Day 60 – Dismal Falls

After a fun night of playing stump and doodling in the shelter log book, I had volunteered to get water for my tramily. I put on an empty pack filled with empty water bladders and bottles, and returned from the water source up a rather long and steep hill with 22lbs of water for my friends. I decided that I earned at least 2 favors that night, which I will cash in probably at another long water carry.

Unfortunately, a local whip-poor-will was excited to be alive at midnight, and kept me and some of the others up past our bedtime. The sleep was not the best that night, and we all rolled out of camp a bit slower than usual. The extended tramily planned to camp at Dismal Falls tonight, and I decided to join them while Fail and Gaslight chose to push on to a campsite that would put them closer to the next hostel, motivated by the forecast of rain in the night and next morning.

The hike was slow and painful after the poor sleep, and generally uneventful. I pushed myself a bit too hard getting up a hill too fast with the motivation to get to the falls before rain was supposed to start. All for a good cause, of course, because a waterfall and river to splash in is always more fun in the sun.

I ran into Mr Cheese taking a rest by the bridge, and we continued on together to the river, where the extended tramily was hanging out and dipping into the river already.

A few people were setting up tents across the river, and in his journey to join them, Mr Cheese took a tumble, dropping his shoes he was carrying, his poles, and dunking his pack in the water all at once. Luckily for him, I was already dipping into the river myself and was able to splash downstream and save his shoes from the waterfall. One of his poles actually went over the falls and had to be rescued by some guys who were fishing down below! He was also smart to be using a trash bag liner that saved his gear from the water, so all was well in the end.

The next surprise of the night was a happier one. The extended tramily had packed out hot dogs and s’mores materials all the way from the Dollar General, and generously offered them to all of us camping at the site. I would never have thought to pack out things like hot dogs and ketchup and buns, but it made the hike feel like a family camping trip instead of the thruhiking slog. It was so fun to mix things up and actually cook on a campfire. If one thing is true about the extended tramily, it’s that they know how to have a good time.

Eating around the campfire, laughing and singing, generally having a great evening – it all came to an abrupt halt when we heard some bad news. Lo-Fi had just thrown up.

We had heard from other hikers and even in comments on FarOut, Noro was popping up in the area. Everyone around the campfire froze, trying to think about how much contact we had with Lo-Fi and with each other. In all likelihood, if one of us had it, we could all have it. The dinner party wrapped up as we tried to separate ourselves in a desperate attempt to quarantine Lo-Fi and keep ourselves safe. After a few minutes of that, we instead focused on staying calm and making sure Lo-Fi was okay to sleep through the night at camp or figure out if we needed to get him out and to a hotel to recover somewhere he could quarantine.

Lo-Fi revealed that he had eaten some carrots that had possibly gone bad, and he was only throwing up. After an hour of his body rejecting the carrots he had eaten in the afternoon, he seemed okay, and we all started to relax just a little.

The next morning…

It was not noro. Lo-Fi had a rough night of poor sleep from consequences of his past-due carrots, but he had not experienced any further symptoms. We waited for him to wake up, then made him a breakfast essentials (basically fortefied milk powder in water) so he could get a few calories in while we figured out what to do.

Taking the trail back would be about 2 miles to the road, but the waterfall was in fact just down the hill from a gravel road that would be a quicker walk out to where we may have phone service. I volunteered to take his pack across the river and escort him to the gas station at the end of the road. For me, this felt like a way to give back and encourage my fellow hiker who was going through something extremely similar to what I went through back at the NOC.

The biggest difference was that when I got sick, I wasn’t at camp, I was miles up a hill, I didn’t have any friends nearby, and I didn’t know what to do. This time, I felt prepared and able to help, and Lo-Fi was surrounded by friends. Plus, we were close to the road where we could easily get help.

It was actually very easy to get him to the gas station with the help of a friendly hitch, and we used his Garmin to contact a shuttle driver since we still didn’t have any phone service to text. He was able to get a ride to a motel in Pearisburg where he could rest and recover, and the rest of us were able to hike on down the trail knowing he would be ok.

 

Note: it’s been a few days since this story occured, and I’m happy to report we are 100% confident it wasn’t noro, in case anyone was still concerned. All of us are totally healthy as I write this, and Lo-Fi is still recovering slowly his strength, but he is overall fine. Lesson learned: don’t pack out carrots, or if you do, don’t eat them after carrying them in your pack for a week! On the other hand, hot dogs seem to be ok after a day and a half in a pack, especially if you roast them over a campfire.