Dec 19 & 20
Things did not go as planned.
I mean, rarely do hikes, hunts, camping trips and the like ever go totally as planned, but this time was "special."
The plan was to snowshoe about 6 miles up to a forest service cabin, relax with some simple food and a good book, get a great night of uninterrupted sleep, and 'shoe back the next day. Simple plan. Not a lot that could go wrong, one would think. I did something similar this last spring, with a different cabin. It was a lot of fun, but I had underestimated the challenge of breaking trail through snow, and made the mistake of loading my pack too heavy. This time, I dropped my pack weight down to 35 pounds, and figured I had it made. I was little concerned about picking up the stomach bug my son had the night before, but I figured I would be fine.
The hike in was great. The first third of the trail was well broken by cross-country skiers, and even though it got pretty tough after that, it wasn't bad. After 2 hours and 40 minutes of waddling through the snow, I made it to the cabin. I split some of the firewood to replace what I would burn, and settled in for a nice, easy evening. I got out my book, cooked up some grub for an early dinner, and settled in. The food didn't set as well as I thought it should, given how hungry I thought I would be...
The vomiting started at 6:30. Every hour on the hour. The diarrhea kicked in around 10:30. By then I was tired enough to squeeze in naps between "bouts." Things finally calmed down around 3:30 AM, and I actually got some really good sleep until it got light around 8 or 9. I took my time getting moving, packed up, and headed out into the snow around 10. Objectively, it was supposed to be easier than the trip up. Despite the extra 4 inches of new overnight snow, it was still more downhill than uphill, and the last third was still packed down pretty well.
One would think, had it been easier, it would have taken less time the the 2:40 trip up. That said, no food (and very little water) had made it into my system for a day and a half, so I expected to be a little slow. It ended up taking 4 hours. I got back to my truck, went home, and proceeded into full zombie mode. I chalk this up as a total failure with regard to relaxation, but an unintentional success with regard to mental toughness. Soooo let's just call it a wash.
Dec 21
Lounged around all day. I thought I picked up some secondary bug for something, but once I finally paid attention to the color of my pee I realized it might just be dehydration. I stepped on the scale and, sure enough, even a full day after I was able to hold down water, I was still about 7 pounds light. Granted, some of that is probably fat, but with 3,500 calories to a pound of fat, the lion's share of that weight loss had to be water (and I had probably regained a pound or two since being home). So yeah, that would do it. Not sick, just a little jerkified. If my snowshoe trips don't start getting better, I might have to take up wearing knit sweaters and drinking cocoa.
