Zeros & a Goodbye… - PCT 2024
July 17-19
We zeroed in Lone Pine. A budget motel that wasn't cost effective, unfortunately. I wouldn’t stay there again but I was happy to have my own room for a couple nights. The third night I shared with the group to cut costs since my tummy was feeling better but that’s problematic in itself. I like my own space.
I’m getting over being sick and injuring my back. I’ve noticed some serious shoulder/arm pain. I’m assuming it’s from my fall when I twisted when I went down. The littlest of things can cause the biggest impact. Between my back and my arm, I’m just really sore, I can barely move my arm, and I’m questioning my ability to hike with an even heavier pack (8 days of food in my bear can!) with a bad back and now bad arm. My back is slowly improving but I don’t know if that’s just the 800mg of ibuprofen I’m taking every six hours or the ability to sleep in a real bed.
Malcolm seems to be having trouble back home with the animals. I’m worried. I don’t know. Maybe the stress is causing more pain.
A bit disappointed with my group as they’re set to hike out on Sunday. I won’t hold them back obviously but I guess I’m just different in the sense I would have waited for them another couple days. We’ll see how I feel on Sunday morning. Hiking while recovering makes me nervous. If I re-injure myself, will that be it? What if it gets worse? What if I need a rescue? Guess I’m gun shy since my IT band injury.
We drove into Bishop to go shopping. I replaced my water filter, yet again, got a new CNOC that matches my new BeFree filter. Hoping this is the answer to my filter prayers. I also got a different pillow to hopefully lift my head a bit higher. We’ll see.
We went to the Lone Pine museum which was tiny and had a lot of bugs and other interesting artifacts from the area.
We’ve been eating a lot of yummy town food. Lone Pine has a great Chinese place, called Merry Go Round, that caters to gluten free. They cook everything from scratch and the gluten free fried items are coated in corn starch rather than wheat flour and are cooked separately from the gluten items. I’d eat there every day if I could! And I got a fortune! Hmm.
July 20
It’s Saturday evening and we are up at the base of Cottonwood Pass at Horseshoe Meadow campground. I wanted to give myself one more good night sleep in a hotel bed before this but again, met with resistance. I reluctantly agreed to come (not sure if that’s a good or bad thing yet), with the idea that I’ll take Wade’s truck back down to town in the morning if I don’t feel ready to hike out as he’s hiking out toward Mount Whitney with the group. I’ll just have it back to him here by Friday. If that’s the case, I’ll go to town, ship some stuff ahead and wait a couple days before hiking solo for the rest of it.
Wish I had a better zero and felt rested and recovered but being sick sucks! My pain level isn’t great. Really questioning this hiking thing… especially in this next section with Mount Whitney (the highest mountain in the lower 48) on the agenda.
July 21
Woke up in agony at 4am. Back and arm aren’t doing well. This is my cue to go see a doctor. I can’t hike like this. Feeling stressed and very sad.
I let the others know that I needed to go to urgent care. Wade gave me his truck keys and the group hiked on. Feeling sad they didn’t stick around to see what’s up but hey; hike your own hike.
Noon: Just saw the urgent care doctor. Took a bunch of X-rays. Nothing is broken! But unfortunately it doesn’t show tendons or ligaments. They don’t offer MRIs here so I’ll have to go home if I want that but it’s looking like rotator cuff tendinitis. Even the radiologist saw something of the sort on my shoulder X-ray. I have a sling for the week. Told to rest. Given Tramadol and told to continue with the ibuprofen.
Got a hotel room in Ridgecrest for a few nights; it’s cheaper than Lone Pine with a lot more amenities. Going to try to sort out some stuff.
July 22:
My pain is bad and I’m feeling a bit alone out here in California. Nothing like getting home sick when you’re injured. My body clearly doesn’t want to cooperate with my hike and I think it’s time to listen to it. I’m worried about my animals too. I don’t know. This just sucks.
I think I’m going to go home.
I am trying to soul search here and honestly, I’d wait around a week if the group didn’t ditch out, but there’s no guarantee that I’ll be able to hike in a week anyway so it makes sense they went ahead.
I was devastated last time I was injured but I feel a lot more numb this time around. Guess it is what it is.
July 23:
Decision is made. I’m going home. My back and arm are slowly improving though so that’s something I guess.
I spoke with my boss quickly and decided to jump on the opportunity to head out to Calgary. As much as I don’t want to go back to work right now…. I guess it’s time. I probably wouldn’t have made this decision if it weren’t for the project out in Calgary but if opportunity presents itself, I may as well take it.
If Calgary falls through I might change my mind about returning to work but I’ll deal with that if it happens.
I found a trail angel, Sergio, willing to pick me up at Cottonwood Pass trailhead so I am able to drop Wade’s truck off and get back to Ridgecrest. It’s two hours each way so you can’t even imagine how happy I am that I’m not stranded. $100 USD well spent, I guess.
I was starting to worry I’d need to wait for Wade to get off trail in a few days to ask for a ride back to Ridgecrest. And I didn’t want to hotel it longer than I needed to. It certainly isn’t cheap out here. Unnecessary hotels are a drag.
My trail angel is amazing. He was only able to pick me up after work at 10:30pm. I drove up the mountain earlier in the day so I could take sunset photos. He was late by an hour and I was starting to worry I’d be stranded but alas he showed, in the dark and at the start of the rain and I safely made my way back to Ridgecrest. The trail provides!!
July 24
I rented a car from Enterprise. I made my reservation online yesterday but when I showed up this morning they said they didn’t have any vehicles and I’d have to check other rental companies. I called around without any luck.
Enterprise insisted they couldn’t call my Canadian number due to their system not allowing international calls, so they weren’t able to let me know ahead of time. I had an email on file so I wish they’d have at least emailed. I was stuck at their office in a panic on how I’d make it to Los Angeles. Tears ensued but luckily the ladies found me a car, despite it being in need of service, so I can make it to LA.
I drove to LA in what felt like the quickest drive in the world. Back in the desert, passing so many of the places I had previously hiked. Backwards. This wasn’t supposed to happen. It’s frustrating. I’m mad. I’m upset. I’m happy in a way. The emotions are everything.
When I flew home in May, I was determined to get back out here. This time, it’s bittersweet because I know I’m done for the season, I’m not going to be making an effort to come back and I know this is it, for now at least. And it feels surreal. Like the past few months didn’t even really happen at all.
Los Angeles. Damn. Again. I hate this city. Traffic everywhere; although the drivers are better than Vancouver drivers so that’s something. It’s smoggy, busy, hot. Plastic. Not my cup of tea.
I barely slept last night since I didn’t get back to my hotel room until 1:30am. Had to be up early this morning. Going to grab Chick-fil-A for lunch and head to my hotel for an early bed.
July 25
Woke up early to grab the hotels free breakfast, fuel up my rental car and return it to LAX. Got to the airport, checked in, walked the thirty minutes to my gate and hung out watching planes take off. Had a great chat with Hunt, a LAX janitor, about the state of US politics now that Biden is no longer running against Trump. I’ll stay out of politics on this page but let’s just say that the amount of MAGA hats I’ve seen in the five months down in the US has been astonishing.
Goodbye for now PCT. It’s been a slice. I’ll try again in the future.
