August 13th
Segment 8
We were up at 5 and hiking just after 6 as planned.
We immediately started to climb and climbed all morning. Today my breathing was more difficult, it felt really labored which I thought weird after so many days in, I had some ankle swelling that was improving. Both are signs of altitude sickness. Tolerable symptoms, something to be aware of and keep an eye on for improvement or decline. I just felt a little slower today. We passed Janet’s cabin, only accessable by the trail. It was a beautiful looking modern log cabin and is available for nightly rental.
We stopped at a beautiful creek and had breakfast in the sun and did some chores; brushing teeth, laundry (not in the creek but in a zip lock away from the fresh water), brushing hair, filtering water. Alicia caught up to us and hiked with us.
We summited Searle Pass at 12,044 ft then looked down into a new valley.
Then we hiked up to Elk Ridge our highest elevation today at 12,282 ft. and the rest of the day hiked down, first to Kokomo pass at 12,023 ft.
We were above tree line all morning and it was a beautiful day, blue skies with very little wind. We spent most of the rest of the day going down. Winding through valleys into the conifers and then the aspen. We went all he way down to the valley floor where we crossed a few dirt roads and passed by Camp Hale, an old military training base. It’s advised to stay on trail and not camp in this area because there are old land mines left behind. Coming down the mountains is really pounding my knees. I always prefer the uphill cimb even when it’s tough. I applied some KT tape hoping it would help. Jodie and are so equally matched, both of us even dealing with injuries. So we both try to be mindful of each other and we’re taking it pretty slow, we have to. I want to still do adventurous things as long as they don’t make it worse. I can no longer run but I can hike! I got tired of being limited by pain and a while back decided if I’m going hurt no matter what I do, I might as well do what I want! Not to complain, but hopefully to inspire others. If you don’t already know I have meniscal tears in both knees, I’ve dislocated both knee caps and my doctor recently found a bone spur on ultrasound. Before I came out here I found a really amazing doctor that does prolozone therapy. He injected ozone into my knees to promote tissue healing using an ultrasound guide technique. He also did something called shattering where he takes a small jack hammer for soft tissue and does a fascia release to my calves and lower thighs. Then, the most fun treatment – not, was needling muscle trigger points causing them to spasm until they released. A lot of the treatments obviously were painful but I feel have provided some improvement. The day after we slack packed segment 7 from Copper Mountain I thought for sure I wouldn’t be able to squat, a real problem in the woods, but amazing I was still able to squat down and get back up again! Walking sticks are great I use them to pull myself uphill and to push against the downhill and create more stability. Plus I’m hoping to not have T-Rex arms after all this hiking! Every night and every morning I reassess myself, how am I doing? Am I pushing too hard? Am I recovering? I try to always be mindful hiking and not get clumsy or misstep. We both are still waiting for the day when feel stronger, but currently we are still trudging along. Taking a lot of breaks and checking in with each other regularly. We did a lot today and more than 14 miles before 5:30!! We got to set up camp with plenty of daylight left. I opened up my food bag and everything was greasy and oily and smelled like vanilla, Rx almond butter had leaked everywhere! If I don’t clean this up right I’m going to smell really yummy for all the critters! I opted out of dinner and ate jerky, nuts and chocolate feeling tired and lazy. I’m not experiencing hiker-hunger yet and cooking and eating a full meal felt like a chore. Alicia camped with us again and we had a couple of visitors tonight, both camping here with us. Matt, a nature photographer from Durango. And Colton, a very young man hiking solo. I had met him a few days ago and today he seemed a little lost. I asked if he was camping here and told him we’re at Fiddler Creek and we’re still 4 miles from town. He thanked me and set up camp. He reported he had broken his power bank and his cell phone and GPS were out of batteries. I asked if I could text his family for him and let them know he’s ok. He said yes and his family was very grateful. He asked if we could wake him tomorrow since he didn’t have an alarm clock so he could get to town. Tomorrow is Leadville and another resupply box. Fingers crossed for a hot shower. Thankfully I have my little compressed pod wipes! Good night!
Jodie’s blog bikehikerepeat.com