Taking Care

After spending a relaxing night in a Big Bear hotel where I had a jacuzzi bathtub in my room, I was feeling refreshed and ready to move on. I nearo-ed (nearly zero miles) out of Big Bear City and set up camp just in time to be sheltered from the rain/hail/thunder/lightening storm. I woke up the next morning feeling like I was on top of the world and I hiked 16 miles by 1:00 in the afternoon, where I met up with some friends I had been hiking with before. Since they had camped a bit farther than me, they wanted to keep walking and I wanted to stay with them, so I ended up going almost 24 miles, the farthest I've ever hiked in one day. By the time we got to camp, I was so toasted, but proud of myself for such an accomplishment. We got an early start the next morning so that we could get to some hot springs that were 4 miles down the trail and soak our feet for a while. When we arrived we were greeted by some hikers that had been there for three days and were leaving only because they were running out of food. Not wanting to get sucked in, we bounced right out of there after only an hour and a half. I'm not sure if the heat was getting to me or what was happening, but as we descended down the mountain I began to think of my life in the past few years and everything that has brought me to where I am now and I was overcome with emotion and just started to cry. By the time I got to the bottom of the hill, the tears had mostly subsided, but I was feeling a little drained. It was getting extremely hot, and so after a few miles we were searching for a nice shady spot to take a siesta when we suddenly stumbled upon a miracle! Some Trail Angels had set up a hot dog and rootbeer float feast for hikers wanting to wait out the midday heat. We stopped to rest, intending to take off sooner than later, and we ended up spending three hours there because it was unbearably hot and there was no way we could hike in the beating sun. Others hikers also trickled in while we were there, and around 4:00 pm we all decided it was time to hike out, even though it was still quite hot. We immediately started climbing and I was not feeling so great. All of a sudden I couldn't breathe very well, my heart rate skyrocketed, and I began to panic. I found some shade and one of the friends I was hiking with asked if I was okay. All I could do was sort of shake my head,"No," because I knew I would start to cry if I tried to speak, and I was trying really hard not to. A few other hikers stopped, all wondering if I was okay, and I finally had to respond, and the tears just flowed as I explained to them what was happening. Luckily, two of the guys who were there with me were Wilderness First Responders, so they helped me sit down and relax and put a wet bandana around my neck. As we sat there, they calmed me down and one of them pulled out his ukelele and started strumming to try and distract me. After about 20 minutes, I felt like I still wouldn't be able to go on anymore and I made the decision to walk back to the Trail Angels and see if I could get a ride into town. On the way back, I cried some more because I was so bummed to have to be leaving the trail. One of the Angels agreed to drive me into Wrightwood (my next resupply stop), where I would take a couple days off and wait for the rest of the group to hike in. Once there, I immediately called home and cried some more on the phone while talking with my parents, but after a while I realized I had made the best decision I could have in a bad situation. I needed to take care of myself first and foremost. Also, I had just experienced the most amazing Trail Magic ever. These people that I had barely known for a few hours had done this beautiful thing and had helped me and become my family. It had been a good bad experience and it made me realize that everyone on the trail has this extremely intimate connection because we are all going through the same shitty stuff, and so we all become really close really quickly. And I now know that the trail, and my fellow hikers, will always provide and always have my back.

I spent three days in Wrightwood (basically laying in bed the entire time) to rest and rejuvenate, and by the time my hiking group rolled into town, I was good to go. My body definitely still felt like it was recuperating, so I decided to take things easy on my way to Agua Dulce and only go 15-18 miles per day, so as not to push myself past the point of no return.

As I near my 1-month marker, I look forward to a day off in Agua Dulce at a Trail Angel's house and then some cooler night hiking on my way into the desert. And then on to the Sierras!