Quick Update

Hello! I am currently in Mt. Shasta and heading out tonight on the trail again. More stories to come of the very eventful last few days. Just wanted to let everyone know I'm still on trail and feeling much better! Stories to come in 5 days!

My First Marathon Day

So, after a few days off dealing with an intestinal infection, I'm back on trail! We are well onto northern california and have hit the mid way point! We left from Chester around 4 pm and hiked into the night to get about 12 miles. We set up camp and fell asleep quick. I didn't wake up until a sudden cracked rang out through the forest followed by a loud bang. A huge branch had come down very close to our small campsite. I was wide awake for quite some time after that. When I did start to fall asleep a group of wolves began to howl nearby. Needless to say I woke up very tired the next morning. We got on the road early and were making fast progress. My hip was doing really well until our first break when I began to get almost constant shooting pains. Miserable, I kept telling myself it was just a bad day and taking more aleve. I had almost convinced myself when a sudden pain struck my knee. When I looked down a wasp was there basking in the glory of my pain. My knee began to swell and sting but there wasn't anything to do but keep walking. I walked and walked and walked until I had gone 27 miles that day, my first marathon day! I was hurting but morale was higher than it had been in weeks.  The next day we made it into a small town called old station where we got sodas and burgers and headed out. We made it 24 miles that day and by the end I was using my trekking poles more like crutches. As we hiked down to a water cache for the night the sun began to set behind mount shasta. It was silhouetted by a beautiful orange pink sky and I remembered why I was out here. Why all the pain and struggle is worth it to me. I went to sleep that night extremely sore and blistered but happy to be under the stars. Today we were trying to get into the town of burney to resupply. It was only 18 miles but after the last two days they were the worst 18 miles in a long time. It was hot and my body was so sore I could hardly walk, slowing down to only two and a half miles per hour. Luckily we got a quick hitch into town and are recovering for the night with pizza, beer,  and foot baths.

Pictures

One Thing After Another

I got back on trail in South Lake Tahoe where we spent the fourth of July on the beach with a great group of other through hikers. We hit the trail a couple days later and I was feeling good. A physical therapist had given me a list of stretches to do, I had a roller ball and was on aleve around the clock. We did eight miles out of town I I felt like things were finally turning around. The aleve was helping tremendously and it felt great to be back on trail. The next day we did 18 miles and though my body wasn't used to it yet, overall I felt pretty good. That was until I woke up at midnight with terrible stomach pains. My mind raced, what if I have giardia? What if I'm having an allergic reaction to something? Maybe I ingested some deet? I had no idea. I jumped out of my tent and proceeded to lose all of the food I had eaten that day to the bushes. The next morning I felt better and we hit the trail. After hiking for a few hours the nausea came back. We made it 22 miles before setting up camp where others joined us and we had a campfire. I had to leave twice to throw up what was left of my dinner. I woke up nauseous the next morning and tried everything to get it to go away. Nothing worked. Thirteen miles down the trail we hit a road with donner ski lodge just off the the right. They had free beer for through hikers so of course we had to go. We filled up on food and were going to hike another few miles that day, until I got sick again. I then realized, maybe it's all the aleve I've been taking for my hip that is causing all this mess. So I stopped taking it and we headed down in to truckee for the night to wait it out. I felt better when I woke up the next morning but it was short lived. The nausea set back in as we headed back up to the trail. We hung around for a bit with some other hikers then hit the trail. Things went from bad to worse quickly at this point. My hip was killing me from not taking the aleve and I was still sick. Twenty minutes into the hike I puked in front of some mortified day hikers and then again an hour after that. My whole body felt weak, I finally broke down and cried. I had nothing left in me to keep going, I was miserable and clearly the aleve was not the culprit. I turned around and hiked back out. I need to figure out what this thing is before I can do anymore hiking, so as much as it pains me to say it, I'm off trail again. Not for long this time hopefully!

