Tough times began today. Last night, Carrot was stricken with illness and no one slept well. It was a pretty rough night for her. Also, there was an unexpectedly intense climb first thing in the morning, as well as detour upon detour complete with road walking on a sketchy highway.
Carrot attempted to push through the illness, but decided to try and hitch either back to Wrightwood, or ahead to Big Buck Campground in order to rest up and wait to feel better. She felt awful, and it was not a good idea for her to hike 20 miles that day.
The rest of our crew (Chik Chak, Rocky, Sour Cream, and I) pushed onward with the numerous detours and infinite road walking. There are a few official detours coming up: one due to an endangered frog and it's habitat protection, and another due to the Station Fire that occurred in 2011.
Our first encounter with poodledog bush! Poodledog bush is a plant that we are to avoid touching because it gives you a rash similar to poison oak... If not worse.
Poodledog bush.
When this is the trail... Poodledog bush really close to another bush. You have to be very careful not to touch it.
After 12-15 miles (we pushed hard this morning) we stopped at Big Buck Campground for lunch, during which Ben started to feel nauseous. This was not the same type of illness as Carrot (her illness was very sudden, painful, and strong, whereas Ben's was simply a constant nausea and fatigue). Possibility of altitude sickness? We were above 9,000 feet the previous day and slept pretty high and today we were at a slightly lower elevation, but still pretty high, and Ben had not been hydrating properly. He also had not eaten very much, so we are thinking it might be due to altitude, dehydration, and malnutrition (as well as low potassium levels, probably). He just felt awful and tired.
This was a very upsetting predicament.
Carrot had finally found a hitch, but they were headed in the direction of Big Buck Campground (instead of Wrightwood) and she wound up meeting us there. She still felt awful and took a nap there at the campground. Angela and I hung out with Smiles and Dr. Slosh at the picnic table there, trying to figure out our game plan. We had 2 sick people on our hands. What do we do? Sour Cream moved forward with hiking that day - it was sad to see him go and split up - we are a close knit team. We wished him well and told him we'd see him at the Saufley's.
Although Ben was sick, we both got a restful nights sleep there at the posh campground. Our neighbors up the way had been stationed there for a week and had brought their cat camping with them, so I got my first real kitty-time. It was on a leash and very curious, sniffing every article of clothing, touching it's wet nose to my skin. I have been really missing cat love on this trip.
It was heart breaking to see Ben in such a feeble state, he was weak, exhausted and had no appetite whatsoever. I made sure he was cozy and tucked him in bed before retiring to the tent at 7pm.
Hopefully tomorrow everyone will feel better. We had many miles to complete in order to get to the Saufley's house (some of the most awesome Trail Angels) on schedule.
Check out this random rainbow.
2 comments:
If your legs get cramped and you feel winded or exhausted, it could be potassium . . . i had a hard time climbing Mt Whitney when I didn't have my usual potassium tablets. I usually eat about 4 or 5 if I expect to sweat or dehydrate.
Yes! Definitely Potassium! (quinine sulfate too, but you can't get it anymore - sad) Love your progress and courage in the face of transient adversity! In the end you will look back and only remember the highlights, not the low-points.
What's the matter with carot? I can't find any information but your brief mention (which sounds severe)??
Continued health and good luck to you three!
Post a Comment