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.
