The day I should've gotten Giardia
June 29, 2017
Everything is broken. I’m not complaining; I think it’s hilarious. I’m more than halfway done with this trail. I’m already nostalgic for the first half of the trail, and I really can’t believe that I’m in Pennsylvania. Just sounds so Northern.
So anyway, everything is broken. The sternum strap on my backpack snapped. There’s a hole in the outside pocket of my backpack where mice decided to snack on the crackers I left overnight in a shelter in the Shenandoahs. My sleeping pad has at least five holes in it and won’t stay inflated during the night. The sole of my boots want to come off. I lost my good sunglasses in the ocean (but that’s on me). The plastic bags used to gather water has holes in it. And finally, my water filter that saves me from bacteria and illness finally bit the dust the other day. Here’s how I should’ve gotten Giardia (an intestinal infection from drinking contaminated water).
I broke away from my tramily only a few days ago because I knew I would have to get off trail to go to my cousin’s wedding back in North Carolina. So I’ve been solo for a couple days until my dad picks me up from the trail and we drive down to North Carolina. The day before he was set to pick me up was when my water bag sprung a leak. I decided since I only had one more day to go until I reached a town, I’d use my clean water bottle to gather dirty water and just screw my Sawyer Squeeze filter on top of that. It worked that day and night, so I thought I was in the clear.
On the day my dad was set to pick me up, I had a choice: I could either walk 13 miles and get picked up at a random parking lot along a random state road, or I could walk more than 28 miles to get to an actual highway by an actual city. The most I have hiked in a day before was 25 miles, and I knew I’d have to make lots of stops along the way since I only had one water bottle to fill and carry. A hiker named Yahtzee gave me the idea to push for 28, a little more than a marathon. At first I thought he was crazy, but then it made more and more sense. I’d rather wake up early and walk all day than only walk to the 13-mile parking lot and wait around for the rest of the day in the heat.
So I did it. I couldn’t really sleep the night before. It was a mixture of excitement and nervousness for my marathon day ahead. But at 5:30 AM, I “woke up,” and hit the trail. I booked the first 10 miles in three hours, a really really good pace. I filled up at a water source, filtered it straight into my mouth, then filled it up again. I put the full bottle is in my side pocket and headed away from the stream. I heard a crash. The duct tape that was holding that side pocket together completely failed and set my bottle and the attached filter crashing on the rocks infamous rocks of Pennsylvania. My filter was shattered. I still had 18 miles to go in the hottest part of the day. I weighed my options. I could ask another hiker to use their filter, but with no clean water bottles to put them in to put it in, it was basically pointless. I’d be drinking unfiltered water for the rest of the day.
Just like the masochistic excitement of hiking nearly 30 miles in a day, I was interested to see how my body would handle unfiltered water. Worst case scenario, I get Giardia and I’m doubled over in a hotel room in the Outer Banks. Could be worse. At least I was going into town.
So I finished up my record miles in great time, downed about three or four liters of unadulterated spring and stream water, and reached US 61 by about 4:30 PM. The highway was unhitchable, with only a shoulder for hikers to walk on the 2 miles into town. To my surprise, someone pulled over behind me and told me to hop in. It turns out Doreen’s daughter is currently thru-hiking the PCT and told her mom to pick up any hitchhikers she sees. I was her first.
The rest of the day continued to be trail magical. I met up with Snapchat, my first friend on the trail, bought a new water filter at the largest Cabela’s in the country, and had the best burger and fries in days at Five Guys. All went as planned with my dad picking me up from Hamburg, and I went on to have a memorable mini vacation from funemployment. And best of all, I have no bowel problems to report. Yet.
Quick actual update: I wrote this a few days ago, so I’m happy to report that I’m almost out of PA! The state has been challenging and rough on my feet. Tomorrow I’ll cross into New Jersey, hit 1300 miles, and get my third pair of (kind of overdue) boots.
