Day 22 Surviving Sickness

Writing from a hotel room in Erwin TN at 3AM after sleeping from noon to 4PM and 7PM to 3AM.


Last night was one of the most mentally and physically difficult of my life. I’m pretty sure all three of us had norovirus, the virus most commonly responsible for the stomach bug. Given that all three of us began feeling sick within 6 hours of each other, my best guess is that we all drank contaminated water. The type of water filter that we use works incredibly well for all contaminants except for viruses. Viruses aren’t typically a problem in the water sources in the AT, but we filled up from a less than ideal water supply next to a road at Allen Gap. The water wasn’t stagnant but it wasn’t the clean mountain water we typically put through our filters either. 


After dinner, since I wasn’t sick yet I hung the bear bags and filled all our waters in preparation for the night. Tyler was throwing  up once or twice an hour from 3PM to 11PM. Spencer started throwing up at around 7PM and had it worse than any of us. He was sick constantly for the rest of the night. I threw up twice, and had diarrhea and nausea that prevented me from sleeping. 


I won’t go further into the gross details, but being sick in the woods has many disadvantages over being sick with access to a bathroom, running water, and ample toilet paper. 


I ran out of water around 2AM and borrowed some from Tyler and Spencer to make it through the night. I am so grateful that we were all together for the night. I can’t imagine having to go through that experience alone. 


My nausea finally passed at around 3AM. I still wasn’t able to sleep and had to keep getting out of my tent to go to the bathroom. 


The sun finally rose. We all began packing up, but Spencer was still sick. As we were getting our things together I was overwhelmed with emotions for about 15 minutes. I felt a combination of relief at having made it through the night, concern about Spencer, concern about worrying Ashley, my parents, and the people back home, and sheer exhaustion. 


The next morning we took the easiest path out of the woods and got shuttled into Erwin TN. Fortunately the walk out was 3 easy miles and Steve from Unicoi Shuttles was willing to pick us up despite knowing that we had a potentially contagious stomach bug. Tyler’s dad paid for the hotel for us which was incredibly nice and appreciated. 


Since getting to the hotel I’ve eaten Saltine crackers and drank a ginger ale. I’ve slept for probably over 10 hours. My stomach isn’t fully settled and I still feel lethargic but I’m no longer violently ill. Spencer and Tyler are on the mend as well. We will stay here until we are completely better, whether that takes 1 day or 3. 


We made it through. 


Goodnight,

Walker 




If you want to follow Tyler or Spencer, here are their logs as well:


Tyler: https://tylerat2024.blogspot.com/?m=1


Spencer: https://www.instagram.com/baxter.bound?utm_source=qr&igsh=MWx4MzRqa3M4dGk3Mw==



Comments

  1. ShelbyMarch 15, 2024 at 10:07 AM

    How ironic that this all happened right after Big Butt.

    ReplyDelete
  2. E R Stick, JrMarch 15, 2024 at 2:01 PM

    thanks for the update on this unfortunate situation. good to know what is happening and that all are improving. a week from now you'll be "flying" north again. a good motto for AT thru hiking might be: "expect the unexpected"

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Epilogue

I am officially an Appalachian Trail thru hiker. We hiked the AT from start to finish. It took 125 days, with 20 days off. Counting my 2020 attempt, I have hiked over 2,830 miles of the Appalachian Trail. Including days off we averaged 17.58 miles a day for 125 days. Not counting days off we averaged over 20 miles a day. It was harder, more beautiful, and more worthwhile than I hoped for or expected. When I think back on the hike as a whole, the generosity of our friends and families is foremost in my mind.   My biggest fears going into the hike were related to health and weather. When asked for prayer topics, these were the primary two items that came to my mind. The largest injury suffered through the entire hike was when Tyler cut his finger after a fall in New York. Otherwise we had all of the minor blisters, sore joints and muscles that you would expect, but we had no major injuries. We were given remarkable weather throughout the hike. Without a hint of exaggeration, I believ...
Read more

Day 125 Summit Day

Image
Today we finished the Appalachian Trail.   A quick note before I get into the update for today. In a separate post I will write out an epilogue where I go over my broader thoughts and experiences of the trail. For today, I will write like I have for all the other days, capturing my memories and sharing my initial thoughts.   I slept well last night between 9PM and 4AM. We woke up early to make the 2 hour drive to Katahdin Stream trailhead. We grabbed left over pancakes from the day before and hopped in the car. The drive to the trailhead went smoothly. We arrived at Baxter and made it to the parking lot with some time to spare. We registered with the park ranger and got our AT Thru Hiker finisher cards.  Spencer and I are 40th and 41st people to finish the AT this year.  Spencer, Brooke, Ashley and I started hiking at around 7:30 with 5 miles to the summit.   The initial ascent was quite easy. With 10 miles out and back to hike we really weren’t in a rush. Ashle...
Read more

Day 118 Fording Rivers

Image
Today we forded 4 rivers and hiked 26 miles in 90 degree heat.   I slept very well last night, pretty much straight through the night. We woke up at 6:30 and started hiking around 8.  We had a couple decent views from the Pleasant Pond ridge before dropping down into the valley.  We spent most of the day just hiking through the woods. Occasionally there would be mud or roots or rocks, but overall it was pretty simple.  Before climbing our only mountain for the day we passed Moxie Pond.  Then we climbed up Moxie Bald Mountain. On the way up the trail went through some really cool rock formations and caves.  The top of Moxie Bald had a couple good views.  After Moxie Bald we spent pretty much the next 18 miles hiking through woods.  The only remaining excitement for the day were the river fords. None of them were dangerous, but we had to walk through the river to get to the trail on the other side. We forded Bald Mountain Stream, Marble Brook, and t...
Read more