Date: 2007-07-23
To: Sweet hike; sour lyme
Miles today: 0.0

My hiking on the Appalachian Trail this season came to an end on July 21st on Rt 103 in VT. All together I hiked over 1300 miles this summer. I saw the sunrise on Clingmans Dome, took moon lit walks on grassy balds, stood above the clouds on McAffee knob, and saw inspiring acts of kindness. I think what I ended up enjoying most was walking from town to town and eating ice cream. It seems a little weird and a little simple, but life on the trail and life in general just doesn't have to be that complicated. Yes, I think it's fair to say I had a blast hiking on the AT this year.Last night I found a bull¢s eye rash, and today I was diagnosed with Lyme. The bull¢s eye can appear weeks to months after the bite, and I found it on a spot I needed a mirror to see. Given the time frame of when I started to get sick, the doctors and I believe that I was bitten between May 10-12: before my hike began. The immediate question is how could I have let it go this long with out knowing, and how could I have done what I did with a Lyme infection. The reason I wasn't able to pick up on the fact that I had Lyme was that the symptoms are very similar to fatigue which I expected to a point, but if healthy thought I could overcome. I never really talked about it much in my journal because I was trying desperately to stay positive, but from the start something felt off. Day one I was tired, and felt a little under the weather but I dismissed that as being from driving all night. As I continued towards Damascus I began joint/muscle pain and likely a low grade fever, which I dismissed as being a result of striding wrong because of my blisters, and really averaging 24 miles into Damascus seemed like a lot to most people so I bought into the fact that I should be a little tired.When I entered Virginia I hit what I can only describe as a "wall." The kind of thing I hit around mile 21 when I ran marathons and the streets of DC, only far deeper within my body and joints, and of a far more lasting nature. It was a profound fatigue that is difficult to describe. I thought I could break through that wall; make it to the mid atlantics and everything would work out; but after every wall was another wall and they kept getting thicker. Even as the terrain got easier my body was becoming weaker at a faster pace and I began to realize that my body might not hold up all the way to Maine. It was during this time that I developed a severe fever. When I passed through Duncannon PA around day 44 it was 96 degrees. I grinded 15 miles that day, sitting out the hottest part of the day, and stopping around 3:30-4. I tried to night hike out of the shelter to avoid the heat, but made it less than 2 miles before I couldn't grind another inch. The next morning I was unable to pick my body off of the ground. I tried at least 5 times before I picked myself up and than nearly stumbled to the ground. I knew I would be unable to make it to Port Clinton without a stretcher so I knew that I was done in Duncannon, and hiked back. I took the blue blaze trail down and nearly camped on the side of the trail because I just didn't want to walk. When I arrived home I was walking like a 120 year old, couldn't touch my knees, and had a fever which was consistently at 102.8 and spiked over 103.I made a mistake in not going to the doctors, but I didn't see the rash at the time and thought I was going to be told "You over did it" again. And that was the last thing I wanted to hear again. It seems like every other person told me to "slow down and enjoy yourself." ("I came to hike, not to spend 5 days in Erwin, TN," DQ (a thru-hiker who's going to break 90 days). But I digress, I took some antibiotic I had sitting in my room because my legs were hurting real bad and I thought there might be an infection in them. When the fever dropped I went back out on the trail.I was connected from Springer to where RT 112 and RT 7 or maybe 4 connect in ct, so I jumped up there to try to finish out a 2000 miler, but I still wasn't healthy.I'm going to pause here to thank Tom in Dalton, Mass for being an awesome guy! He served me ice cream on a silver platter, slacked my over greylock and let me stay in his house for two nights with free dinners.So anyway I did have a great time on the 2nd section hike as well, but my body was never near 50% so I went real slowly, and I didn¢t think that was all it was cracked up to be. In fact I thought it got boring finishing before noon and zeroing in a shelter. Another plug here for the fine folks of bromley ski patrol. Awesome people! I felt the fever coming back and with my dad planning to visit on the 21 of July I called him in Manchester Center to let him know I'd be coming home. The last 3 days I did about 30 miles.The Mill River and VT 103 is a long way from Katadhin. It's near Rutland, VT, and it just south of Mt. Killington if that helps you place where I got off.Making it to Katadhin is a physical feat and a feat of focus and will. I never had any doubt that I had the will and focus to go all the way, but my body was never given a chance to see if it could do it. I'm glad I had the sense to get off. My greatest strength nearly became my fatal flaw. Lyme is not something I could will my way through.I¢ve hiked over 1700 miles of the AT. I¢ve hiked from Springer to the middle of VT and I¢ve got miles scattered in the north, and still the best hiking of the AT is yet to come, and that gives me a reason to keep hiking.In two weeks I¢m going to California with my family and in 3 weeks I¢m planning on climbing Mt. Rainier. For all who were rooting me on and praying for me, thank you. It¢s been an amazing odyssey and I¢m glad I could share it with you.What I¢ve taken from all this is simple, the most important thing usually are, I¢m 18 years old I¢ve done something that not many people do and had an odyssey full of sights, sounds, places, and people I won¢t ever for get, but after all of that I can see that the best in my life is yet to come. (Except maybe for Tom¢s ice cream on a silver platter with sprinkles, whipped cream, and cherry on top. That might have been the peak right there)I¢m going to complete the AT over the next Two year, and I hope to try the speed thru-hike again in 2010 in between college and law school.