Trekker's Log, 4-27-07

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!