My latest hike started in a hurry on Friday night. I flew out to the barn to hold Pluto for our new farrier. Pluto was startled by something behind him and managed to put his full weight on the farrier's already broken toes. I was mortified. I offered her advil, but basically there isn't much you can do for that kind of pain other than cuss. Which she did.
Then I drove to DeLee's. We ate something, then started to leave. At the last minute I mentioned that it would be nice to have walkie talkies for the drive, since we would be in two cars. She couldn't find hers, so we stopped at the REI on the way out of the neighborhood and bought a new set. I was so glad we did, it was much nicer to be able to communicate than to have a four hour drive without speaking. It was super, super helpful to be able to talk about when we wanted to stop to visit a rest area, or comment on traffic, or the like.
A couple of hours in, I started getting a lot of text messages. I could hear the phone buzzing, but at 70 mph, in the dark, I was not able to read them. (Which would have been illegal anyway.) When I finally got the chance to pull over at Woodstock, VA, I found that my dad was in the emergency room. We went to the McDonald's and called around, trying to find out what was going on. Finally we decided to drive the hour on to Waynesboro for the night, as Dad seemed to be stable.
Later texts and calls revealed that he was doing all right and they had sorted out his problems, and Mom and Dad were joking about it. Thus reassured, at midnight or 1 AM, DeLee and I hit the sack in our motel room. Not the restful start one hopes for.
In the morning, breakfast didn't sit right with DeLee, and it vacated the premises quickly. DeLee was very subtle. I doubt the other diners even noticed. DeLee is a trooper, and so we still packed up and got on the road. By the time we got in the park, shuttled the cars around, and started hiking, it was after noon. Oy.
The weather was beautiful and hikers were scarce. Our parking spot was supposed to have a nearby trail leading up to the AT, but that trail seemed to have disappeared several years ago. We bushwhacked up a mountain until we found the trail, then started north. I think we saw four hikers all day. So we were considerably surprised when we got to the shelter and found it full and surrounded by tents. There were boy scouts everywhere. They were in good spirits and a little rowdy, but they settled down and were amazingly silent all night.
We had managed to find a spot in the shelter, which was especially nice around 5 AM when it started to pour. I love not packing up a wet tent.
The forecasted all day rain didn't appear. It was misty and damp, and cold, but not solidly raining. We had a beautiful morning's hike, but it was hard to stay warm on rest breaks. At lunch we couldn't find a great windbreak, but we did find a downed log in a very brushy area. We set up leaning on the log, and it wasn't bad. I immediately made us hot drinks using my fabulous Jetboil stove. Even with that we started to get a bit chilled as we finished lunch. We packed up and got hiking again, but when I looked at DeLee her lips were blue. I checked her frequently over the next few minutes until her lips turned pink again.
Shortly after her lips turned pink, her lunch turned against her. She held it down, but she felt awful. Her steps slowed. She still walked, but I was stopping and waiting for her frequently. Within less than a mile, she wasn't generating enough heat to stay warm and became hypothermic. The trail crosses Skyline drive frequently where we were, so at the next road crossing we stopped. We both dug into our packs for fleece to put on, and we stuck our thumbs out. German tourists stopped and offered us a ride. We had cars stationed in both directions, so we didn't care which way they were going. (Weirdly, this is the second time that German tourists have rescued me in Shenandoah. Another couple gave me and Mel a ride when I hurt my foot a decade or more ago.)
Back at Eddy, my car, we turned around and drove back to DeLee's car. I was starting to run low on gas, so we stopped at Loft Mountain Wayside for gas and hot chocolate. Then we headed out of the park, looking for a motel. DeLee was still feeling shaky and wasn't up to driving the several hours home.
In Harrisonburg, we checked into a motel. I was ravenous. DeLee only wanted a hot shower and a nap. I read the literature about local restaurants, but soon the call of a soft bed overrode my stomach. I fell asleep too.
After a couple of hours of rest, DeLee was feeling a lot better. The nap didn't hurt me any, either. We got up and drove over to the Outback Steakhouse, where we had delicious food. Our server turned out to be from DC, so it was fun to chat with him. I brought D-Ribose to dinner with me for both me and DeLee, to help with after-hike soreness.
So our two night trip turned into a one night trip, but one that avoided potentially serious hypothermia in really dangerous conditions. It was about 40 and raining when we left the park. It was likely 30 degrees that night. Had we kept going DeLee would have been in deep trouble, and the likelihood is that I would have been hypothermic as well. Instead, we met some nice people, had a delicious dinner, and slept at a nice motel. That's better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick.
Although I wasn't the one to get hypothermic this time, I usually am. I wasn't expecting it from DeLee, as she is usually more resistant to cold than me. I thought we had planned well enough to avoid hypothermia, but DeLee's icky feelings were something I hadn't accounted for. If the park had more water available in that section I would have set up camp for us and gotten her some hot food and beverages immediately rather than having her drive her car when she didn't feel well. But, we didn't have enough water so that wasn't a good option.
Oddly, I felt great for pretty much all of the trip, paternal medical drama aside. I was surprised at how good I felt. A little over a month ago I was still too sick to walk all the way around Greenbelt Park. Last week I walked around the park with a lightly loaded pack and still felt pretty tired. So why was I feeling so much energy this weekend? My stomach didn't complain, my legs didn't complain, and I felt like I had boundless energy. Today, the day after the hike, my legs have barely any of the typical post-hike ache. My shoulders don't hurt from the pack. I surprised JD by not wanting a nap. Weird, huh? My only supposition is it's the wheat, or lack thereof. When I was reading up on celiac disease, prior to my (negative) test, I read about an athlete who stopped eating wheat for other reasons and was surprised to find herself with faster racing times. She supposed that she had been held back by wheat, or its effects on her body, before without noticing. Perhaps the same is true for me.
I'm definitely still sensitive to the stuff, as I have accidentally "glutened" myself several times, and felt awful. Last time was earlier this week when I had sushi. I thought I was so smart with my wheat-free tamari sauce instead of soy sauce, but I was caught by either the artificial crab in the California roll, or the spicy sauce on the spicy tuna rolls. Within hours my guts hurt like they were being stabbed. If I'm able to go back on wheat at all, it looks like it will be a while. Sigh. But I'm learning to live without it, and learning what to avoid out in the restaurant world. (Turns out IHOP puts pancake mix in their eggs to make them fluffy. Who knew?)
Lactose isn't so bad. If I'm willing to swell up and look pregnant for a few hours, I can have some dairy. Which I did last night, on my loaded baked potato. I got my pregnant look on, and I enjoyed the hell out of that potato. But it only lasted a few hours and then I was back to normal. Being glutened takes two days to resolve - much less fun.
To sum up, and as notes to my future self: maybe skip the trip in bad hypothermia weather. But walkie talkies are fantastic.
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