[pct-l] Some Lessons Learned the Hard Way

[david woods]

This is a cautionary tale for all hikers and especially the long distance
type.

My son, Dan, set out from Mount Ashland in OR on the afternoon of July 25,
2010, on a PCT section hike to Whitney Portal. I was playing the support
role meeting him at roads with supplies, etc.

On Tuesday afternoon, August 10, I was waiting for him at Packer Saddle just
north of Sierra Buttes and above Sierra City (no cell signal). I was
expecting him in the evening and was reading when a car pulled in next to
me. I was in a very peaceful place and was a bit annoyed that the car had
parked so close to me.  I glanced over and the driver, a woman who said, “I
have your son.” At first it did not register then he got out of her car and
showed me his left ankle, which was the close to the size of a football. The
swelling was also part way up his shin. This was the first act of a 12-day
adventure nobody wishes or needs to repeat.

He had left Beldon Town late in the afternoon of the 8th and had walked 45
miles to Quincy-La Porte Road on the 9th to be sure of making our rendezvous
the next day. When he woke up on the 10th his ankle was swollen and he could
not walk well enough to continue. He also had a raw blister on his heel. He
was able to hitch to Quincy then to Highway 49 where the woman who delivered
him to Packer Saddle picked him up. She is a PCT hiker and was willing to go
way out of her way to bring him up to me in the boonies. Thank you whom ever
you are.

The woman told us there is a clinic in Graeagle and hospitals in Quincy and
Portola. At this point we thought he would take a few antibiotics for a few
days and then we would resume the hike so we headed for the closest place,
Graeagle. The nurses there took one look at his ankle and heel and told us
to go to the emergency room in Portola which was only 10 miles away.  The
doctor there ordered an ultra sound to check for clotting and gave him a
dose of two antibiotics and a dose to take in the morning and a prescription
for a 10 day supply and sent us on our way with instructions to come back if
the swelling spread, etc.

After checking out the motels in town we decided to go to Reno to get a
better rate on a better room. We checked into the Motel6 near downtown and
waited for the antibiotics to kick in. This was Tuesday evening. By
Wednesday evening the swelling was above his knee and he was experiencing
vomiting and diarrhea (probably an allergic reaction to one of the
antibiotics). His oldest sister who I was in touch with by phone wanted me
to take him to the ER then. He wanted to wait to give the antibiotics a
chance to work. He woke up at 3:00 Thursday morning and was sick enough to
want to go to the ER so we looked on the web (thank goodness for cell phones
and laptop computers) and found the nearest hospital which is St. Mary’s and
is about a mile from the motel.

 Within an hour of arriving at the hospital he was in the ER on IV
antibiotics, had had an X-ray and blood drawn for culture. Later in the day
he was admitted to the hospital and had an MRI. To make a long story a bit
shorter, he was in the hospital 9 ½ days during which time the swelling
progressed as far as his armpit and out onto his rib cage. He had surgery on
his heel and was infused with many doses of several different antibiotics,
first generics then “designer”. He is now at home taking expensive oral
antibiotics for 2 weeks. Of course this all scared the heck out of his
family and the bill is sure to be a thing of beauty.

A doctor friend of Dan’s sister told her that this type of infection can
result from the bacteria (Enterococcus) leaking from one’s own gut due to
constipation and/or dehydration. Of course walking in animal or human poo
with an open wound is also a possibility.

Dan had at least 2 instances of walking long distances with no water on this
hike. He also had an untreated or marginally treated blister for 1-2 weeks
(we cannot agree on when it first appeared).

The moral is to take care of your blisters, drink plenty of water, even if
you have to go off trail to get it, and make your diet as fiber rich as
possible. This party had a happy ending but it could just as well have gone
the other direction. We are all very glad it did not.