great post hooch. i am so glad that you guys had a great hike despite your injury. in july my uncle(who really got me into backpacking) and myself, my 12 year old son, and three other friends, were hiking the thunder swamp trail in ne pa, and he slipped on a wet rock(tst is super rocky!). his knee swelled up like a cantaloupe! we made camp, and he insisted on not "ruining" our three day hike. we day hiked the next day and on the third day he left 3 hours before us and hiked himself and his pack back to the car. when he went to the doctor he found out that he had completely seperated his knee! why do we all think that walking around in the woods with swollen knees is so much fun?