The hellish Big Bend Trip
 

I just got back. What a hellish trip.

So to go back in time, I had vomiting and diarrhea on Monday, but was better by Tuesday. Thursday morning I had a cough. But it didn't bug me during the day.

So I called my friend, who was organizing the trip, whether he thought I should go or not. Basically if he would mind having me despite my mild cough. He said "fine, come." [warning #1]

So Friday morning at 3am we pull out in the other guy's RV. We arrive Friday afternoon. We went to the campsite near the Rio Grande river. It was beautiful there.

I slept on my cot outside. Stars were gorgeous. I had a rough night because I developed a fever. I woke up at midnight sweating up a storm. One of the longest nights of my life. [warning #2]

When I woke up I no longer had a fever, and decided I would be okay to go on our 13 mile dayhike.

So we drove about an hour to the Chisos mountain basin, which is at about 5400 feet. Our previous camp was at about 1500 feet. Did I mention, that like Archaea's son, I am prone to altitude sickness? Much more so than anyone I know.

So the initial part of the hike was the steepest. We began a rise to about 7000 feet. I felt fine, but as we went along, I was tiring quickly. My heart rate was out of control. I would stop, catch my breath, try to get my heart rate down. But as I would continue to climb, it would shoot up straight to 160 (a guess).

I started to develop a bad headache, my nose was running like crazy. I decided that I needed to cut off on a shortcut, that I couldn't do the full 13 miles.

I offered to go by myself, but my two friends insisted that we go together. So we took a cutoff route, all near 7000 feet. We got to a trailhead, where you can climb the highest peak. My one friend decided to take it, while me and the other guy would rest a while, and then head downhill. At this point we ran into a park ranger, Jason, who was really nice. We chatted a while, and after about 30 minutes, we started down, with the ranger joining us. At this point, I was feeling like pure hell. My head was hurting and my body was in shutdown mode. It took a lot of effort to just speak. Eventually the friend who had tried the summit trail joined us. He only made it 2/3 of the way up. We finally made it down. Even in the basin at 5400 feet, my head still hurt.

We drove out, and headed away from the mountains. We stopped at a crappy mexican restaurant a couple hours away, where I was served cold cheese enchiladas. I put most of it down (only my second meal on the trip).
In the restaurant, the fever hit me again. I got back in the RV and started putting on clothes including thermal underwear, because I was getting the chills. Downed some tylenol. At this point we decided to drive straight back. I slept, and woke up at 11pm sweating like crazy and very hot. Every time I would cough, my whole chest would burn. Tried my best not to cough.

Finally made it home at 4am. Took a shower for the first time since before the trip.

Lessons learned:
1) if you are sick, don't go on a trip like this
2) I can't do any sort of altitude without acclimatization.
3) if you had a fever the previous night, don't try to do a 13 mile mountainous hike.

Total mileage on the hike was about 10 miles.

I'll post pictures later.

That's too bad Mike.

Being sick sucks enough on it's own, but it's just worse when you're trying to have fun.

Here are three pics:

http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b3...mg_5200-01.jpg

http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b3...mg_5216-01.jpg

http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b3...mg_5234-01.jpg

Sorry about the trip MW.

But if its any consolation, those are some great pictures that you took. I especially like #3.

Here's another pic.

http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b3...mg_5231-01.jpg

Btw, found out why I got sick. All of us went to a birthday party for friends' one year old.

Turns out one family was recuperating from some sort of flu or other virus.

Most of the people at the party subsequently have gotten sick.

Well, that was nice of them. Why can't people stay home when they get sick?

Because misery loves company (sometimes I just crack myself up with my own wierd sense of humor)

I'm sure they were feeling a bit better and just had a mild cough.

Exactly. Who knows how many people I have spread the misery to.

But it's hard to justify staying at home because you *might* be contagious. Bosses don't like that.

You think that's rude? I just found out that Mike used my toothbrush when he got home from his hacking cough, fever-racked, ill-fated trip. Thanks a lot :(

I feel your pain. I grew up at around 6500 feet or so, give or take, but I never made it to the top of Timp because I'd always start puking just before the final ascent. Much, much worse than food poisoning (had that too).

I like those photos Mike, especially the 3rd one.

Is that a tributary of the Rio Grande River?

Sorry, Farrah. Hope you don't come down with it.

I've always thought my toothbrush is not meant for sharing even under the best circumstances. I'm just selfish that way. :)

the 3rd one is a picture of a walkway over a spring-fed wetland area (created by beavers) a few hundred feet from the Rio Grande.

Bodies of water created by beaver dams are cool. Many times in my adventures in the high Uintas I wish that I'd had a camera with me when I came across one.

Someday, I will take my family to visit your part of the world. I'd like to visit as many National Parks as I can, because the photo opportunities are endless in these places.