Moab, UT and Ankles

[M Salhuana]

Had a great time last weekend in Moab, Ut. The weather was exceptional with clouds on Friday and Sunday that made the images unbelievable. Well I had a great 4 day weekend until Sunday. I was hiking to Delicate Arch in Arches National Park and got there with no problem setup and waited for the right light and no people under the arch to make my shoots. I hiked up there with my Arca Swiss 4x5, 3 lenses, several film backs and of course plenty of water.

Things were looking great I got the images I wanted and Kate, my girlfriend, and I started on the way down. We wished we would be able to do fine art nudes, since Kate is a fine art model (www.katyt.com), but with all the people about it was impossible. About half way down in the slick rock area of the hike I rolled my ankle underneath me with plenty of pain to go around and if Kate had not caught me I would have rolled some distance down the slope. Needless to say it would have taken me 2 hours to get back to the car park if it was not for a gracious couple that stopped to help us, Paul and Jen, by taking my pack and then with Kate and Jen helping me down the rest of the way. So I recommend that you take a very good pair of hiking boots with you if you ever plan to do this hike and watch were you put your feet. Any recommendations for boot are more than welcome since mine failed to protect me. By the way the Moab hospital is great but I would not recommend you visit for the same reason I did.

Regards,

Miguel

PS I will post some of the images as soon as I can develop them.

[Jeffrey Sipress]

Sorry to hear about your plight, but what footwear WERE you wearing? Not hiking boots in Arches? Yeow...

[Erik Larsen]

Miguel, Sorry about the injury, not fun I know. Injuries always seem to happen on the down hill section on these types of hikes. Lucky you had some friendly folks to help you out! I think you can roll your ankles in any boots when going down hill, the only advice I have received is "loosen on the uphill and tighten on the down hill" (Boot laces that is)
It happens to the best of us and only reinforces paying attention to each step when going down hill. I know for myself that when I go up hill I have no problem because the pace is slow, but when I am relaxed and going down hill bad things will happen if I don't pay attention. !

By the way, I was in Moab for the day today and almost got blown back to Colorado:)
I was in a burnt out forest in Castle Valley/ La Sal loop area and left my window down and when I got back to the car it was full of black soot and I'm still picking it out of my ears:) Couldn't even put up a tripod because if I turned my back and it gusted "down goes Frasier":)
Heal up quickly,
regards
Erik

[phaedrus]

As Erik said, you can roll your ankle in any boot. When I was a doctor in the army, even well-trained paratroopers in top-notch footgear hurt their ankles. Tough luck is all it is.

[Turner Reich]

...there is always the possibility of a boot top fracture...

[Drew Wiley]

I have somewhat deformed feet and require stiff boots even for ordinary daywear in
order to keep my ankles from buckling. Nevertheless I have hiked many thousands
of miles in difficult terrain with very heavy packs loaded with view camera and
camping gear. It used to be that you could go into a mountaineering shop and find
decent leather boots. They took a long time to break in but were worth it. Nowadays
most of these companies just want to market flimsy junk made in China, and I even
cancelled a trip this weekend because my companions wanted to go into the high
country with that kind of footwear. With snow in the forecast, that would almost
guarantee a rescue. My next pair of boots will be custom made from Ersatto. The
pair I am currently wearing was also handmade, and even at the high price for
custom work, has outlasted many pairs of storebought boots, plus given me the
anke support and weather resistance I require. But expect to pay 750 to 1500 dollars
for a "real" pair of boots.

[Bruce Schultz]

That hike up to Delicate is not a piece of cake. I hauled my 8x10 Wehman up there with ice and snow on the trail and it was tricky at some points on the last 200 yards of the trail.

[Richard M. Coda]

Hey Miguel:

Nice to see you on the forums! Missed you at the last IW meeting.

We went to Canyon de Chelly this weekend. OMG, the wind! It was like a Depression era Dust-bowl photograph. Didn't even bother taking the big boys out... just digital. And we had to leave a day early because they had a huge power failure. See my blog for the "story".

Rich