Day 63- June 21st

This morning we left the river by 7:15am. My stomach was not feeling as good as I'd hoped it would, and I sill felt very low energy, but we had just taken a zero and were antsy to leave. I ate a couple items in the morning with no rejection from my stomach.

After about an hour of climbing, I took the strongest electrolyte packet that I had been given yesterday. This stuff was engineered by NASA for hardcore athletes. It has 78% of your daily value of sodium, and you need to dilute it with at least 16oz of water. The stuff didn't taste too bad, and heck, I needed to retain some hydration, so down it went!

We climbed up into some beautiful scenery today, we're finally getting some glimpses of some of the near-future peaks we'll be conquering. Also, there are finally more trees around than I can count! Huge trees! 

Tress that provide shade during all times of the day and even shade about a 1/4 of the trail! We're so used to having to crouch under medium sized shrubs in the desert for a little protection from the sun that this is a HUGE relief for me.

The climbing was so crazy today! We literally climbed up for 4 hours straight! Surprisingly my energy level stayed moderate for the most part. However, after miles of climbing, I HAD to stop and eat. 

According to our maps, we were pretty close to the top when we stopped to eat. I felt so low energy and knew I needed some food, so I made a huuuuge burrito with trail mix and peanut butter inside.

After getting over my food coma, we summited the climb and started down. My stomach began to hurt really really bad. Normally I feel energized after a big lunch, but today I felt very weak and dizzy and a little fuzzy all around. Even just having the hip belts around my waist as usual was causing a lot of pain.

By the time we got down to the next water source, I was in some serious pain. We had also miscalculated our water carry and didn't take into consideration our slow uphill pace and our long lunch break. So for the last 6 miles or so before the water I had less that 1/2 a liter.

Dehydrated and getting attacked by mosquitos, I laid there trying to feel better. Man, the mosquitos sure are intense! Anywhere with a hint of moisture or water is unsafe to stop or break at. I knew I was getting bit but I couldn't swat all of them away. Bourbon came over and gave me some anti acid reflux pills and also some Pepto Bismol pills that I took right away.

The nights camping spot and solid water source was under 3 miles away,  and it was only 4:00pm, so I pulled myself together and we started walking again.

Getting to the camp was such a struggle! I couldn't have my hip belt right around my waist at all. Unfortunately, because I didn't, my shoulders and back took all the dragging weight and ended up hurting real bad.

I could barely help Claire with the tent as we got eaten alive by mosquitos. They were 100% worse here than at the last water source and the sun was lower which meant they were coming out to feast.

All I could do was lay miserably in the tent with zero energy while Claire went and filtered some water for us to cook some food. "Six" have me some ramen because all the food I have has a lot of nuts and things that are hard to digest with a weak stomach. 

Claire cooked from inside the tent while an angry swarm of mosquitos pummeled the netting. Every time she unzipped the door to stir or check on the food, 5 new mosquitos would get in. It was a massacre. 

When the ramen was done, I pathetically looked at it for a while and finally got down a few bites and drank some of the soup. I probably ate less than half of it, as my stomach would allow no more. Poor Claire finished the rest for me and then started to clean up the dishes and do other things that still needed to be done. I kept apologizing over and over because I felt so lame and not helpful. 

I laid on my side for a bit, as it was the only way I could lie without my stomach hurting. About 10 minutes later I decided to drink some water and try to arrange myself into my sleeping bag. I took a tiny sip, rotated my body to get comfy, and then had to run outside to start violently vomiting. 

I felt so horrible! Not only did Claire go through all the trouble to do all those things and cook for me, but then I go and throw it all up. I was a mess! My stomach did instantly feel a little better after that, so I went down to the water to filter us a few more liters of water and then went straight to bed.

We did 14.4 miles today, which isn't bad seeing that normally, when not hiking 14-20 miles a day, I would give my body 2-3 days to recover from the stomach flu or food poisoning. I'd east some saltine crackers and sip some 7-up until I could hold down food. But out here, I can't make a Safeway run and get those things. 

All I have to eat is hiker food. Extremely hard to digest hiker food. I am thinking that that's what happened today.. I started off ok, pushed myself way to hard up that hill and burned all my energy, and then overloaded my stomach with the trail mix burrito. That mixed with heat, dehydration, and hiking; well, here I am throwing up all my food again :( I learned my lesson and tomorrow I will take it easier and eat tortillas all day..

Thanks for reading!