Post-Injury

The faithful day I’ve been waiting for with anticipation and a bit of fear has come. It’s the day the friends I’ve been hiking with come into town. The plan in motion is to wait in Mammoth for the group, and hopefully by 112 miles missed and ten days of watching Arrested Development, my sprained knee will be healed enough to hike on with the crew. I met online with a physical therapist who lives the van life traveling around the PCT to help injured hikers. She gave me a workout routine to strengthen my hips and knees. Within a day, I healed faster than the week beforehand. I was mostly comfortable walking around town but that doesn’t translate to trail. So I feel close to being healed enough to take trail on, but I don’t believe that can be tomorrow and in a terrain difficult section.

The Low Down

If I do go back on trail, it will be slower than normal, and I won’t be able to do as many miles. So the group would need to agree on taking on a slower pace. I don’t want to feel like their responsibility; they are my friends, but I feel weird asking them to alter their hike so I can continue. The terrain up ahead entails climbs over thousands of feet still covered in snow, many blow-down trees to climb over under or bushwack around, and stream crossing after stream crossing; it’s not the section of trail I would be comfortable doing solo. Having sturdy legs is basically a requirement. I will lay out how I’m feeling for the boys and my alternative options if I am not to continue on trail at Mammoth and hear what they think or are willing to do. The physiotherapist said it’s risky, but at the bare minimum, I should have no limp and full rotation mobility of my knee. As of this day, I can just hardly get my knee to my butt and it does hurt to do this, but l got no limp.

Seven hikers are coming into town, so I get a nice Air Bnb for all of us to share. After staying in hostels for ten days, having a house to myself was something I didn’t know I craved. I took a bath and curled my hair and sat on a couch just in my underwear, it was a small privilege I haven’t had since October! Then I wait for the smelly tired dirty seven dwarfs to show up. I was lucky to hear that the three boys I’ve been hiking with are willing to go 12 miles a day on average with me. Beta said he will walk at least 40 miles to a Yosemite ranger station because his father has friends who work there, and if I need to bail, I can have a way out there.

I think I should at least take a stab at going back on the trail. I would regret not trying and not figuring out what I’m capable of.

 

The Stab

Well, we all get a ride from two forest Rangers (also hooked up from Betas father) and I embark on what will be the hardest section for me.

Slipping on snow is the last thing I want to happen since it could strain my knee in the wrong way, every step of snow was diligent and sure-footed. I was holding together with KT tape which worked well the first time around but afterward, every piece would peel off my skin within 30 minutes of walking. So walking over snow was slow but after the first two days on trail, we crossed into Yosemite, and the snow was virtually gone. Just about one to three miles a day involved walking on snow, but stream crossings were constant. Some days we walked over 16 streams where you just will lose your mind if you take off your shoes for each crossing, so most people stomp through socks shoes and all. Some streams were swift enough that we crossed as a team, but most days there would either be a tree down or shallow enough just to trek across.

I struggled to let go of my hike. I had to be comfortable that I don’t get to determine how far I should go or how fast I can go, or when I want to stop. I had to listen to my body more than ever and do whatever my knee needed. It wasn’t the type of hike where I feel like I can push further or through pain. The boys all walked faster than me. Runway would be jumping into streams, walking in sandals, waiting at a view taking his sweet comfortable time while I was huffing, puffing, and occasionally telling myself not to cry. Trying to not worry about being the weakest link was difficult, it crushes my morale and confidence a bit.

Overall, I was so grateful every day to be back out there, I missed trail so much! Things could have turned out with me having a plane ticket back home. Luckily, I was able to persevere through mostly tolerable pain, and say I’ve now hiked over a month on an injured knee safely. So I might have never made it all the way through the Sierra, but I tested my strength in a whole new way many and I’m immensely proud of myself.