Adventures in Hiking

Today was hiking day! I awoke to frost coating the car, to such an extent that it was hard to get the back door open to put my hiking pack in there. I left the engine running and went back inside, as the car warmed up.

Our hike was on Agua Caliente Hill, between the Catalinas and the Rincons. There were probably 15 of us on the hike, to begin, but people did drop out at intervals. The hike was very challenging, taking us up, up, up to where the cactus began to give way to shin daggers and grasses. And as we got some altitude, we were walking through SNOW! The snow came down as far as 4000 feet, so we were seeing snow for much of the day today.

The other women decided not to go up when we were about halfway to the top. I continued with the men. We reached a nice plateau where we had lunch, and then the guys decided to continue on up to the peak -- about 500' more elevation. I started out with them, but then I started to feel weak and thought that I should turn back. I convinced Jack that I was ok and so he went on up the hill with the rest of the men, and I turned back down the hill.

I didn't get very far before I had a problem. I developed a serious headache, and began to feel confused. I thought that I was perhaps having a stroke, and I tried to remember how to tell that someone was having a stroke. I remembered the symptoms and how to diagnose a person, and I tried to diagnose myself.

I put my hands on my face, and it felt normal. I said something: "I just want to die," and, while I was not comfortable saying that, it sounded normal! I raised both arms, my hiking poles dangling. They both came up to the same level easily. I remembered hearing that a stroke victim's tongue will be bent. I stuck my tongue out and felt it to see, and I couldn't tell.

I became more confused, stopping at one point and walking back up the trail. I remembered that my friends were up that way. Then I thought that I should go off the trail and hide in the brush. I thought that I could die that way, and that seemed ok.

In this beautiful landscape of mountains, sky, cactus, grasses, I sat on a rock and it occurred to me that I had no idea what I was doing, or who I was. I found my nametag around my neck, and I turned it and read it. I looked over and saw a staghorn cholla, and I knew that I knew the name of it. I started to put it back together.

Eventually, the men returned to my rock. I told them that I wasn't doing very well. I was crying and they were all lined up, just looking at me. I told them that I was feeling confused, and Duane told me that I had altitude sickness. He asked me if I had headache, and I said I did. I was not nauseous. He told me that I needed to be drinking more, and indeed, I had not been drinking much, because, in the cold, I was really not thirsty.

Jack gave me his bottle of Gatorade, which I drank, and I felt better almost right away. He told me that he wouldn't let me hike alone, and I told myself that I'll always drink plenty of fluids. I think that I'll get some Gatorade and put that into one of my water bottles.

I had suffered with altitude in Denver, but just with headache. That confusion thing -- not knowing who you ARE -- is really disconcerting. I hope that never happens to me again.