The desert routineMay 21 2017

I asked for this one

May222017
Map thumbnail of location

Earlier, I asked for my knee pain to go away and come again another day.. Well, today was that day.

As I mentioned yesterday, burning the candle at both ends might not be sustainable. Usually, my knee hurts when I go to bed, but after a night of sleep, it's good to go.

However, this morning (after 5 hours of sleep) it was still hurting. "Oh well," I thought. "Hikers gotta hike."

After two hours or so, the dull pain suddenly changed and my knee said "no more". Uh-oh.

It was suddenly very painful to bend my knee at all, making walking extremely difficult. Crud. I hobbled to a wider section of the trail (I was currently on a ridge, so these are few and far between) and sat for a bit to see if that would help. After fifteen minutes, there wasn't any change. Damn.

Thankfully, since we were on a ridge, I could see a desert town in the distance, which usually means I would have cell service. Thankfully I did, so I pulled up Google Maps and found myself a physical therapist in Tehachapi, the next planned stop. They had an opening for Thursday morning, so I took it.

Now all I have to do is get there. Okay, that's some 60 miles and I have like three days. I can do this.

Off I went, hobbling like a pirate down the trail.

At that day's siesta, I didn't move at all, hoping to get my knee good enough to get me to camp that night (another 9 miles).

Taking it easyTaking it easy

Surprisingly, it sort of worked -- some rest (and loads of ibuprofen...) limbered it up a bit, and as I walked, it got a little more flexible (probably as the ibuprofen kicked in more) and I made it the 9 miles to camp.

Since I was feeling good, I pushed on to the next campsite, another 4 miles. Every mile I walk now is one I don't have to do tomorrow! (And who knows how I'll feel in the morning.)

Thankfully, it held together until the last mile, but I could hobble that. Totally worth it.

Maybe a night of sleep will help.

A beautiful sunset as we got to campA beautiful sunset as we got to camp
Oh yeah, I hit 500 today, so that was fun.Oh yeah, I hit 500 today, so that was fun.
Aqueduct DayMay 23 2017