“Zero Day”

AT Day 14

Miles: 0

Total Miles: 265.29

(Standing Bear)

I didn’t see myself staying here at Standing Bear for anywhere near this long when I hobbled in on Tuesday. But here I am, it’s now Thursday, and I’m still sitting here, wondering if it’ll even be possible to get back to trail tomorrow or if I’m going to be waiting this out until Friday or Saturday.

It’s been a mental struggle.

Fortunately the other hikers here are mostly friendly, the cost of staying is fairly inexpensive, the place is very 420 friendly, and they have pizza and (na) beer. Pizza and (na) beer add up after a few days though. So I’m sort of staring to go a bit looney. Hopefully recovery isn’t far off.

—

Last night was a lot of fun with all the other hikers here. There were probably 15 hikers plus the hostel staff. Camp fire. Most people drinking. I had a lady named Mamma Bear paint two of my fingers with pink polish and AT logos. Or I should say that she was extremely insistent that she do so, and so I allowed it.

It was the most communal experience I’ve had on trail so far, but it’s also hard because I wanted to head back to trail with most of them today. Unfortunately, my lower leg is still pretty messed up, and hobbling between the bunk house and the common area is about as much as I can handle.

I slept horrible last night. A combination of my body trying to fight the infection, I assume. As well as the absolute loudest snores from one of the bunk mates that I’ve ever witnessed. It would not have been inappropriate to call for medical assistance to make sure this guy wasn’t actively dying. But after a few hours of it, I assumed he was probably going to survive the night–although his chances of survival surely would have been higher if he had a CPAP machine… That dude was LOUD!

I tried ear plugs, but I still couldn’t even get close to sleeping. So I took my bag and pad and went outside to sleep on the deck. After that I slept soundly enough that I didn’t hear the bear that rummaged through the trash overnight. It couldn’t have been more than 15 feet away from where I was trying to sleep.

It’s been just a little over 24 hours since I started the Doxycycline cycle. Doctor indicated i should start seeing improvements within 24-48 hours. I’ve spent most of today laid back, with my foot kicked up high, hoping that it’ll help with swelling.

I want to say that I’m starting to feel just a little bit better over the last hour or two, but it’s hard to say. I’m definitely nowhere near a place where I can start back to trail yet. But if I feel better by tomorrow morning then I’ll get a ride back to Brown Gap, where I was picked up yesterday, and start north towards Hot Springs again. If things still aren’t improved tomorrow I’m planning to go into Asheville, NC to get out of here for just a little while. I’m going just a bit stir crazy sitting here, especially as the weather has been mostly good today and all I want to be doing is hiking.

Such is life.

Wormwood.