50 Miles—Day 2/3

Monday night was flat out miserable, I went to bed then woke up at 1am hurting and restless thinking about all the things I might have done wrong. Taking too much gear, wrong shoes, untried gear, not carving enough time out of my work/family/church schedule to properly build up my level of fitness. There's a lot of unpleasant thoughts to think about when you're too sore to get up and do something. First among my thoughts was will the boys have the chance to finish the backpacking trip? You see, we started with 5 leaders, two of us could only stay till Wednesday, another two of us had to get off the trail at the end of Monday, and one leader well . . . that won't cut it. It was going to be hard to forgive myself if my failing robbed the boys of at least a chance to earn their 50 mile patch.

At some point I drifted back to sleep. Tuesday morning came, I hurt and was still sick to my stomach from the heat exhaustion, but a little less than Monday night. I mulled over the predicament with the boys, and thought about the itinerary for the rest of the week. Tuesday they would be going up the fifth water drainage and camp near the ridge. Wednesday they would hike down to Strawberry Res., canoe from Chaplin Point to the marina. Then spend the night at Daniel Summit Lodge. Thursday they would climb over Strawberry Ridge again and down to some private property in Hobble Creek Canyon. From there on Friday they would simply walk home.

Tuesday was a nogo for me, but the boys would have the leaders for Tuesday, if I caught a ride with the guy taking up the canoes I could be on the trail again and only have to have my sleeping bag and tent for one night, which meant I could stash my tent and sleeping bag at the private property and hike/canoe Wednesday, Thursday and Friday with a lighter pack. It would be a gamble if I could be back to hiking shape by Thursday. I started making calls, I made sure I could catch my ride, then I called the other leader to see if he wanted in. In calling around I found out that one of the boys who was having problems with his knee also had to go home Monday night.

So Wednesday morning found the three of us catching a ride back up to the mountains, pitting ourselves against a trail that had already kicked us off once, with a long shot that we might be ready to hike given one more day.

The reservoir was smooth and the morning clear.

Then it was on to the lodge. Where there was a very popular hot tub and pool.

All the boys were in high spirits, thankful for an easy day.

Little did we know that come Thursday everyone will have needed this chance to recuperate and regain their strength.