Monday, August 24, 2009

Hike: Siphon Draw, including Flatiron

What I thought began as a great hike on a wonderful route Saturday, turned out quite badly for me. It leaves me still today with more questions than answers to my future in endurance or perhaps athletics at all.

A very brief synopsis of the route. From the Lost Dutchman State Park (LDSP) its a pleasant hike to a Wilderness Gate and then a rocky uphill to a seasonal waterfall called Siphon Draw. It is then an increasingly steep scramble towards the top of the Superstition Mountains with occasional areas of vertical bouldering. The route is on the right side of mountain in the header above this blog.

This should have been easy for me. And in fact the trip to the dry waterfall was uneventful. The storm the night before left the temperatures much lower but the humidity much higher. Knowing this I brought 180 oz of water in my pack, its only contents other than my survival kit and some calories.

I began to fatigue about 3/4 of the way up. I sometimes used rest steps, which is not unusual for me. I rested five minutes of every thirty, but again I build in rests because I tend to miss whats around me if I don't. At the top I rested and enjoyed myself for 45 minutes. I felt good. I also considered something that I noticed with most other people on the mountain, I had significantly more water than anyone else, that I could see. Many people bringing just one or two liters with them. I drank 3 liters (100 oz) just getting to the top.

One of my outdoor idols is mountaineer Ed Viesturs, he is famous for living the phrase, "Getting to the top is optional, getting down is mandatory."

The decent began innocently enough. Then I began to cramp in my quadricep. Hard. Those that do endurance races like marathons and Ironmans understand the sudden onset of rigored spasms that leave a person in what can only be described as an agonized state of tazer, knowing that there is still hours of movement to go.

The cramping came and went, as it often does, and I dealt with it like many of us do, I pushed through it. But for once I considered my age, which is a new weakness for me. I may have been the oldest person I saw on the route the whole day. My knees ached and I was sweating like a colander holds water. I felt old, or perhaps something else.

At some point with 1.5 miles to go, I really started to fall apart. Mentally and physically. I replayed the Ironman that nearly cost me my life a year and a half ago and all the things I have done since to avoid this very moment. All the promises I was breaking to my family, my friends, being in this state of collapse. It only sped my decline.

The heat, humidity and physical defections continued to compound. My training took me back to accomplishing simple goals; get to the next curve, walk to the next rock. I could not simply sit down in the unshaded desert and expect relief. Looking at my GPS I realized on the way up I had plugged in a way point for a campground shower area just off trail. I was a half mile away from that and my car a half mile again past. My goal became to reach this peice of civilation and cool myself under a shower and rest inside before going further. I could not get more wet than I was from sweat.

As I approached the campground my face began to tingle like a low voltage current passing through it. A sure sign of heat injury, as if I needed more evidence.

I sat in a shower stall for several minutes before I reached for the knob to turn it on. It didn't work. Nor did the other. I went to the sink basin and poured water over my head and torso with a water bottle but realized the enclosed room was not cooling me down as much as the wind would outside, so I slung my now empty pack over my shoulder and went to my car letting the wind cool the water on me. The hike really was beatiful and I know that any other day I would have greatly appreciated the wonder of nature around me. But my quad was feeling tazed with more regularity as I reached my car.

Unfortunately I knew what was coming when I stopped at my car which filed me more with dread than delight. You see when your in a state of cramping, your body gets accustomed to working a certain way and when you change that motion, by say sitting or crossing your leg, aggressive cramping attacks other areas of the body. In my case this day, the calf below my already cramping quad. Not usual. And half the toes of my opposite foot.

Now some people reading this can say they have had excruiating toe cramps, though I have heard of such things after ironman swims or cycling, I could not lay claim to this anomaly until today and oh my god I couldn't believe that the pain I felt along 18 inches of thigh for the last 90 minutes could be focused in three small toes all at once.

Now I suppose I am aggrandizing my suffering without really prescribing the right amount of stupidity I should have felt. Nothing made me feel worse the entire day than calling my wife and describing my condition. I went to place I promised I would never go again.

The rest of the day was spent in bed, dealing with cramp aftershocks, drinking cold beverages like Gatorade and apple juice and eating salty foods. The next morning I seemed to be most recovered except for the inital quad cramp that continues to frustrate me.


1 comment:

Wendy said...

I am encouraged to hear you are on the mend, but very concerned you ran into difficulty.

Heat + humidity are a dreadful combination.

Take care of yourself. Mae, Mo and Mistress need you!