[at-l] Ready's Journal : July 22 TD 40

[kahley7@ptd.net (kahley)]

What a day! It started in the wee hours of the morning. Unwaivering pain in 
my leg, hip and back. No position would offer relief. I tried to prop my 
leg on my pack, but couldn't get enough slack in the sleeping bag to reach it.
Poor Spur had already been awakened several times by my tossing and 
turning. I didn't have the heart to wake him again. After what seemed like 
a long time, I did wake him. I suggested we each use a separate bag, he the 
silk liner and I the down bag.
He agreed that that might work out. I waited for him to affect the switch, 
but discovered he'd fallen asleep again. I lay there for awhile longer, 
trying to decide what to do. When the pain got bad again, I woke him up 
again, repeating the suggeston, to which he responded incredulously, "You 
mean now!?" I almost laughed.
We made the change and I was finally able to rest my leg on my backpack, 
which I'd placed under the side of my sleeping area. It brought a modicum 
of relief and I was able to fall asleep for a brief time.
We awakened again for a nature call and I lay for some time on top of my 
bag - it was just too hot to be inside the bag. Spur was colder and opted 
to don his FroggTogg jacket.
I lay awake for most of the morning watching hikers leave the shelter area 
with determined steps. They were on their way to Harriman State Park for 
the Fat Festival.
I was miserable and despairing. Not only was I incapable of matching their 
goal of walking 17 miles by the afternoon, I was doubtful I could achieve 
the ten miles we'd planned for the day.
For the first time it dawned on me that this injury could be the end of the 
hike for me. I struggled with that notion and became thoroughly depressed.
My pattern has been to begin strong once I got going, but to feel pain 
after a few hours of hiking. It's relieved by resting, but by the end of 
the hiking day, the pain becomes quite severe and remains with me through 
supper and bedtime. I usually can fall asleep, but in the early morning 
hours, the pain resurfaces with a vengeance. I was eager to start hiking; 
it was the only chance to get some respite from the pain.
Spur stirred to watch each hiker as he/she passed by our tent, but each 
time, his head returned to his pillow with a great sigh and then he was 
sleeping soundly again. Clearly he needed more sleep. I waited. Last night, 
we'd set the alarm for 6:00 AM. I could wait, I decided.
Spur finally stirred around 7:00 AM and was up and out quickly. We were 
both silent as we went through our routines. My revelations about the 
possibility of having to end the hike had me very depressed and tearful; he 
seemed down, too.
When we finally did speak, he revealed that he was feeling resentment about 
having to sacrifice the sleeping bag last night. He'd been cold and 
uncomfortable and saw no merit to having to leave the bag.
As we talked about it, we learned much about what had happened and how each 
had perceived it. Since I had been feeling hot, I'd assumed Spur had been 
even more so; I usually sleep much colder than he does. In fact, he said 
that it had been cold at the time. We reasoned that perhaps dealing with 
the pain had made me feel warmer than I usually would feel. We came to 
understand that Spur had never been as fully awake as I'd thought and that 
I need to be more persistent in waking him.
It was good to have cleared the air on all this, but I still sensed 
tension. Throughout the morning, the tension persisted. The leg pain was 
becoming the focal point of the hike and it was severly diminishing both 
our enjoyment of the hiking and our confidence in having a successful 
thruhike together. I was feeling pretty low.
We hiked slowly and talked about options. He could hike solo for a period 
of time. There are sections which I'd already hiked, all of Harriman and 
from Fahnstock to Falls Village, for examples.
If I rested while he hiked these sections, I could make them up later - 
assuming I healed sufficiently and managed the rest of the way to Katahdin. 
I could pick up these sections, along with the 309 to Wind Gap and south 
from Waynesboro, to complete a thruhike.
Failing to summit Katahdin, I will still have amassed a significant portion 
of the Trail and would be well on my way to a successful section hike. We 
agreed that the only way any of these options would be possible is if I can 
get sufficient healng, which means: rest!
As we walked near Fitzgerald Falls, it struck us that perhaps we could 
switch packs and see if that would help. Spur took the dense, heavy items 
for the smaller pack I'd been carrying, while I took the bulky but lighter 
items for his larger volume pack. We set off and I noticed significant 
improvement! Our
spirits lifted cautiously.
We hiked on and the pain in my leg continued to abate. The trading of packs 
was a great success. The larger pack, now carryig a very light load, rode 
