Monday, June 17, 2013

All in the last 2 miles

A couple days ago, I was hiking - imagine that!  It was at the end of this day that I had to face all of the fears I or others had for me on the Trail. 

I had done 19 miles and the shelter was only 2 more miles away.  It had rained in the morning, but my poncho had dried out and I had put it away.  I knew more rain was on the way, but I was hoping to get to the shelter before that happened.  It really sucks to have a water laden poncho that you need to stuff in your backpack.  One, it gets everything wet, and two, it weighs more.  My feet were really tired and my knees were "tweaking".  My left knee was actually giving me shooting pain across my patella when I stepped wrong.  First fear - injury.  I had been walking on very stiff knees that past few days and I was getting quite concerned that my knee was getting worse.  Only two more miles to the shelter, and I could take some ibuprofen and massage my knee.  But I was trying to outwalk the rain as well.  That was when I realized I hadn't sat down since I left this morning.  19 miles with no real breaks (other than to inhale some food while standing up or still walking).  So, rain or no, I decided to sit and take a break. 

There was no real place to sit down, so I just decided to plop on a really big tree root and stretch my legs across the trail.  It seemed fairly pleasant at first until I felt the wind shift directions and it was cold.  I looked up... dark clouds were above my head where they weren't just a moment before.  Crap.  That was the cold front.  The temp started to drop, and the breeze instantly chilled me as it dried my sweat.  No good.  I had heard stories of people getting wet in the rain, cooling off, and getting hypothermia.  Really not good. 

But my legs were so tired!  Surely, I wouldn't get hypothermia if I just sat here a while longer and made sure I wore my poncho, even if it would get wet all over again and be annoying.  I looked down.  Deer tick.  On my arm.  Crawling around.  Crap.  First deer tick I've ever seen.  On MY arm.   Thoughts of Lyme Disease.  So much for sitting here.  Apparently, this was not the place to take a break.  Might as well get up and keep walking and hopefully outwalk those really dark clouds.  Oops, another knee tweak.  Well, guess I'll only hobble along.  Hopefully, this wind won't be too cold.

The rain hasn't officially started, but my camera is tucked safely away in a plastic bag in my backpack from early today.  There weren't any sights anyway worth taking the camera out.  Surely, in the last two miles...  A half mile from the shelter, I turn the corner and...

Bear!  A adolescent, judging by its size, which means mom is probably not too far away (in fact, what is that sound to the other side of the Trail?).  Crap.  This bear doesn't seem too bothered by me.  It just moves off the side of the Trail several feet, then turns to look at me.  I raise my arms above my head and scream "Boogely!" (which was the only scary word I could come up with at the moment).  The bear just tilted its head  in curiosity (probably what I would've done too if someone did that to me).  Well, what was I going to do?  It was about to start pouring rain, and I didn't have a camera available anyway.  Here I was, 20 feet from a bear, and I couldn't document it to prove it to anyone else.  *sigh*  Onwards (and upwards).

It starts raining, but I'm so close I don't bother with the poncho.  Hypothermia shouldn't be a problem.  I get to the shelter.  There's still room (thankfully), so I start pulling out all my stuff.  The guys there ask me if I can identify snakes.  Yes, some, I answer.  So they show me a picture.  I'm 95% sure that is a copperhead (a poisonous snake in the south).  Yeah, OK, they say.  They threw that snake out of the shelter before I got there.  It was actually curled up right where I'm putting my stuff out.  Oh good.  I pull out my headlamp and start shining it in all the crevices and rafters of the shelter.  I'm not really afraid of snakes, but I had never really thought of the possibility of a snake curling up in the shelter.  Now I will need to add another routine to my setting up camp... shine the light for snakes.

All in the last 2 miles of a day's hike: cold front, rain, deer ticks, bear, and copperheads.  Oh my.

The next morning, I got the opportunity to see another bear and I did get pictures of that one.  There was more undergrowth even though it was still only 20 feet from me, so they aren't amazing pictures.  The computer I'm on right now won't let me upload photos, so I'll have to do that later.  I'll also have to post the picture of 3 inch wide wolf spider from last night's shelter.  Yeah, I decided to put up my tent/poncho instead.  Wolf spiders aren't dangerous, but that's just a really big spider to be sleeping next to.  I suppose, it's better than a copperhead.

Oh, and as for the tweaking knee.  I stopped doing 20+ mile days.  I got to a hostel and took a day off.  I now have a knee brace, and another hiker gave me 3 days worth of prescription naproxen.  My knees feel a lot better, and I hope to not have to wear the knee brace for the whole rest of the Trail.  Thankfully, it wasn't an injury that could have potentially taken me off the Trail. I just need to slow down a little.  The last few days have been under 15 miles.  I'll try kicking it up to 17-18 for the next several and see how I do. 

2 comments:

  1. I feel for you having to wear the knee brace. They're hot and uncomfortable. I have way more experience with them than I would like. I talked with Sarah K Saturday, so was already praying for you.

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  2. I pray for you daily my friend...I'm really enjoying your updates...have to say I've thought of doing this same thing, but maybe I'll go for a shorter distance. Be careful out there.

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