Thursday, July 11th. Day 23
Today's miles = 20 something. Total CDT miles = 334.5 ish.
Last night was a rough night for me. I've been coughing all night the past week or so which cuts down on my sleep. The past week I've known I was sick but I couldn't quite tell what was wrong. My symptoms are shortness of breath (like breathing through a straw), chest tightness, coughing, lightheaded, weak, and all over achy (different than trail achy). I've been complaining about not being able to breathe especially when climbing with 4 1/2 liters of water on my back. It's comes in waves. Some times are worse than others and when it has been really bad I've actually had to slow down to a crawl or stop to catch my breath. Sometimes I couldn't catch a breath and would have to stop, take off my pack, and sit until I could. I've been out of breath many times before because of the trail but never like this. There was clearly something wrong. I could tell my complaining about not being able to breathe was getting Monkey (and more importantly myself) frustrated, so I tried to push through it. When I'm feeling well I can push through almost anything. But this was different. I had NO energy and no air. I've spent the past two weeks like this.
With the lack of sleep last night due to the coughing and the not being able to breath, today's hike was obviously difficult as well. It took everything I had to hike the miles. The morning was a lot of elevation but the afternoon mellowed out a bit. Water was also limited. About 8 miles into the hike today I came to my first water source for 15 miles. There were dead squirrels in it. So, I decided to push on to the next water. The next water was a scummy pond mixed well with cow shit. The second water source was a creek trampled by cows and overflowing with more cow shit. The third source was just off a forest service road. I decided to take the dirt road because Monkey and I were both out of water and the high trail didn't have any water for miles. We did find water. It was less polluted with cow excrement than the other sources but definitely still flowing from the badly polluted areas. I treated the water and drank up. By that time I was so thirsty.
The trail didn't have very many views today. It was mostly just in cow country. I did have a cow chase me down the dirt road, though. It had its babies with it and when Baboon and I walked along the road the cow let us pass but then came onto the road quite fast chasing us away from the babies. I had the bear mace out. I didn't really think the cow was going to make contact but anything big chasing you is somewhat intimidating. I was suspect of every cow I passed the rest of the day.
I got a ride into Helena by two electric company inspectors on the job. It was the end of their day and they were heading into Helena for the night. They dropped me off right outside the Budget Inn. I got a room for the night and took a shower then decided that I had better go to the doctor. If it had been pain or something that I knew what it was I would have ignored it but being up their on the Divide the past few weeks unable to breathe actually scared me a little. So, I looked into the Urgent Care Center here in town. It was 300 feet from the Inn and closed at 8pm. I had one hour to make it there. No one was there when I got there so I got taken care of right away. The doctor was extreamly nice and efficient. He listened to me and actually took care in what I was saying. My experience with doctors has been quite unpleasant, as a rule, so I was pleasantly surprised. After examining me and giving me some breathing tests he told me I had a respiratory infection, bronchitis, asthma, and a fever of 101. He prescribed antibiotics, steroids, and an inhaler. He sent the scrips right to the CVS a half a mile away and I walked right there to pick them up. I puffed on the inhaler immediately and it was literally a breath of fresh air. After two weeks of this bullshit I finally could breathe again, at least until the Albuterol stopped working about 45 minutes later. Luckily the inhaler has a lot of puffs on it! The doc said that I should start feeling better in 4 or 5 days. I only have a few more days of hiking to suffer through (from this at least).
By the time I got back to the hotel Monkey had acquired two large pizzas and cheesy bread sticks! It was after 9pm by this time and I realized I hadn't eaten since 12:30pm. I turned on the AC because I was so warm. I had no idea I had a fever. I was wondering why I've been so warm this week. I've been saying to Baboon that it's been hotter than the desert. He didn't seem to agree. I should have known right then and there; the day I'm warmer than he is.
I slept well tonight.
Today's miles = 20 something. Total CDT miles = 334.5 ish.
Last night was a rough night for me. I've been coughing all night the past week or so which cuts down on my sleep. The past week I've known I was sick but I couldn't quite tell what was wrong. My symptoms are shortness of breath (like breathing through a straw), chest tightness, coughing, lightheaded, weak, and all over achy (different than trail achy). I've been complaining about not being able to breathe especially when climbing with 4 1/2 liters of water on my back. It's comes in waves. Some times are worse than others and when it has been really bad I've actually had to slow down to a crawl or stop to catch my breath. Sometimes I couldn't catch a breath and would have to stop, take off my pack, and sit until I could. I've been out of breath many times before because of the trail but never like this. There was clearly something wrong. I could tell my complaining about not being able to breathe was getting Monkey (and more importantly myself) frustrated, so I tried to push through it. When I'm feeling well I can push through almost anything. But this was different. I had NO energy and no air. I've spent the past two weeks like this.
With the lack of sleep last night due to the coughing and the not being able to breath, today's hike was obviously difficult as well. It took everything I had to hike the miles. The morning was a lot of elevation but the afternoon mellowed out a bit. Water was also limited. About 8 miles into the hike today I came to my first water source for 15 miles. There were dead squirrels in it. So, I decided to push on to the next water. The next water was a scummy pond mixed well with cow shit. The second water source was a creek trampled by cows and overflowing with more cow shit. The third source was just off a forest service road. I decided to take the dirt road because Monkey and I were both out of water and the high trail didn't have any water for miles. We did find water. It was less polluted with cow excrement than the other sources but definitely still flowing from the badly polluted areas. I treated the water and drank up. By that time I was so thirsty.
The trail didn't have very many views today. It was mostly just in cow country. I did have a cow chase me down the dirt road, though. It had its babies with it and when Baboon and I walked along the road the cow let us pass but then came onto the road quite fast chasing us away from the babies. I had the bear mace out. I didn't really think the cow was going to make contact but anything big chasing you is somewhat intimidating. I was suspect of every cow I passed the rest of the day.
I got a ride into Helena by two electric company inspectors on the job. It was the end of their day and they were heading into Helena for the night. They dropped me off right outside the Budget Inn. I got a room for the night and took a shower then decided that I had better go to the doctor. If it had been pain or something that I knew what it was I would have ignored it but being up their on the Divide the past few weeks unable to breathe actually scared me a little. So, I looked into the Urgent Care Center here in town. It was 300 feet from the Inn and closed at 8pm. I had one hour to make it there. No one was there when I got there so I got taken care of right away. The doctor was extreamly nice and efficient. He listened to me and actually took care in what I was saying. My experience with doctors has been quite unpleasant, as a rule, so I was pleasantly surprised. After examining me and giving me some breathing tests he told me I had a respiratory infection, bronchitis, asthma, and a fever of 101. He prescribed antibiotics, steroids, and an inhaler. He sent the scrips right to the CVS a half a mile away and I walked right there to pick them up. I puffed on the inhaler immediately and it was literally a breath of fresh air. After two weeks of this bullshit I finally could breathe again, at least until the Albuterol stopped working about 45 minutes later. Luckily the inhaler has a lot of puffs on it! The doc said that I should start feeling better in 4 or 5 days. I only have a few more days of hiking to suffer through (from this at least).
By the time I got back to the hotel Monkey had acquired two large pizzas and cheesy bread sticks! It was after 9pm by this time and I realized I hadn't eaten since 12:30pm. I turned on the AC because I was so warm. I had no idea I had a fever. I was wondering why I've been so warm this week. I've been saying to Baboon that it's been hotter than the desert. He didn't seem to agree. I should have known right then and there; the day I'm warmer than he is.
I slept well tonight.
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