well on my back. I noticed immediatey that the irritating pressure on my 
lower back was completely absent.
We were hiking along Mombasha High Point when we ran into Running Water, 
who'd thru'd in '98. She was looking for thruhikers who wanted a lift to 
the Fat Fest event; did we want to go? She assured us that getting a ride 
back to this section of trail could be easily arranged.
By now it was lunchtime anyway. Our choices were: have bagels and peanut 
butter or enjoy a feast and lots of good company? We jumped at the chance!
Within 20 minutes we were at the Tiorati Picnic area, plates - piled high 
with food - thrust at us by NightEyes and his family and friends.
They were truly the most gracious and generous hosts we could ever have 
imagined. Each time a hiker approached, there was a huge commotion to fetch 
them this and to offer them that. They were genuinely excited every time 
someone new arrived. What a great party!
Each of the hikers there or arriving after us was shocked to see us there. 
They'd all left ahead of us and all knew that we'd been hiking too slowly 
to have passed them. They were delighted for us that we'd been the 
beneficiaries of such wonderful magic!
Trish and Eric, Tommy and Barry, BamBam, Star Gazer, and Maineiac were 
there, along with Angry Jack and Lollipop who we met for the first time.
We ate, talked, laughed, and ate some more. Night Eye's uncle, Nasir, 
ferried us cheerfully back to West Mombasha Road and we were back on the 
Trail by 3:00, our spirits greatly lifted.
We hiked strongly. This section of trail goes up and over several ridges, 
most along boulders and rock scrambles. I love this kind of hiking! 
Although slow, hand-over-hand climbing and steep rock-stepping descents are 
fun, challenging, and best of all, don't cause pain in my leg!
We reached the final descent to Route 17 at 5:20 PM. The profile map showed 
that this would be a steep and difficult down. Spur had insisted earlier in 
the day that he would carry his pack down and return to carry mine down for 
me, while I would descend without a pack. Our hope would be that the 
pattern of pain during the last hour or so of the hike, especially 
following descents, would be minimized.
Fortified by the absence of pain using this new pack and seeing that the 
descent began with nearly vertical rock scrambling, I wanted to continue - 
pack and all, at least until the downs changed to the lesser-graded slopes, 
which ironically are more problematic for me. Spur was displeased but relented.
Spur descended ahead of me; I followed him after a brief rest. I descended 
two sheer sections before the terrain changed and I decided that it was 
time to coninue on without the pack. Spur passed me on his way up to get my 
pack where I'd left it on the trail. I slowly continued down, sans pack, 
passing the spot where he'd left his pack, well short of the road. I 
followed slowly and carefully behind, as Spur easily carried his pack on 
his back and my pack in his hand!
By the time I'd reached Route 17, Spur was already at the phone across from 
the trailhead. He returned to tell me that we had reservatiobs at the 
Tuxedo Motel for tonight and for Bear Mountain Inn for the following night; 
he'd also called to arrange a shuttle for me to get to the Inn. Amazing!
We put our thumbs in he air and had not one, but two cars, stop to offer us 
a lift. We accepted a ride from Labby, a dayhiker who'd been out with his 
Chocolate Lab. The two miles to the motel went by quickly and pleasantly.
After showering, and laundering our clothes in the sink, we walked down to 
the Red Apple Rest restaurant for supper.
At the restaurant we talked about the day. Spur was still quite upset about 
my insistence on carrying my pack down the final descent. He felt I'd 
reneged on an earlier agreement and by doing so, had further jeopardized 
the success of our thruhike. I think he was only partially convinced that 
the new pack, and the terrain I'd selected to walk, had made the decision a 
sound one for me. I promised to make more conservative and safe decisions 
in the future.
What I learned most from our talk was that the buoyant feelings produced by 
the day's events are extremely tenuous. We are cautiously optimistic about 
the success of this hike, and our sensibiities about it very fragile.
We discussed overnighting my own pack from Atlanta to us at the Inn versus 
keeping the current pack situation. That is, I carry his and he carry mine. 
For this to occur, he'd need to be certain that he could mend my pack - the 
support structure keeps breaking off.
This is the same pack that had seen him from Pearisburg to New Brunswick, 
Canada last year. He loves the way this pack carrries. After tinkering with 
it for an hour he seemed to have it working fine. Looks like we each will 
have packs we love as we hike onward, he tomorrow and me the day after.



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