Pinhoti Trail Days 23-26

Miles Hiked: 13 

Day 23: 13 miles

This morning when I woke up I still felt like complete crap. I had no appetite but knew that I needed to eat. Last night I woke up in the middle of the night and threw up, so it was like I hadn’t eaten anything in a day. And I was certainly feeling it. I had no energy whatsoever.

There were 13 miles left to get to Dalton, GA and my main focus was getting there so that I could rest. The miles were slow going. Any uphill, even mild, felt unbelievably hard. I had nothing in the tank. I had to take breaks every few miles and was constantly stopped to catch my breath on uphill portions. Climbs that ordinarily would have been so easy for me.

But by the grace of god I got to Dalton around 2pm. I checked into the Days Inn and proceeded to lay in a bath for hours. Then I laid in bed for hours. I had zero energy.

Eventually I gathered the strength to walk to the grocery store for soup and crackers. Then I spent the rest of the night just trying to feel better.

Day 24: zero miles

Today I had originally planned to slack pack, but that certainly wasn’t going to happen. Instead I laid low all day. I still felt so crummy. I managed to eat a bit and as the day went on I thought I was getting better. I even joined everyone for dinner that night. I got cocky too and ate a lot because I felt up to it.

But later on in the evening I felt awful once more. I was sick again which I just knew was a terrible sign. And as the night went on I knew I wasn’t going to be able to hike out tomorrow as planned. I’d have to take another day.

Day 25: zero miles

Once again today I was supposed to slack pack, but instead took a zero to rest. I felt so weak all day. Nails and Jinx came by my room to say their goodbyes before they both hiked out. It was so sad to hang behind while my tramily of 3 weeks hiked on. I hope to see those guys again down the road somewhere. Just maybe not on the Pinhoti Trail.

I definitely had ups and downs throughout the day but I still had zero appetite. To go from hiker hunger to fasting in a matter of days was a complete shock to my body. I spent the whole day doing nothing and by the end I only felt a slight bit better. It was really disheartening honestly. I was in tears at a couple points during the day. To be feeling so strong and then so weak out of the blue was a total mind f’. I had my trail legs and hiker hunger, and now I’m curled up in a ball too sick to hike.

 Day 26: zero miles

This morning I had coordinated a ride with two other hikers Mule and 5 Pounds to once again attempt this slack pack, but still felt terrible. So I said goodbye to them instead and decided to finally go to the ER in town. This was taking way too long to pass and the symptoms were all over the board.

The doctor wound up tentatively diagnosing me with Lyme and starting me on antibiotics. But it would be days before any results came back. Though almost immediately after the first dose I began to feel better! I was able to eat the biggest meal in days and actually had hope that I may hike out tomorrow. I don’t care whether it was Lyme or something else. All that mattered was that the antibiotics were working.

By the end of the night I felt hopeful that I’d be able to hike out tomorrow. I ate a bunch of food and felt so much better. Finally after 4 days of feeling like shit it was looking like I was going to make a recovery.