October 13, 2024. Day 41 Ice Age Trail.
Trailside Cabin to Scandinavia gas station, 8.5 miles
Today did not go as planned, but hey, that’s life.
The morning began in a glorious fashion. I got sleep – real sleep – last night in that little cabin. I was warm and cozy and slept four straight hours, woke up to pee, then slept another four and a half straight hours. Took my time packing up, then made sure to leave the cabin the way I had found it (which was in good condition, swept and orderly). Finally figured out how to adjust my pack straps to stop that annoying brachial plexus issue.
I expected cold rain today. What I did not expect was my pack cover failing. It did a fine job last month on a pouring-rain day, so I don’t know what happened today. There must be a tiny hole somewhere.
I did the Skunk & Foster segments with the detour around the closed-for-hunting part. Pretty lakes, some nice ups and downs, beautiful fall foliage. The rain began on the last part of the segment (the part with the lakes).
Then it was supposed to be thirteen miles of connecting route (road walking). Detouring slightly to the small town of Scandinavia adds only 0.3 miles to the day, and it takes you past a gas station with food (and a bakery and a tavern, both closed today since it is Sunday). I wanted food that wasn’t protein bars, so I decided to add the 0.3 miles.
The rain intensified as I walked. Had trouble working my phone with my damp fingers, but thankfully, at that point, I didn’t need to take any turns on my way to Scandinavia so I didn’t need to use my online maps. Many thanks to the kind lady driver who pulled over and verified I was heading in the right direction.
Got to Scandinavia, got food and something hot to drink at the gas station, and assessed my pack. Uh oh. The top part was wet. A quick examination revealed that the top third of the contents were soaked.
I have two waterproof systems within my backpack. The bottom section, with my sleeping bag, liner, and clothes (including my puffy when not needed), are in their own multiple waterproof bags. A later examination showed all of that stayed dry. Over that system is my bear canister, which can get wet since that in itself is waterproof. On top of that and around it are my fleece, my sleeping pad, and my tent. I don’t have those in their own bags since I expected my “water resistant” backpack and my pack cover to keep those dry. All those items were wet. I had planned to sleep in a shelter tonight, so the tent being wet wasn’t critical…except more rain is expected tomorrow and tomorrow night, and there is no opportunity to dry it out before I next need it. My fleece being wet was an issue, but not critical since the rest of my clothes and puffy were dry. My sleeping pad can be quickly dried with my microfiber cloth.
When I did my quick examination, I did not yet know that the bottom contents were dry. I could not dump everything out to examine the rest of the pack without exposing everything to rain. Since I knew the top one third was wet, and since the temperature will be in the 30s tonight, I did not want to risk getting to the three-sided shelter with completely wet everything. That is a great recipe for a “negative outcome.”
Time to spend some money.
The gas station/convenience store clerk, a kind man named Jessie, let me hang out in the store while I found a motel ten miles away and an Uber to get me there. Once in the Uber, I asked the driver if she knew anyone who, in the morning, could bring me back to where she picked me up. She said her partner was an Uber driver who should be working in the morning, and that she would talk to him about being available. Fingers crossed.
Did laundry at the hotel and took a long hot shower. Bliss! Also ate a lot of food that my non-hiker self would never eat. Lots and lots of carbs. After four days of mainly protein bars and nuts, my body wanted massive carbohydrates.
Contacted Chris in Rosholt to make sure I could sleep in the County Fair boat storage building tomorrow night. Chris is a kind man that opens that building for Ice Age Trail hikers. I can stay there – and it turns out there will other hikers there at the same time! 😊
So instead of nine miles tomorrow, I will have 20.5. Doable, especially since I know I will have a place inside to sleep with good company.
Not many photos today because of the rain.
October 14, 2024. Day 42 Ice Age Trail.
Gas station in Scandinavia to Rosholt County Fair. Around 21.6 miles. Total IAT miles: 651.2
Got a ride back to Scandinavia from a man living at the motel. He is waiting for his apartment to be ready in a week. He was super kind to give me that ride. With over 20 miles today and more rain on the way, I wanted to get started as soon as possible.
Was hiking again at 8:15. Beautiful chilly morning. Sunny, too. I felt wonderful. As in, really, really good. Great weather, a morning trail angel. Fall foliage. I beamed and waved at drivers as I walked.
***Looking back, I am amazed at how fantastic I felt that morning given how everything went to hell late that evening. More on that later.***
Got to the Iola Ski Hill segment and hiked past the spur to the shelter I had intended to stay in last night. Did not check out the shelter, wanted to keep moving.
The Iola Ski Hill segment was a nice meander across a wooded hill dressed in autumn.
The segment which immediately followed, New Hope, had some surprisingly steep, albeit short, bits. Straight up and down, too – no switchbacks.
The rain began, but thankfully it was off and on and never became a downpour until I had finished New Hope and arrived at Rosholt (after a post-New-Hope five mile roadwalk). I sped walked those cold and rainy five miles, pushing myself hard so I could arrive at my indoor lodging as soon as possible.
