Day 70: The Worst Day

(Yo, don't read this entry if you don't want to read about an animal's death. Just so you know.)

Sitting in my tent, trying as hard as I can to reposition my things so as not to deal with any "splash" from the rain outside. This is how I spend my nights when it's raining hard. Raining hard is an understatement. There's actually a flash flood warning for the next twelve hours. Tropical storm Bill. What a jerk.

But that's not why today was The Worst Day. There are many parts that together equal The Worst Day.

Flashback to two hours ago. I'm standing in the rain watching a salamander convulse and spasm in the mud in front of me. There's a light rain but not enough to warrant having a rain jacket on. The salamander is black with white dots, somewhat rare, I've only seen two on the trail thus far, including this one. I'm confused to why this is happening, but it seems awful. I'm completely aware that it's suffering greatly, but I don't know how to help it. As I'm watching, a white foam begins to permeate out of the salamander's skin, starting at the tail but gradually moving up its body. As the foam consumes more and more of the salamander, the spasms are decrescendoing, becoming less apparent, until the animal is completely still. Suddenly I'm just standing in the rain staring at a corpse. I feel like shit, mentally and physically, and I can't help but feel like this salamander was an ominous sign of things to come. Maybe I should stop hoping that things will get better.

On a lighter note, I was stung twice. Well, maybe stung. Not sure really. Could have been bit. Once on my hand... Which feels better. Once on my ankle... Which feels like poisonous burning hot lava necrotizing my ankle and consuming my flesh. (Don't worry Mom, this isn't actually happening, it just feels like it is).

In between bites, I shit my pants again. Awesome. I thought that phase of my life was over and I could move onto something equally undignified albeit less unpleasant. Maybe being stung is my new thing, who knows.

As I write this, I'm being struck in the face by drops of water. I'm not sure where they're coming from. Maybe splash, maybe condensation. What I do know is that I probably won't sleep much tonight, and in the morning, literally all of my stuff will be wet as hell. Quilt included. Ever slept with a damp sleeping bag? It sucks, do not recommend. I do have to give myself a pat on the back, however, for surrounding my tent with dead leaves rather than hard pack mud (to reduce splash, duh). I'm a regular ol' Bear Grylls.

Also of note is the puddle forming under my ground cloth (read: old, worn out emergency blanket). Uh oh, might be having to deal with some flash flooding in the tent tonight... Good thing my sleeping pad floats, right?

And just because I'm all about TMI these days: the strain that giardia put on my bowel movements has left me with a hemorrhoid. Never had one before, so I can't be sure, but there's a first time for everything. Talk about adding insult to injury. Maybe that was a little too graphic? Oh well, sorry I'm not sorry.

Woo wee, life sure sounds great out here on the AT right now, right? I bet I just convinced all of you to put down your coffee mugs, give your boss the finger, and come join us in our quest to be as uncomfortable as possible, right?

Thought so.

On the bright side we got to our campsite fairly early today so I just spent the last two hours reading and eating dark chocolate with almonds and sea salt (Thanks Richard and Kate). A good way to end what I dub The Worst Day. 

Well, tomorrow promises more of the same but I'm sure I'll find something else to complain about when it comes around. Or maybe Front Royal, VA will be the dopest town on the AT and my life will rule. Only jah knows.

Jah bless (jobless),

Colton

P.S. Rereading this the next day, and I actually am sorry that it's so depressing. 

Pictures on Instagram: veganontheat

Day 69: Intestinal distress.

So, right now we're in Luray, VA, at the far north end of the Shenandoahs. I'm waiting on the after hours Convenient Care clinic to open so I can maybe finally get a hold of an antibiotic prescription for giardia... But to be honest, I'm not real sure I have giardia, all I know is that I'm having an incredible amount of intestinal discomfort. What kind of discomfort? Well, that's personal and would certainly be too much information, but I'll tell you anyhow.

I stop every half hour to either 1) dump crazy amounts of fluid out of my butthole or 2) squat in the woods with what little dignity I have left with an urgent desire to evacuate my intestines but mostly just get flatulence... And maybe some more fluid. To be honest, I didn't know that there was rectal mucus until yesterday... Now I know, don't ask me how I found out.

Regardless, we're back on the trail and doing big miles again. It sucks that I'm having to deal with this while I have but I guess they call it Appalachian Trials for a reason.

Yesterday we got an amazingly late start (1:00 PM) and after getting dropped off at highway 33 in the Shenandoahs, a park ranger denied us reentry into the park unless we each pay 10 dollars... So we walked about a quarter of a mile down the way and bushwhacked back into the park. She literally told us that "as long as she doesn't see us enter the park" then we didn't have to pay, so we made good on that promise.

