Sleep did not soothe my IT band as much as I hoped it would. I hoped I’d wake up and have no more issues, but of course that didn’t happen. It was better, sure, but the minute I slung the pack on my back I knew I was in for a rough one. Ibuprofen and a relatively flat terrain are the only reasons I made it 30 miles with a very mad IT band (which of course affects the knee). I’m terrified what it’s going to be like when I wake up tomorrow, but I guess I’ll cross that bridge when I get to it.
As per usual, the water sources dictated how far we went today. The first water was 17 miles away from where we camped, so we made plans to meet there for a late lunch. It took me a while to find my stride because the gravel road we were on was extremely rocky and the ibuprofen hadn’t quite kicked in. But after about 6 miles or so, I discovered I could pick up the pace a little without too much pain. Suddenly, I had caught up to Nick! It was perfect timing as we only had a few miles until we got to water/lunch.
I’m glad I was there for the gust of wind that caught Nick’s umbrella because it made me laugh. Nick didn’t think it was as funny as I did.
Just as we were about to head down to the water, we passed Shredder eating lunch at the top. He was kind enough to inquire about my leg. He’s such a nice guy!
The water was in a beautiful canyon about 0.7 miles off-trail. I’m not even mad about the extra miles because it was so beautiful. The downhill I had to endure to get there upset my leg, but it was worth it.
Lunch was long and relaxed. I really love eating lunch with Nick! Tesla ended up joining us, and even Napoleon came down (sans pack) for water while we were there. Nick showed him the caddis flies that were in the water and I found it endearing to see Nick imparting his knowledge about healthy water to others (the presence of caddis flies in the water is a good thing, apparently).
I popped a few more ibuprofen before we left to hike another 13 miles, and I’m so glad I did because the ones I took this morning had started to wear off. There was a terrible mile where I could barely move because of the sharp pains in my knee when I walked. I stopped to massage my IT band and/or do squats (in an attempt to activate my glutes) every 10 steps or so. Since I had 10 miles to go at this point, I was very worried about making it to camp before midnight. Thankfully, the ibuprofen eventually kicked in and I was able to walk mostly normally again for a while. I’m so grateful the terrain was mostly flat today, I have no idea how I would have managed otherwise.
I say mostly flat because the last 3 miles were a steep downhill. They were very rough, slow miles that not even Ibuprofen could help much with. However, the views were so stunning that I actually enjoyed them (despite the pain) and didn’t really mind that I had to go so slow. Pictures don’t do it justice at all.
As I was slowly making my way down, I heard someone playing a guitar. It was Shredder, who had chosen to camp about halfway down. His campsite was spectacular. He again inquired about how I was feeling, suspecting the downhill was killing me - his concern warmed my heart. I told him I was loving the view and that as long as I made it to camp before dark I’d be ok.
And I was ok. I made it to the water by 8pm exactly. It was late but I loved seeing the moon and I loved the feel of the warm summer night.
When I hobbled in, Nick didn’t even have the tent up yet (I figured he would have had plenty of time to do so with how slow I was moving down the mesa). While he set up the tent, I sat on the edge of the water trough and filtered some water. I was joined by a bat, who flew right by me a few times - once I assume to eat the mosquito that had been bothering me and a second time to get some water. I love bats.
We didn’t eat dinner until after 9pm, which is so late. I need to get to sleep, my body needs all the time she can get to heal. At least we shouldn’t have to do another 30 miles tomorrow.
Along the trail:
Camp:
