Power Nap
I have taken a lot of training hikes on Beazley Hill
above town over the years. Beazley Hill offers
a variety of hikes, flat to steep, and from short 3-milers to 11 miles or longer. On most hikes any breaks are kept to 5
minutes or less. Work hard, get the hike
done. That’s been the case on every training
hike until Saturday.
I left the South Kiosk at 5:30 am Saturday morning and
hiked up the steep face of the Middle Towers.
Then I made my way on the north side heading east just above the draw. Several years ago at the barbed wire fence
someone installed a wooden ramp so that mountain bikers and hikers can cross
the fence easily. The west approach has wood
cleats for traction, but the east side is just steeply sloping boards. The temperature Saturday morning was 29-31
degrees. I was totally unaware that
there was heavy frost/ice on the ramp.
My first step down the east side was a doozy – my left shoe
slipped, and I was knocked unconscious when I landed hard on the wooden
ramp. The left side took the full impact
– head, ribcage and shoulder. When I
woke up I was totally disoriented – I had no idea where I was nor where the car
was parked. After minutes with no
activity my Garmin had stopped – it read 1 hour 10 minutes and 2.25 miles. I stood up and resumed my hike trying to determine
my orientation (location) and remember where the car was parked – at home or at
one of the kiosks.
Trying to reconstruct the timeline, the best I can figure
is that I had a 25-40 minute “power nap” on Beazley Hill. Yes, I made it home. Yes, I went to the walk-in clinic at Moses
Lake and Becky drove. What was supposed
to be a 2-hour wait at the clinic was only 10 minutes. The CT scan of my head showed nothing unusual
and the x-ray of my ribs showed no cracks, but the possibility of one hairline
fracture. I am sore as the dickens and
moving quite slowly, but none the worse for wear. Coughing, sneezing, laughing are no fun. The thing I like about pain is that it tells
you where you hurt. I hurt in multiple
places, but this a temporary situation.
In the meantime, I am doing some planning for the
Continental Divide Trail (CDT). The
Pacific Crest is straight forward – single track, guidebook and maps easy to
follow. The CDT guidebook says to “Embrace
the Brutality”, and it is certainly an entirely different animal, a beast. My head is spinning from looking at maps for the
first 45 miles – multiple route options, considerable cross-country hiking or road
walking. Nothing makes sense. In addition to route finding issues, water in
a huge concern. Maybe there are water
caches, maybe not. Stock water may not
be turned on. And notes on the maps say
to beware that prickly pear cactus is abundant on cross country travel anywhere.
I can only say I’m unsure when my body will allow me to
resume training. And I am uncertain
where and when I will be back on one of the long-distance trails. As with many natural resource management
questions, the answer to my hiking future begins with, “it all depends”.
Kevin Guinn
3 March 2018