Chris, the man in charge of the Rosholt County Fair, allows hikers to sleep in the fair buildings. I am currently in a huge heated barn with wood floors, electrical outlets, bathrooms, free chips, free sodas…and five other thru-hikers! All five are eastbound and know each other from other thru-hikes. They are super nice. A well-behaved dog, Hugo, is with them. They are around 25 years younger than I am, but they treat me like one of the group. There is no age discrimination, there are no egos, there is nothing but cheer and kind words. It is good to have such lovely company.
My hip situation continues. It goes away when I am in the fast-hiking groove and relying heavily on my poles. Now though…now that my pack is off and I have rested…every time I try to get up and move around everything is stiff and painful. Chris keeps asking if I am injured, but I tell him I am stiff and that the pain is usually ignorable enough while hiking. I feel like Quasimodo though, lurching around whenever I try to move.
Hikers talk about “Vitamin I” (ibuprofen). I have not made a daily habit of that, but I guess it is time that I do.
This might be sciatica. Maybe try to take another day off soon and catch up the miles later. See if another zero helps.
The temps will fall to 27 degrees tomorrow night, and I will be at another DCA campsite. I will see how my sleeping system holds up. Should be fine, I have been warm with many layers to spare thus far.
October 14-15, 2024. Last night on Ice Age Trail 2024.
I set up my sleeping system far away from the five other thruhikers so I would not wake them when I got up at my usual 4am. Said goodbye to them before going to sleep since I figured I would be gone before they rose.
When to bed feeling off. The pain in my lower right back (where the spine meets the hip) was the worst it had ever been. I felt queasy and dizzy. Figured I would feel better after laying down for a while.
Nope. Both the pain and the nausea intensified throughout the night. Around midnight I was able to make it to the bathroom just in time…I lost the contents of my stomach. Hobbled back to my sleeping area and sipped some water. The water came back up within the hour. Moving at all made me literally sick.
Spent the evening sweating through my clothes, vomiting, and feeling both intense localized pain and pain that sometimes shot down my right buttocks and leg. I did not sleep at all.
I am grateful for the loud and constant white noise of the barn’s heating system. I managed not to wake anyone with my issues. I would have felt very badly about that.
By 5am I had come to terms with the fact that I needed to check out my lower back/hip, and that I would need to take a few days off to rest. There was no way I was going to be able to hike 20 miles and camp in upper 20s temps during the next 24 hours. I would have to return in the spring to hike the resulting gap, but I wanted to do the eastern bifurcation at some point anyway, so no big deal, I could do all that on the same trip in 2025.
I posted on the Ice Age Trail FB group asking for help getting to the hospital in Antigo. One thing about this trail – there are no public transit options anywhere, there are no reliable Uber or taxi services anywhere.
SO MANY PEOPLE responded. So many people offered to come get me. Me, a total stranger. Me, a smelly injured hiker they had never met. I was humbled by everyone’s kindness and generosity.
Most folks who offered help could not get to me until the afternoon. One person – Penny Goldsmith – could come get me right away. Penny lives an hour and a half from Rosholt. Getting to Antigo takes over half an hour from Rosholt. So this kind woman offered to drive over four hours roundtrip to help a complete stranger. She is an angel.
I gratefully accepted her help and got to the hospital during late morning. Many thanks again to Penny, and to her daughter who joined her, for her generosity.
An MRI showed a stress fracture in my S1 vertebrae along with a pinched nerve.
I am an avid four season hiker who has been hiking constantly/weekly since 2008. During the months preceding the IAT, I hiked/walked multiple miles nearly daily, often carrying a full daypack. During the final few weeks before the IAT, I often carried a full and heavy thru-hiking backpack so I would feel good to go with the weight once I got on the IAT. I therefore suspect this issue began before I got on the IAT but did not intensify enough to affect me until the past week. I have a high pain tolerance, so usually by the time I feel an issue it has a) already been there a while and b) progressed to the point where immediate action must be taken.
Keep in mind I am 53 years old and starting to deal with the age-related bone density loss common to women of a certain age. Fractures of all kinds will come more easily to me now. I need to keep this in mind when prepping and training for any hike that requires carrying a full backpack. I may be at the point in my life where I need to spend more time easing into consecutive 15-25 mile trail days.
Anyway, I cannot carry a heavy pack for around two months. I can and should walk as I am able, just not with a heavy pack.
I write this five days after my hospital visit, and already the pain has diminished to a constant dull throbbing. No more shooting pain. I walked four total miles yesterday while visiting my daughter in San Francisco, and as long as I am not carrying anything heavy and rest when I feel the need (which is often), I am fairly fine. I am optimistic that by the time two months is over I will be good to go again.
A massive and huge thank you to the following people:
Penny Goldsmith for the ride to the hospital
Deb Allison-Aasby for her connections to people in Antigo and her checking in on me while I was there
Steve and Jackie Schroepfer who drove me a) from the Antigo hospital to my hotel and b) to and from the post office the next day so I could mail my backpack/gear
John Kruse for taking me to the airport in Green Bay
I will finish the IAT spring 2025. In the meantime, I have a very specific lifelong bucket list that includes visiting a lot of places. I will work on those goals while my S1 heals.