“Riding the Norovirus Dragon”

AT Day 17

Miles: 0

Total Miles: 289.52

(Hot springs, NC)

It’s definitely getting to me.

This isn’t fun anymore.

Four days laid up with an infection in my distal, left leg, and now I have norovirus…

I made it 24 miles from Brown Gap yesterday to Hot Springs. Got checked into the campground, visited some other hikers at the brewery last night, and came back to camp around 9:30. I had a message on my phone from another hiker, warning that there’s a norovirus outbreak, likely coming from Standing Bear Hostel, where I stayed for 4 nights.

Several people were sick there, so it should be no surprise that I contracted it.

It was around 1am that I woke up last night. Puked violently for around 30 minutes, hobbled through the dark to the bathroom and showers (.3 miles away from my tent), then spent the rest of the night absolutely miserable.

It’s so frusterating. I’ve had better hygiene on this trail than any of the others I’ve hiked. I knew coming into this hike that Norovirus historically spreads on the AT every summer. But I guess I thought I was going to get through without catching it.

Impossible to say how I contracted it, but after 4 days at Standing Bear, I have to believe it was from there. I’ve counted 5 hikers who have contracted it in the last 3 days, and several more at Standing Bear who were sick while I was resting my injured leg.

Needless to say, I feel like garbage. Haven’t been throwing up since that first episode, but hot flashes, shivers, lethargy, no energy, and I feel like I got hit by a truck. My body hurts… bad.

Good news: while I was bobbling over to the bathrooms last night, trying to puke discretely on the side of the road (unsuccessful with the discretion part, by the way), I did observe that my ankle is feeling a lot better. So I’ve remedied that just in time to get knocked on my face by Noro.

It’s sunny today. Absolutely beautiful. It kills me to not be on trail, considering all the rain we’ve been having, but I couldn’t hike even if I tried. Just walking to the dollar general to get some pedialyte was about all I could do. I’m really rough today!

For all that I do like about the AT, it is not my favorite trail. At this time it’s quickly becoming the worst thru hike experience of my life. Today was the first time that the thought of quitting entered my mind–not in a really serious way, but in a way where I realized that nothing is forcing me to stay out here in this… except the things I’m probably running away from back home.

This is a really hard chapter for me.

I won’t go so far as to say that I regret being here, but I will say that the last 17 days have reinforced my belief that I don’t like the AT. The culture is fun, and the people are good, but just being real–this trail fucking sucks. There’s almost no scenery. It’s wet. Everyone is sick. All the bugs and snakes are new to me. I’m terrified of Lyme disease…

Honestly I want this to be done.

There’s only maybe 90-100 days to go from here.

I’m hopeful that I’ll be feeling good enough to hike tomorrow. The time down this week is bothering me. My mental health is struggling. Some of the other hikers who have been sick have reported 3-4 days of being unable to hike. But after all that down time at Standing Bear, I’m going to lose it if I have to stay here another day.

Trying to keep my chin up, but my head aches enough that even that’s uncomfortable.

Hoping for better luck, less committing, reduced leg infection, and higher spirits tomorrow.

—

Continued:

Okay, I was admittedly a bit harsh this morning. I was still hurting pretty bad and feeling nauseous.

It’s evening now, and I’m back in my tent. Symptoms have reduced, and I’ve been able to eat some dinner with a couple other hikers.

Learned lots about Norovirus through Google searching as I laid in my tent through much of the day. Learned that I should be immune to catching this again for the next six months or so… at least it’s through my system now.

Had bad shivers and hot flashes today while I laid on my tent. But I came out at around 5:30 and have felt a lot better since.

I’m going to try to get some sleep and a good breakfast tomorrow, then hopefully get back to trail from there. Unknown how many miles I’ll be able to hike, and will need to feel this noro-thing out, but I feel pretty confident that I’ll be ready to go back to trail tomorrow.

Shame I couldn’t have hiked today, especially with beautiful weather, but fortunate that this hasn’t hit me worse than it did.

We count our blessings.

Wormwood.