3/26/00
Day 4
Dick's Dome Shelter
39.3 miles

Thought I'd have more time to write but I usually want to be finished with dinner cleanup by sunset and after dark I'm either checking the map for the next day's hike, talking with people, or cold and tired enough that going to bed at 8 pm sounds reasonable.  I started seeing my first flowering plants yesterday.  All little things.  One's with white petals like a daisy, and tiny violet ones (bluettes?), (gentians?).  How come I didn't see any the first two days?  Is it that Spring is two days further on?  Or does the 30 miles I've traveled south make the difference?

I've also seen several kinds of butterflys, many birds (including some hawks), grey squirrels, a rabbit, and a total of 7 deer.  These Virginia deer have huge white pennants for tails, compared to the ones you might remember from Michigan.  It's probably not surprising that I keep seeing the deer.  These ridgelines must be their only habitat.  The valleys below are all farmed and settled.  Don't have to worry about bears yet, as there's not enough range up on these narrow bands of forest to sustain them.  Plenty of bear territory coming up in Shenandoah Park, however.  Should start that in about 3 days.

This next bit is going to be very boring.  I want to enumerate all my various aliments, both real and imagined (and the imagined ones are just as important).  As I'm walking along I spend a noticeable portion of my time thinking about these things, so it's a valid part of my experience.  This is obstensively a letter to you, but it's also the closest I'll come to keeping a journal.  So some of this stuff I'm writing just for me.  I recommend you skip ahead to the next entry.

*** Begin Boring List of Medical Complaints ***

• Feet:  Blisters on both heels.  I didn't stop soon enough when I first felt the "hotspots," but it might not have mattered.  I tried to break in my new boots by doing 1 ½ hour road walks every other day during March.  But that was on level ground.  As soon as I started to climb hills with these boots the whole dynamic changed.  I'm not sure how the blisters are going to heal if I keep hiking every day, but hopefully the boots are changing to fit my feet.  The last few weeks I was hiking in New Zealand, the arch of my right foot ached every single day.  No problems with the right, but now the left arch is beginning to act that way.  During the whole boot break-in period, I was getting a lot of pain in my left ankle and instep.  Of course I was worried that this was some new defect that wouldn't hold up to the abuse of the trail, but so far it hasn't gotten any worse.

• Legs:  Both are mighty sore by the end of the day and feel better by the next morning.  The left was cramping up bad the first night.  I decided to switch my hiking pole to my left hand (to aid that side) whenever I was going uphill.  Seems to be helping.

• (I will spare you the description of "Sweaty Butt-Crack Rash", which hasn't happened yet, but surely will).

• Back:  I had a hell of a scare that first morning at David Lesser shelter.  I had the contents of my food bag scattered around me and was trying to pack it up so lunch items would be at the top.  I twisted to my right (nothing extreme) and got a major shot of pain in my upper left back.  I just tried to take a few breaths and see if my entire back was going to seize up in a spasm.  Then I rolled backwards to lie down and tried to bring each knee up to my chest.  After a few minutes I tried to stand up.  I could feel muscles tensing and freezing.  Eventually I tried to continue packing up, very carefully, but found I couldn't hold my left arm out in front of me without pain.  After 15 or 20 minutes I found things seemed to be shifting and popping into a more agreeable arrangement.  After a while I was able to lift my pack and get it on, thinking that despite the weight the harness system would act as a kind of back brace.  The pain gradually faded, and since then, no recurrence.

• A secondary back problem seems to occur when I sit improperly for too long.  This has happened occasionally for the last ½ year.  I get a sharp jolt of pain in my lower left back that radiates down my leg.  This always produces an audible yelp.  And often the left leg is numb and useless for a minute or so.  I think that this condition is known as sciatica.  Welcome to middle age.

• Various:

  • My hands and arms get a minor workout from that walking stick, but that should subside soon.

  • My shoulders are sore from the pack straps, and my hips a bit bruised from the waist belt, but this harness is way better than anything else I've used before.

  • My thighs are both sunburned and so is my neck, but I doubt that I will peel.

  • I have about a dozen minor cuts and scrapes on my hands and legs.

  • And I stink.

*** End Boring List of Medical Complaints ***