4/27/07, first rest day, and travel day.
This is the story of Mat’s Incident, and I’ll just relate it in first-person. …Mat
As stated in the last entry, the hiking group was exhausted at the end of the first day on the trail, and I had had a big problem that I didn’t really know about. ~~ and as I stated earlier, the group made what turned out to be the best possible decision.
What happened was this: With Audrey driving, and Pem and Joseph riding along in the back, I was trying to go to sleep, but passed out. Audrey didn’t know I was trying to go to sleep, and when she got no response to a question she asked, she glanced at me to discover that I was staring at the dashboard of the car, eyes wide open, and NOT responsive. The rig was stopped, and my three companions did what they could to bring me around, and after a minute or two I was, indeed, responsive again and asking what had happened. Our trip back to Columbus continued without any repetition of that incident.
At the campground, the group made two decisions, just a bit over my protests, but I began to realize that no one was going to hike tomorrow, so that they could be sure I would not try to hike tomorrow. Audrey was adamant that I was going to get checked out by a doctor in Silver City, and Joseph helped the group to decide to move the Challenge hiking off the desert until later, and to continue it in the Silver City area.
After breakfast, we all went over to Silver City, most of the group to the KOA Kampground, while Audrey and I went to the Gila Medical Center. Since the Emergency Room serves as the outpatient clinic at this facility, Audrey and I spent five hours there, for each emergency took priority over out-patient cases. (That, of course, is as it should be.) I submitted to several different tests, including an EKG, and at the end of the five hours, the doctor in charge, the physician’s assistant and the nurse who spent a lot of time with me, Audrey, and I were all satisfied that what had happened to me was an isolated incident, not related to any physical condition that might prevent me from continuing the Challenge, and not likely to recur. The diagnosis was heat exhaustion combined with dehydration, the prognosis highly positive. All the tests showed normal physical condition, and I was declared fit to continue.
But Hey! The pine tree telegraph must be the fastest means of communication, for I began to hear all kinds of different versions of what had happened. These misunderstandings need to be overcome. I am convinced that what happened to me was, indeed, the result of my own lack of preparation. The hike was NOT longer than it should have been, it was just longer than I mistakenly thought it would be. There was NO missing water cache, I simply failed to carry enough water. Anyway, I learned several good lessons from this, and will apply those lessons all along in the days and weeks that will follow.
So, down the trail we go. Uncle Sam collects the mail at the Silver City KOA!
4/26/07, first day of hiking, Mexico Border to trailhead at Sheridan Canyon.
Several people hiked together on this first day of hiking. Writer John Fayhee walked with us for at least 100 yards while photographing the beginning of the hike. His article in the Sunday Silver City Sun-News was a wonderful article, thorough and complete in coverage of what the Rotary CDT Challenge is all about.
Challenge team member Julie Mercurio provided the shuttle service, and had the cars waiting for us at the end of the day. Hikers included Audrey Matson and Suzanne Barkley, team members from Conifer, Colorado, team member Jon Mercurio of Las Cruces, Pem Sherpa and Mat Matson, celebration group team members, and celebrity hiker (official team member not yet) Joseph Gendron of Silver City. The group endured the 88-degree heat of the desert while hiking into the Big Hatchet Mountains on the way to the top of Sheridan Canyon. The water supply ran low, and the hikers were exhausted by the time they reached the bottom of the canyon near sunset. At the end of the day, the hike had logged 13 miles, several more miles than most of the hikers had expected.
The hike started out on the newly designated official trail through BLM land. That meant that we were looking for the trail signs and the windmill landmark as we went along, but instead of being on carved-out tread, we were walking across grassy desert, sometimes with a few bushes and sometimes with some brambles to negotiate. The worst of the brambles, according to Jon, is aptly named the "Spanish Dagger!"
