You are one inspiring guy Dave! How amazing that you are diving into this adventure. Bob and I wish you a safe, adventurous, exciting journey. Looking forward to your updates and to sharing an awesome bottle of wine when you return. HAPPY TRAILS! Lisa and Bob Ackerly
Even with some Motrin on board I didn’t sleep well last night. Between the left knee throbbing, and the toes on my right foot hurting, along with a bear rumiging through camp it was a restless night. I heard Meander pack up camp, and leave at 5:30 am. I tried to sleep in some more, and got up at about 7:00 am. Knowing it was 10 miles to Hearts Pass parking area and almost all up hill, and worried that Meander would have to wait for me, I just had a cliff bar, and some coffee for breakfast, did my morning routine, packed-up and hit the trail. Another beautiful day, with temps higher than they had been. I caught a quick pic of this little guy scurrying across the trail! Thankful that it was uphill most of the way, and my injured left leg could do some of the heavy lifting, I caught up with Meander at about the 8 mile mark. We took a water and smack break, and then he told me what his car looked like, and said he would catch up with me ther...
Said goodby to my Mountain Goat friend. I felt kind of bad, because he seemed really lonely out there, but I had miles to cover, so I finished my MH Granola with Blueberries packed up, and started my trek back toward Hearts Pass. It was another beautiful day, and I was looking forward to getting back to a more manageable trail. And then!!! While scrambling across one of the rock slide areas I had successfully passed on the way in, my footing slipped, and I twisted my knee, and then slammed it down hard on a large rock. It was a LONG way down, so the alternative would have been much worse. I immediately knew it wasn’t good, because it was that kind of pain that makes you immediately a little nauseous! In that instant I thought about the fact that it had now been more than two days since I had seen anyone, except my Mountain Goat Buddy, and how fortunate I was to have my Garmin InReach Satalite Comunicator with the SOS Rescue button on ...
With a day off the trail in Mazama, my hope was that with some ice and rest my knee would have improved, and I could have resumed my journey. After a day off, the knee was still very painful to use for downhill trekking, so not wanting to cause further injury to my knee by pushing it, I decided a full medical evaluation was the best course of action. With options limited for medical evaluation up in Mazama WA, I would have had to go to Seattle, or Spokane for any real care, so I decided to return home to be evaluated. After a drive to Wenatchee with an UBER type service in Mazama, and a flight from there to Seattle, and Seattle home, I arrived in Phoenix the evening of July 30. I was able to get into Urgent Care, and they did a full exam with X-Ray's of my knee. Good News Bad News... Good news was there was no bone damage or chips, but bad news... there was a significant amount of fluid built up under the knee. Unsure as to why the fluid b...
That box has all the basics. Wish you well on this venture Dave.
ReplyDeleteYou are one inspiring guy Dave! How amazing that you are diving into this adventure. Bob and I wish you a safe, adventurous, exciting journey. Looking forward to your updates and to sharing an awesome bottle of wine when you return. HAPPY TRAILS!
ReplyDeleteLisa and Bob Ackerly
Go get 'em, Dave! Safe travels!
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