2017 Appalachian Hike

Only 8 miles today. Very challenging. Here’s the only picture I took this morning. This is looking almost straight up. 

At the end of this I’ll post some pictures I think I’ve missed because of no cell service. 

A chain of events have landed me in the town of North Conway New Hampshire. Originally I was going to be going to the AMC Highland Center just off trail. My new shoes were being delivered there. I was going to spend the night and be back on the trail tomorrow morning. 

Yesterday while I was summiting one of the mountains a hiker behind me said ” Hey, what’s that red mark on the back of your leg.” I looked and it was the round red ring with a bullseye right behind my knee typical of either a spider or tick bite. 

Then it hit me. The pain behind my knee I thought was tendinitis. The headaches I was having the last couple of days. I need to get checked for Lyme Disease. Deer ticks are so small they are almost impossible to detect. I’ve had a few larger ticks on my that I found before they became imbedded. I have not seen any deer ticks. 

So I decided I was going to hike today to the highway and hitch to the place to get my shoes and then figure out how I was going to get to town to the clinic. 

So it was eight miles to get to the highway. I hiked the first six miles with Lymes heavy on my mind. When I got to two miles left I met a man who volunteers doing trail maintenance. He’s done the AT among many other interesting things. We talked for a while when he found out I was going to town and why, he offered to hike to the trailhead and take me first to pick up my shoes and take me to town. His trail name is Slowski. 

On our way down to the trailhead I slipped on a wet log and went down hard ultimately hitting my mouth on a rock. I came out of it with two fat, cut up lips, a broken front tooth and a bloody nose. 

Now I have to go to the doctor AND dentist. Crap!

Slowski and I went and picked up my shoes and then he dropped me off at the clinic. What a great guy. True trail magic. THANKS SLOWSKI!!!

So, long story short. I have an appointment tomorrow with the dentist, I have Lymes Disease and Brooks sent me the wrong shoes. 

The good news is that the Lymes is taken care of with antibiotics. The shoes I’m getting for free because even being overnighted they won’t get here until Friday and cost me another night in a motel. The $130 shoes more than covers the extra $94 for the room. The bad thing is I will be back on the trail a day later. Maybe the break will be good for my legs. 

I was nervous about calling Amy. She does not fully endorse everything I do as being intelligent. She’s right, sometimes I’m a little out there. If I were on FaceTime I’d probably see her shaking her finger at me. I can’t wait to get home. I owe Amy so much.