I'm off for another little walk (2,800 miles)

[Riverkilt]

Aye GMan,

But I know you know that trail is HIGH!

I worked the mine above Ouray and on our day off we'd jeep up to places like American Flats in the San Juans. The air was so thin that even our young muscular bodies felt it. When we fired a rifle it sounded like a cap gun.

I know Andrew's an expert. Just that altitude can hammer folks and you never know who's gonna get hammered and who isn't. Nothing to take lightly. Guessing that Andrew's well prepared.

Ron

[HeathBar]

Everyone,

I just read Andrew's journal, and he needs some prayers, positive thoughts, and what ever else can be done. It sounds like he's been hit with a lower intestinal bug. Water sources were scarce and what was available wasn't always clean, even with his filter. He's had to adjust his route and traveled north to hike a section going southbound to avoid deep snow. Due to this adjustment, he is hiking by himself.

If you have a chance, read his journal and sign his guestbook. Let's give him the encouragment he needs to complete his journey, once he is healthy.

Here is a link to his journal.
http://www.trailjournals.com/haiku_cdt/

[Andrew Breecher]

Thanks a lot for the support, Heath. I thought I was over my G-I bug (probably food-borne and not water-borne, though), but then it hit me again a week later as I was hiking in Wyoming. It probably didn't help that it was 96 degrees and NO available shade. Or that I'd just hiked 150 miles in five days. I'm now resting in Boulder, CO, with some friends until I feel like I can hike again. That's going to take being able to keep anything that I eat in my stomach, and drinking a lot of fluids to make up for being severely dehydrated.

Riverkilt - once you hike for a day or two at altitude you pretty much get used to it. Well, most people do. Since the trail averages at about 10,000' for southern Colorado, it's pretty easy to get used to it. Sometimes I have to take one or two deep breaths to catch my lungs up, but I've also been hiking at over 7,000' for over a month. I tend to get hit once I go over 8,000', but after hiking at that altitude for a day (and sleeping at altitude gets you used to it really quickly) I'm fine. There were a few days when I camped over 12,000', and other than being colder than down lower, it wasn't hard at all to hike. Well, it was hard to hike, but that's because I was sloshing through waist-deep snow. My record for that section was nine postholes in a row.

The Great Divide Basin definitely wasn't difficult, apart from not having very much water. The walking was easy, 99% along dirt roads and two-tracks, and I was able to hike 30 miles a day easily. Except I wasn't eating, because I was still sick, so I didn't have a lot of energy. Fun stuff.

Andrew.