbing, etc. I am also always on the lookout for realistic expectations when it comes to post-injury pain, returning to long-distance outdoor activities, etc. Being unable to find much information on people who have returned to hiking, backpacking, etc. after injuries, and their experiences and processes- I decided to chronicle my own- maybe for myself to reflect upon years from now, and also maybe in the hopes that this may help someone else out there- either as a resource, a forum to share stories and tips, or just to laugh at my unfortunate luck... I will focus...