In other news, I saw a bear yesterday. This is the first bear I've ever seen. Let it be known that the Shenandoahs are jam packed full of wildlife, much more so than any other place on the trail thus far.

We didn't get to camp until 1:00 AM and woke up at 6:30 AM and in the last twenty hours we hiked 35 miles. Needless to say, we're very tired.

Here's some mediocre pictures and also a deer:

Day 67: The body get weak...

 ...If the body don't move. Or at least that's what Stic.Man (of Dead Prez fame, fellow vegan warrior) told me in a song of his. And I can't help but have that line play through my head every other minute that I'm not on the trail.

I know that realistically I'm not losing any of my fitness, but I'm just antsy to get back on the trail and crush more miles.

However, we're still in Maryland. Why is that? Several reasons.

1) I went to a doctor that refused to prescribe me antibiotics for whatever intestinal problem I'm having. You see, I don't have any observable symptoms like a fever, so I was told to go get a blood test or stool sample for giardia. But I don't have health insurance, so there's no way I'm going to spend more money on getting a stool sample that will probably result in a false negative anyhow. So I'm still without antibiotics and still suffering and not knowing what to do. 

2) Stevie hasn't slept more than five hours in four days. Places Stevie has slept recently: A patch of grass behind a Walmart, the lobby of a Marriott, and the Washington DC bus station. So we're going to let him get some real sleep and at least enjoy his time off trail.

3) Cheyanne hadn't actually gotten to hang out with her sister much on account of her work and school schedule. So today was our day to do that.

While we're on the subject, I want to throw out a huge thank you to Brittany (Cheyanne's sister). She's provided just about everything possible for three hungry, tired, and somewhat sick hikers. Rides, food, laundry, shower, netflix, a bed! You name it. Our stay has been very luxurious and we're extremely grateful.

Other highlights from today and yesterday: Jurassic World was pretty much a huge bummer, green curry is still the best food in the world, probiotics are better than antibiotics, I still love Brittany's dog (Rowdy).

Day 65: I cried when I found out Scott Jurek passed me.

So here I am, currently in Odenton, Maryland visiting Cheyanne's sister for a couple of days pondering how I've neglected to update this blog and wondering how I'm going to remedy the problem.

On a not unrelated note, I have been shitting my pants for the last couple of weeks. At first I figured it was from consuming mass quantities of artificial food, but now I'm almost certain that I have been suffering from the effects of giardia.

I wasn't quite sure, so I went and read Jason Reamy's account of having giardia earlier this year on the AT. Upon doing this I noticed something: he updates his blog every single day.

See what I did there? Not only did I let you all know that I've been shitting my pants on the reg, but I used that information to segue into my real aim for this blog post.

That being: I promise that I will make a monumental effort to give a day to day account of this hike, for all that remains of it, and to fill in the blanks for all that has already happened.

Anyhow, today, Stevie, Cheyanne, and I are all off trail and in somewhat random areas. As I've already said, me and Cheyanne are in Odenton, but Stevie is in Durham, North Carolina, where he's currently attending a Morrissey concert for what will probably be the last time (since Morrissey is dying and all).

To get to our respective geographical points, we had to split up and hitch hike quite a bit... Cheyanne and I took five different cars to Leesburg, Virginia where her sister in law lives, whilst Stevie had worse luck and spent the night in a patch of grass by a walmart in rural southern Virginia.

Oftentimes I stop and ask myself, what series of decisions did I make to end up exactly where I am right now in this moment? Or for example, something more specific like, what series of decisions did I make that landed me eating subpar gas station food from Sheetz whilst looking for a ride to Leesburg, VA before night falls? I'm not real sure how to answer that question most of the time, but obviously I'm doing something right because my life is at least interesting.

Tomorrow we'll pick up Stevie from Washington DC (not real sure how he's getting there but hey, who cares), and then we'll spend the day checking out museums and vegan restaurants whilst I agonize over whether or not I want to take antibiotics or just stick to garlic and goldenseal to cure my diarrheal malady. Not an easy decision for me, I absolutely hate pharmaceuticals and refuse to take them most of the time. Regardless, we'll probably top the day off with a visit to Jurassic World, just what we need to get us through another thousand miles of tick/snake infested wilderness.

In news relevant to the trail, we just passed the 900 mile and here's a mediocre picture of some sticks to prove it.

