16th August
22 miles
Bald Mountain Brook (2053.3) to Monson (2075.3)
I’m not sure if it stopped raining last night. I woke to the constant sound of raindrops hitting my tent around 5.30am. Shortly afterwards Thumper and I were on the trail hiking, the rain had stopped.
All was not well. I had little energy and could only console myself in the knowledge that Thumper felt the same weakness and lethargy. We moved slowly and were saved from too much struggle by the relative ease of the trail. Uphill hiking was almost comically slow as our lead weight legs were stuck in first gear.
Something is not right with my body. I think it’s more than just being tired from the trail. I think it’s trying to fight off some very minor illness that in normal life might go unnoticed. As I use all my energy for hiking instead of repairing itself or fighting illness I think it’s why I’m feeling weak. The minor sore throats and swollen glands in my throat tell me something isn’t right. With less than a week to go I’m going to keep pushing myself and rest afterwards. Hope it’s not a damn tick bite that’s causing this.
Our early start bought us to the main highway around 5pm. Hitch hiking into the town of Monson didn’t take too long. We both set up our tents at the well known Shaw’s Hostel.
Without a shower or clean clothes we headed out to eat. Ravenous would describe our appetites. Slow would describe the food service. Hangry would describe Thumper after waiting 1 hour for a salad. It was with full bellies we headed back to sleep. I was too tired to shower or do laundry. If I’m feeling weak in the morning I’ll take one or two days off to rest. Before bed I weighed myself with my full stomach, I’m a bit underweight but not as bad as I thought.
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Hi Brad. Excuse me for butting in, I’ve been following your blogs for about a year now. I just wanted to let you know of some experiences I’ve had with fatigue, especially outdoors. (I’ve worked as a surveyor in New Mexico). Sometimes I would not be feeling quite right, but I could not put my finger on it. I just didn’t feel right. What I’ve found is that maybe putting in exertion and perspiring a lot depletes the potassium in one’s body and that leads to trouble. In my case, sour stomach, pressure in the sinuses, like I was coming down with a cold and sometimes, shivers. I would drink up on some Gatorade and that would help. Hope you start feeling better. I look forward to following your continued adventures.
I’ve had similar things like that in the past but the swollen glands in the throat are not so normal for me. Hopefully it’s nothing.