Heading into the mountains on a two-track tread which became less evident, then disappeared into the kind of trail most people expect, we were suddenly surprised as we crossed an old two-track road of some kind, to meet an empty school bus with only the driver, then a pickup truck with a driver who yelled at us that she was having the time of her life, and a tractor with a front-end loader and backhoe carrying some soil, trash, and a plant. We never figured out where that set of three rigs came from or where they were going!
The group arrived back at Pancho Villa State Park just in time to get some pizza at the local super market. The evening ended with the group discussing at length just what should be the plan for the next day, particularly given what had happened to Mat. As it turned out, the group made what later seemed to be exactly the right decision.
4/19/07 – 4/25/07, on the way to the southern portal of the Continental Divide National Scenic Trail.
We had a good trip to the southern end of the CDT. It started with our Rotary District Conference in Colorado Springs. After leaving there on Sunday noon, we arrived in Santa Fe in time to have dinner with our trail angel, Marcia DeChadenedes and her husband, and Jessica Terrell, Trails Coordinator with New Mexico State Parks.
On Monday, Pem and I were guests at the Rotary Club of Albuquerque. We were called forward for an introduction from the podium, and a club banner exchange.
Tuesday morning found Audrey, Pem and I at the Rotary Club of Santa Fe Centro, where our presentation was the program. After a long, no-stops-allowed trip to Truth or Consequences, Audrey driving at the limit and carefully, our presentation was the program at the Rotary Club meeting there as well. Banners were also exchanged with both of these clubs. That evening we were with our dear friends, Jon and Julie, in Las Cruces.
We had the privilege of sharing breakfast with Nate Cote on Wednesday morning. Nate is a CDTA Trail Volunteer who is in the New Mexico State Legislature. He was instrumental in getting a Memorial passed in the Legislature urging funding for the completion of the CDT in New Mexico. That is the first, and only, such legislative resolution in any of the states containing the Trail. At noon, Pem and I attended the Rotary Club of Las Cruces, where we had a podium introduction again, and had several members wanting to visit with us after the meeting. That evening found us at The Pink Store in Palomas, Mexico, for a kickoff of the hiking part of the Challenge. Rotarians from Deming and several people from Columbus, New Mexico shared that time with us. There were seventeen people gathered, and yes, the celebration did include photos beside or under the statue of Generals Pancho Villa and "Black Jack" Pershing shaking hands after a treaty signing. (Pink Store Photos LINK)
We camped at Pancho Villa State Park in Columbus that night, anxious for an end to talking the talk, and a beginning to walking the walk the next morning.
Preparation Day and Presentation to home club, the Rotary Club of Conifer.This was the first "official" event of the Rotary CDT Challenge. Club members were very receptive to the program, which features a PowerPoint Presentation on the Continental Divide National Scenic Trail (CDT). The Challenge, by the way, is just one of several International Community Service Projects sponsored by this 39-member club.Club members have already embraced in a significant way the contributions part of the Challenge. The club was asked to sponsor a trail segment, contributing $19,400 toward the goal of $1,000 per mile for the 3100-mile trail. Every member of the club responded, and a total of over $27,000 was pledged, to be contributed on or before March 31, 2009. The Rotary Club of Conifer is truly Leading the Way in this respect!
One foot in Mexico, One foot in the United StatesMat Matson
Pem Dorjee Sherpa
Let's get this underway, shall we?
Audrey Matson
Left to Right: Joseph Gendron, Jon Mercurio, Suzanne Barkley, Mat Matson, Julie Mercurio, & Pem Dorjee Sherpa
A watersource- it was dry.
The group didn't think they needed the water at that point in the day. Later, though, some of them (Mat and Audrey Matson) ended up suffering from dehydration! It was a long, warm day on the trail.
Pem Dorjee Sherpa and Mat Matson
I never would have guessed they'd see a school bus on the CDT.
Suzanne Barkley
Silver City Sun-News article linkThis is a really informative and interesting article! Also included is a photo of the first few steps on the trail taken by the adventurers.(I'll be posting other Trek photos soon... --Mindy)