The Diagnosis

As I sat in my doctors office I felt very optimistic about what she was going to tell me. My mom, on the otherhand, was cautious. The chiropractor I had seen previously had told me all the issues that were going on but for some reason they weren't getting better. My doctor came in and I explained my odd situation as she examined my hip joint. She told us of some worsening nerve infringement that was occurring and told me she only had bad news for me. If I didn't take at least four weeks off, the nerve pain could get so bad that I would not be able to move to get myself to help. Though this was slightly devastating in my mind I could only think "maybe the rules don't apply to me." Taking four weeks off was out of the question for me so I asked her if it could cause any permanent damage. She said the recovery time would be much longer if I kept going but it wouldn't be permanent.  There was my answer. I could keep going and try to maintain the pain as best I could. Knowing I had already made up my mind, my doctor ordered an X ray and told me to meet with a physical therapist. The physical therapist went through a multitude of stretches I could do in the mornings and the evenings and recommended I get a foam roller and take aleve around the clock.  I headed back out to the trail optimistic about what was going to happen.

Hike your Own Hike

Sorry for the long absence,  I have been deciding on what to actually write here and have now decided to tell it like it was.
I left Mammoth Lakes after seven zero days off trail to rehab my worsening iliotibial band issues.  Almost immediately I was back in excruciating pain and it was only getting worse. We made it four miles that day and called it quits. The next morning we woke up to a ranger asking us if we had paid already... we hadn't. Twenty five bucks later we were back on the trail fighting thousands of mosquitoes.  My hip was in bad shape but ibuprofen was keeping me going. We made it 16 miles that day before smokey picked out a spot that he said was clear of mosquitoes. Boy, was he completely wrong. After sitting there for about ten minutes, we were swarmed and the only way to avoid the bites was to bundle up in our sleeping bags with our head nets on. The next morning we woke early to hit Donahue pass. On the top we took a break with some John Muir trail hikers, one who had actually read my blog! They warned us that the mosquitoes only got worse so we needed to get our hands on some bug spray. The guidebook told us of a small store in Tuolumne meadows which was about 10 miles from where we were. Since I was still moving slow, Smokey jetted ahead to get to the store before it closed. Though when I arrived at the store it was very much open, littered with through hikers drinking beers and filling up on snacks. Naturally we hung out for a bit. We were then told that there was no camping for five miles out of Tuolumne and not wanting to go that far, we all decided to stay. Which ended up with us playing drinking games until at least one am, trashed, we all crawled into our sleeping bags and passed out. At around three in the morning I was woken up by a strange sensation on my face. Rain. We all jumped up and in our drunken states tried to throw up our shelters and dive inside before anything got too soaked. The effort was futile. I woke up with a puddle at the bottom of my tent nicely surrounding the foot of my sleeping bag and my shoes sitting just outside the dry zone of my tent. Everything was soaked, morale was low. We huddles under the small awning of the general store and waited for small patches of sun to come out. The post master offering us some encouraging words, "cheer up, it's going to clear up!" I didn't feel too cheery but after four hours of hiding out, the sun peeked through! We had a dance party in the parking lot before throwing all our wet gear out to dry. I got ready to hit the trail again and threw on my pack. We walked about a quarter mile before I knew something was wrong in my hip. I couldn't understand how it was getting worse when I had taken so much time off and seen a chiropractor.  I went back and forth but decided it was best to take care of this now before it got any worse. I decided to go home, something I didn't think I would be doing for another two and a half months. I was worried, what if people saw me? What if they thought I was weak? What if they thought less of my journey because I jumped off? All things that went away when I remembered that this whole trip is about me and I can't let things like that dictate my hike. Was I devastated to leave the trail? Absolutely but hiking through tears everyday was not what I signed up for. My parents came and met me in Tuolumne where we got food at the Woah Nellie Deli, which is the nicest gas station restaurant you will ever find. We started the long drive home and I got to see my amazingly supportive aunt and uncle along the way which boosted my confidence about making the right decision.  The next few days were filled with doctors visits, X rays,  chiropractic therapy, stretching, and rest. I also got to see a few friends I had missed quite a bit since the beginning. A nice vacation from my vacation.