About a week ago, Chris, Zach and I were up Little Cottonwood canyon, looking at the fall leaves. While we were there, Zach and I went off to explore, and found a great place that had three fallen logs over the river. As I was standing near the bank on one of these logs, I lost my balance and put my foot behind me to catch myself. Instead of coming down on hard ground however, I ended up stepping into a hole filled with dead pine branches. As I fell back, I hit a tree pretty hard with my back, and was momentarily stunned. When I tried to move however, something was holding my leg in place. I yanked my leg out of the hole, and as I did, a resounding "dead wood" "SNAP" was heard, and suddenly I was free. As I walked away, my calf was burning and I knew I'd scratched it up pretty bad. What I didn't realize is that I'd impaled myself on a branch, and had broken off the tip INSIDE MY LEG!
I reached down to see what I'd done, and ran into the branch, which was about as big around as a 10 penny nail. As I tried to pull it out, I realized it wasn't jammed in there under the surface of my skin like a big sliver, but instead, it had punctured STRAIGHT into my leg just below my calf muscle! The stick was about an inch and a half long, and was completely jammed in my leg, leaving less than a eighth of an inch sticking out. As Zach turned several shades of pale, I began trying to pull it out - but it didn't want to cooperate, and I finally had to grit my teeth, and scream while I yanked it out. Zach and I burst out in hysterical laughter, and both agreed it was one of the coolest things we'd ever seen!
After it was out, I probed the wound again, and found ANOTHER smaller branch just below it - also sticking straight into my leg. I wasn't able to grab that one, so using my trusty Leatherman, Zach grabbed on to it, and pulled it from my leg. It was only about three-quarters of an inch long, but still as thick as a framing nail! Once all the sticks were out, I pinched and pushed on it to make it bleed really well, then washed it off in the river (yes, your watershed... you can thank me later!)
Zach and I were totally thrilled by the experience, and both agree it was one of the coolest, manliest things I've ever done... Sick huh? LOL... I have to admit I did feel a little like Rambo when he had to sew himself up. I'm just glad I didn't pass out.
I got home and washed it well with anti-bacterial soap, and filled the hole with triple-anti-biotic ointment, and it's healing up just fine. It's not something I want to ever experience again, and I'm grateful it didn't hit anything vital, but come on... how many times in your life do you get to pull a branch out of your leg while screaming your war-cry into the surrounding forest? If I could grunt like Tim the Tool Man, I would! It was a very cool experience!
Where I was impaled by two sticks
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