Even though I still had some water in my Camelbak when Officer O'Neill met me (latecomers: see the two previous posts), my throat was nevertheless parched: the sunshine and heat had been as relentless as the wind, and I was covered in a fine, gritty layer of dust that abraded my face every time I wiped sweat out of my eyes. The dust got into my mouth as well, and may have contributed to the faded huskiness of my voice, a quality that stayed with me all afternoon and part of the evening, even after I had showered and rehydrated. I sounded like the Godfather for a while (NB: Mike, you called me before all this happened), which was cool.
I may have to buy even more water bottles (or perhaps another Camelbak) as long as I'm going to be daring this high desert heat. It means yet more weight, but the only alternative is periodically crossing both the freeway and the railroad tracks to reach the river, then filling my containers with river water that's gone through my filtration/purification system-- which I've practiced with but haven't tested on "dirty" water yet. Getting to the water isn't always easy: long portions of the freeway and railroad track are lined with barbed wire. Sure, such fences can be hopped, but try that on a bad knee when you're dead tired. I'm no Bear Grylls.
As mentioned before, I walked about twenty miles, but probably should have stopped around the fifteenth mile, before things had gotten truly painful. I had, in fact, flipped a coin while pausing at Mile Marker 123 (where I took pics of the freeway and the wide, blue river); the gods had told me to set up camp in an out-of-the-way spot instead of continuing on to Arlington. Out of pride and/or stubbornness, I ignored the gods, and the rest is history. How differently the day would have gone had I abided by the coin toss!
So the knee is, as always, an issue, but I think it'll be fine if I keep distances to fifteen miles or less. My face and forearms are another matter.
After all this exposure to cold and heat, rain and shine, you'd think that my skin would have toughened up by now. And you'd be wrong: my face is redder than a boiled lobster, and my forearms aren't far behind. I'd neglected to smear any SPF lotion on, but maybe that's for the better: the lotion would have attracted even more dust and grit. No matter what self-protective measures one takes, there are almost always negative consequences. No yang without yin.
The motel shower was a relief; it sloughed all the dirt and stankiness away. I spent the evening more thirsty than hungry, and when I had a late dinner consisting of a shroom-and-Swiss burger and fries, I destroyed the burger and left most of my fries on the plate.
Assuming my knee is OK by Saturday morning, I'll be on my way, right on schedule. If things aren't so good, I might wait in town another day or two, but will do so at the campground. Another factor is the weather: Officer O'Neill strongly advised against walking in the upcoming heat. I should probably listen to him.
Thursday was, all in all, as bad as I'd thought it would be. More such days lie ahead. If ever there was a time to envy skinny people and their high surface area-to-volume ratios (great for heat dissipation), this would be it. Ah, to drop another fifty pounds and remove half my sweat glands...
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Marathon
11 years ago
2 comments:
Rather than add a lot more water to your load, you might want to add a sport drink to your pack. All that sweat can deplete your electrolytes. Not a huge one--I understand people can overdo them. But you might actually feel less need for water if your electrolytes stay in balance.
You might also think about wearing something white on your head instead of the dark whatever in your picture. I'd recommend a light-colored baseball cap to help keep the glare out of your eyes. Or one of those floppy cotton hats with a brim all the way around--sunburned ears can be very painful. And strange though it might seem, a loose white or light colored long sleeved shirt might be better than bare arms. And between grit and sunburn, to say nothing of eventual skin cancer, I'd think grit would be preferrable--slap on that sunscreen. Don't expect to be able to skip the sunscreen if you wear the shirt, though--some of the UV rays apparently go right through light cotton, which is why people invented those expensive sunblocking shirts you can buy at places like REI.
One last piece of advice for you to consider or ignore--avoid walking at the peak heat period of the day, which is probably about noon to 6. I'd recommend getting up before daylight, starting out at dawn, walking until noon or two or so, and holing up for a few hours if you haven't arrived yet, then resume walking around six or seven. Even if the ambient air temperature isn't cooling off by then, the sun isn't piling on the radiant energy as intensely. You'd still have 2-3 hours of walking time before it gets dark. If there's no natural shade around where you stop midday (and there well may not be in areas coming up), you can rig some kind of shade with poncho or tent. I bet your knee would prefer two shorter stints to one long one, too. Though you might go crazy with boredom while waiting the heat out, I suppose.
Heat stroke is no joke, so please do take some kind of precautions. The police may well keep an eye on you, but you can't necessarily count on them to show up when you need one if you hit the wall.
I apologize if you find all this advice annoying. For whatever strange reason, though I don't actually know you at all, I worry about you out there. I'm going to be very happy when your dad joins you.
Them sweat glands are good for you, dude. They're helping to cool you off. Doesn't feel like it, I know, but imagine panting like Indiana the Wonder Dog to cool yourself down!
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