Signing off for now,

Colton

P.S. Cheyanne started a gofundme cause we basically have spent all of our money at (several) doctors. If you want to know why or maybe throw a buck at us, check out this hella sick big ass link (and not hyperlink since I can't do those on this app...)

http://www.gofundme.com/veganontheat

Update: wow, lots of donations already. Let it be known that my heart is warmed with much love and gratitude to you all.

In case you missed it:

Awhile back I did a guest post for Vegan Outdoor Adventures. You can check it out here:

http://www.veganoutdooradventures.com/2015/04/28/vegan-on-the-at/

P.S. The blogger app is whack, hence the full link rather than hyperlink. Bare with me y'all!

Panoramic view of the AT thus far.

I know that I've greatly neglected this blog, but fret not, I have lots of information and posts to impart unto all of you readers.

We've had a lot of trials recently, physical, mental, and financial, so most of our time has been spent dealing with and overcoming problems. Hence the huge delay in posts.

Anyhow, there's a mass quantity of posts on the way, and they'll be up on the blog next week. Until then, here's a bunch of dope panoramas:

Staying Healthy on the Trail: Part 1, Multivitamins

If you're a thruhiker or are at least familiar with thruhikers, you know what the vast majority of them eat. I'm talking a diet of peanut butter, tortillas, hamburgers, french fries, soda, ramen, spam, canned tuna, potato chips, etc. You name it, if it has calories and doesn't weigh diddly squat (or is at least somewhat shelf stable and portable), thruhikers are eating it. All of this food contains ginormous amounts of "empty calories".

Calorie: a unit of measurement, which, measures energy.

Empty calories: calories (macronutrients: fat, carbohydrates, and protein) with little or no micronutrients. Micronutrients being vitamins, minerals, phytochemicals, electrolytes, etc.

Hikers need a lot of calories since they expend so much energy. Unfortunately, products containing empty calories often weigh and cost less, making them perfect hiking food. But are they really perfect hiking food?

All of those ramen peanut butter tortilla sandwiches? Well, they're not helping you much. You see, hiking twenty miles a day is pretty demanding and requires that one eats an adequate amount of macronutrients (energy) in order to replenish (and fuel) the body for the next day. However, hiking twenty miles a day also demands a lot of micronutrients, thruhikers (much like the average consumer) are just less aware of this demand.

Enter the multivitamin. Multivitamins are small, near weightless pills of concentrated micronutrients. Sounds pretty space age when you put it like that, huh? In any case, multivitamins weigh a negligible amount and offer up an entire day's worth of micronutrient goodness. When thruhiking, your food options are pretty limited, and unless you want to dehydrate six months worth of veggies before you start your thruhike, you might want to consider the multivitamin. But why are micronutrients so important? Let me break it down for you:

Routine exercise results in more micronutrient loss than a sedentary lifestyle. They're also lost through sweat, especially in the case of electrolytes. Lets face it, thruhikers are getting quite a bit more than just "routine exercise". And sweat? Thruhikers are covered in a constant glaze of the stuff. So it might be a good idea if the average thruhiker decided to up their micronutrient game.

NOT ALL MULTIVITAMINS ARE MADE THE SAME. Go ahead and read that last sentence twice, it's that important. I don't want to advocate for something that I don't entirely believe in, so let me elaborate on what you're looking for in a multivitamin, based on my experiences.

1) Minerals:

Minerals are important for a lot of reasons, some of which are repairing muscle tissue, bone growth and repair, and energy production. Minerals are incredibly important to athletes, especially considering that this micronutrient category includes electrolytes.

Electrolytes are chemicals that form ions in body fluids. They exist to help your body perform at optimal levels, and when you're low or out of balance in one, you'll experience cramping, dehydration, fatigue, or worse. Common electrolytes include potassium, sodium, calcium, and magnesium. One way to lose electrolytes is through sweat, and if you're a thruhiker (especially on the AT), chances are good that you'll be sweating A LOT.

Now, a multivitamin isn't necessary to get electrolytes. They're in our food and there's also products specifically designed for electrolyte replenishment (you know, Vega Sport and the like). But why take the chance?

2) Vitamins:

Vitamins control chemical reactions that convert food into energy and living tissue. Why is that important? Duh, this one should be a no brainer. The more efficiently your body metabolizes food, the more efficient a hiker you'll be, and the less food you'll have to eat!

Vitamins also help our immune system function correctly, which is also a no brainer. Staying healthy and avoiding illness should be high on any thruhiker's priority list. Trust me, you don't want to get sick out here, and if you do, you'll want to recover fast.

So get those micronutrients y'all!