Yesterday we optimistically made a run to REI to get some gear–a couple of titanium tarp stakes, and some sort of chemical water treatment for “iffy” water.   But they had no titanium stakes.   Bummer!   I looked and looked at the water treatment stuff and finally decided to go with the chlorine based one, since it said it DOES kill giardia and crypto, whereas iodine might not.   The only problem is the mysterious business in the directions about how the “iffy” water should be in an opaque bottle, or in the dark.  What is with that?   I decided that probably burying the bottle deep in my pack for the 4 hours it takes to “work” should do the trick.   I hope.

The stakes were another matter.   We had to go home and order some online.   So now we are waiting for them to arrive.   Somehow, despite Bill’s best efforts to keep track of our tarp stakes, he kept losing them.   In 2005, we made it the whole way without losing a stake.   I don’t know what is going on here this time???   But I did decide that from this point on, whenever we set up the tarp, I am personally going to be keeping track of stakes!   We have a sort of “division of labor” when it comes to setting up and taking down our camp, and the tarp has always been Bill’s responsibility.

I was also worried about our resupply boxes that had already been sent to Mammoth Lakes and Tuolemne Meadows and Echo Lake.   So I called to find out if they will hold the boxes even if we don’t show up before the 30-day hold limit.   The guy at the post office in Mammoth Lake was a total kick!   “Don’t worry about your box,” he said.  “If it says PCT HIKER on it, we will hold it till you get here–UNLESS it starts to smell.   Then we send it back!”   Whew, that was good news!   And the lady at Echo Lake said “Don’t worry about your box–we will hold it till we close after Labor Day.”   So that just leaves Tuolemne Meadows.   They are not answering their phone, so I’m guessing they are not open yet??

We cannot wait to get back to the PCT!

Bill “White Beard” went through the colonoscopy thing this morning, and they didn’t find any real problems.   Whew!   Seems that the bleeding problem he was dealing with was not caused by giardia/whatever, but was a couple of hemorrhoids (which he already knew about).   So he has decided to get those fixed up, then we’ll return to the PCT.   Hooray!   Can’t wait to get back!  We are also stuffing ourselves with anything “probiotic” to try to get our poor messed-over innards back to normal.

Yesterday I went on a 2 1/2 hour hike with “half weight” in my pack, and walking at full speed.   I was fine.  Man, does it feel good to be well again!    Meanwhile, I have been able to read other hiker’s journals.  When we are at a resupply or trail angel’s place,  we try to be very polite and not hog the computers/Internet, so we keep any computer use very brief.   It is fun to be able to just read and not feel rude about being a computer hog.

We also have concluded that starting at the kickoff was not a good idea.   It was totally fun to be there and see everybody, but it was WAY, WAY too early.   It is a better idea to first figure out which day you want to depart from Kennedy Meadows, then based on an average daily mileage, calculate backwards from there to find the ideal start date.   Actually, when we hiked the PCT in 2005,  we had not yet even reached Tehachapi at this point in June.

We sometimes speculate as to “why?” we’ve had this temporary setback, and it could be many, many different reasons.    I’m the kind of person who LIKES “spoilers”.   I want to know what happens in the end, so I can enjoy the process of getting there.   (Yes, I know that’s weird, OK, but that’s me!)   So I am out of my comfort zone on this delay,  but Bill, who enjoys adventures and NOT knowing what will happen, is having fun with it.    Well, eventually, we will know what’s going on…..in the meantime,  the sun is shining in the Sierras, the snow is melting, hikers are starting to get through (hopefully!) and soon we will be back there, too!

The doctor sent Bill to a specialist, and the conclusion was that yes,  his problem was due to giardia.   Just to make absolutely sure, though, they want Bill to have a colonoscopy.  Yuck.   Bill is NOT a happy camper at the prospect, but he will go through with it (on Tuesday).

All that aside, though, we are both feeling MUCH better now.   We still feel tired more easily, but we are going hiking every day around our area, including climbing hills.   Yesterday, I put my pack on with a bit of weight in it, and had no problem going for a 2 hour hike.   We are talking about when to return to the trail, and it’s looking like we’ll probably head back to Tehachapi just after the middle of June.  Weather reports on the Sierras sound like the snow is melting OK now.

Reading other hikers’ journals is an option now that we are home, and I discovered that a number of other thruhikers ALSO arrived in Tehachapi sick with giardia-type symptoms.   Many of them just holed up in Tehachapi to wait till they felt better.  We were very blessed to have the Rosander family’s help, plus the option of going home to rest for a couple of weeks.   We have been trying to figure out where we might have picked up “bad water” and the conclusion is it had to be on the detour before Tehachapi.   I suspect it was Aliso Creek, myself.   Some of the hikers were baffled as to how they could have gotten sick.   “I filtered every drop of water I drank,” was one guy’s comment.  

The only frustration I have right now is I have not been able to find a trail journal from a hiker who has RECENTLY made it even as far as Forester Pass.  Bill hikes the John Muir Trail every year in mid-late June and he figures all will be doable, but cautious me, I would like to have a better idea what conditions might be like.  Our plan right now is to take 9 days of food (which is the most we can comfortably carry) and go as far as we can,  hopefully Muir Trail Ranch, anyway.   We are prepared to do as some hikers did in 2005, which is to come into MTR “on fumes”, without having anything to eat for a day or so before they got there.   In 2005, somebody (I think it was MTR) put out a FOOD cache on the PCT about a day or so’s hike before MTR so desperate hikers could have something to eat.   It was a godsend to the early season thruhikers that year.

I (Monty) am feeling much better this morning–stronger and a lot closer to “normal.”   I went for a walk after breakfast and could walk at a normal pace instead of walking like a snail.   Bill is still having problems, though, including some bleeding.   When I realized how bad it was,  I more or less put my foot down and told him  “You are going to the doctor TODAY!” got the phone,  dialed the number, and handed it to him.  

We will see what the doctor has to say–probably he’ll order tests, and then we wait some more.

In a very unexpected turn of  events, we are back home in Petaluma for a couple of weeks, trying to recover from what appears to be some sort of giardia/whatever that we must have picked up from a contaminated water source  back before Agua Dulce somewhere.    Neither of us are what you would call horrendously sick, but we both were feeling nauseous, with no appetite and losing strength.    Not a good combination for taking on the big snows of the High Sierra this year!  Nor did we want to risk spreading the whatever-it-is to other hikers.

We are over-the-top grateful for the AWESOME  love ‘n care we received from the Rosander family, trail angels in Tehachapi, with whom we’d been staying for the past several days,  as we tried to figure out what was wrong with us and decide what to do.   On Sunday,  Christy Rosander basically gave up most of her day to drive us to an urgent care place in Bakersfield, then to a pharmacy for medicine.  

We are definitely on the mend now!   Both appetite and strength are returning. 

And when we return to the PCT (soon, we hope!) we will (sigh) be toting a water filter!