The great norovirus test – The Trek

We made a late start heading back to the trail from Bland. Not wanting to hike too late, we found a random campsite right on the side of the trail. Not many exciting things happened here, except the fact that the next morning, Big Dripper and Salamander got their Bear stuck. I had to revive my old trail name, Mongo (I forgot to mention that my new trail name is now The Dearest of Boys) and find a big stick to help them take it down.

I had to stand on my bear can while Dripper lowered the branch.

The rest of the day was pretty easy. We passed the 600 mile marker and planned to spend the night at a gas station that offered camping and hot food. After crossing a fun suspension bridge and a short walk along the road, we arrived at the gas station and ordered some sandwiches. I will say that I was quite impressed with the Philly cheesesteak.

The gang having a snack at the 600 mile mark.

We paid for our camp and walked to the facilities. We decided it would actually be better to get back on the trail. I guess I wasn’t sure what to expect from a gas station camp, but it looked like the shower would end up dirtier on the way out than on the way in. Everything in the bathroom was covered in a thin layer of water and there was absolutely no toilet paper to be found. Our hygiene standards may have dropped since we were here, but this one just didn’t seem worth it.

We walked down the road for half a mile to the gas station.

We walked back to the gas station to get our money back and finally a very angry looking cashier gave us our cash back. It became a much more stressful debacle than necessary and we were running out of sunlight. With time being short, we ended up crossing the bridge and found a campsite full of trash.

It was an early morning wake up to reach Dismal Falls. We had been told a lot about this from Marion and were excited to spend a few hours just hanging out by the water. Along the way, Jessie wrote us down in the logbook. We think this may be where he contracted the virus.

The group sitting on top of Dismal Falls.

We walked up to a beautiful water staircase and prepared to relax at the top. It was a nice and relaxed moment. As we continued along, the trail was also nice and relaxing. It was a generally flat day that ended with a climb to the top of Sugar Run Mountain.

Daytime view of the ridge from Sugar Run.

The sunset from the top of Sugar Run.

The initial plan didn’t include camping at the top, but the view from the rocks was too good to pass up. We had dinner, watched the sunset, and climbed into the tent for an early morning walk to Pearisburg. While Jessie and I were laying there, she said, «Oh my God, I really don’t feel good.» Looking at his facial expression, I realized that it was a little more serious than the average stomach pain.

He stayed there for about 10 more minutes before saying he had chills. Not much more and she was quick to get out of the sleeping bag and run into the woods to vomit and relieve herself. I left the shop after her to make sure she was all right and found her in a very sorry state which she would not like me to write to her about in detail. All signs pointed to him having norovirus.

My mind immediately went into escape route mode. We had found a beautiful place to watch the sunset, but frankly, it was a terrible place to wait out an illness. The main thing about this disease is having easy access to water, and the unfortunate thing about mountain tops is that they tend to be far from all water sources.

I did a quick inventory and saw that we had 3 liters, which should have been enough to get us through the night. If I didn’t also get sick at some point during the night, I could run and get water from a stream 2 miles away and come back.

Poor Jessie was lying on the grass so she could throw up when she needed to without having to leave the store. I grabbed his sleeping bag and mat so he could spend his first night of cowboy camping on the AT. I then moved the tent to be closer to her so I could hear her and keep an eye on her throughout the night.

It was the first time we stayed all night in a long time. Jessie leaned off her mat about every 20 minutes to throw up everything in her stomach. All I could do was remind him to drink water and grab him more bottles as he used up each liter. It was truly one of the worst nights we have ever had.

Every time she did, she would eventually fall asleep for a few minutes. It would make me panic fearing that she had died. I always jumped out of the tent and checked to see if he was breathing. That’s how loud the sounds of some of the vomiting were.

Sunrise view from Sugar Run. We had been up all night, so seeing the beautiful sunrise was much needed.

When the sun finally rose, we immediately warned Salamander and Big Dripper to keep their distance. We realized the unfortunate reality that they had shared hummus with Jessie the night before. The tension in the air was quite palpable as they tried to find a way to get to the city before they had any symptoms.

Jessie in the morning. He wanted his picture taken so he could remember how stinky this damn thing was.

It was too late for Jessie and me. We knew to stay away from the hostels because we weren’t interested in infecting an entire group of hikers. Our only option was to wait at the top of Sugar Run Mountain. This is one of those unfortunate diseases where nothing can be done except get it all out of the body.

One of Pearisburg’s only motels was fully booked for the day. Not to mention Jessie couldn’t even get up and move 10 feet. Sal and The Drip were able to find transportation into the city and make some arrangements for the night. It was hard to say goodbye to them after traveling for a month straight camping together every night.

When they left, it was just Jessie and I up there, praying that I wouldn’t get sick too so I could continue taking care of her. We were starting to run out of water and I was debating how to get as much water as possible to the top of the mountain. I realized that Woods Hole, a very popular lodge, was just 2 miles from us down an access road.

I called them and our hero Neville answered me. She had offered to drive up the access road to the cell tower at the top (if the gate was open) and take us to her forest, where there was a stream and she camped away from other people. She just needed me to explore and see if the door had a lock.

Once I made sure Jessie was okay for a while, I walked down the street to meet her. I was a little distressed to discover that the door was, in fact, closed. We were still a little stranded. Instead, the plan changed and Neville brought us 3 gallons of water to the door. After thanking him profusely, I carried the gallons of water up the hill to wait out the rest of the night.

Jessie had finally gotten over the vomiting and diarrhea part of the illness and was now completely exhausted of strength. Since water was no longer a concern, we just rested all day. One problem with being nauseous and packing all the food is that spam singles, tuna, packets, easy cheese, summer sausages and pop tarts sound really terrible for a sick stomach.

Jessie was asleep before the sun set. We were exhausted.

Jessie was able to hold down a pop tart, but a pretzel sent her into a bout of nausea again. All we can do is hope that a good night’s sleep gives him enough strength to walk downhill 2 miles to Woods Hole.

Fortunately, we both slept through the night and Wood’s Hole gave us time to meet at noon to catch a shuttle into town. Plenty of time to go down the hill as slowly as possible. I made sure to call the motel to reserve the last available room so Jessie could relax with a real bath and shower. All we had to do was get there.

Jessie says goodbye to the beautiful sight.

He seemed to feel better enough to walk. I had initially planned to make two trips carrying my backpack and then hers, but fortunately, she seemed well enough to carry hers. We took it easy to Woods Hole and finally arrived at their parking area where we waited so as not to contaminate the common areas.

Woods Hole Hostel, seen from the parking lot. I wish we had stayed.

«Big Breakfast» took us into town and we were pleasantly surprised to find our motel room was ready. Jessie got into the shower and I ran to Food Lion to buy her soup and a big can of Lysol sanitizer. I returned and found her comfortably in bed and warmed her soup. His appetite had returned at this point and he was now drinking all the chicken noodles, electrolytes, and applesauce he could.

Jessie’s sick food. This is the first real food he had in two days.

I began removing his equipment and soaking him in Lysol for the recommended 10 minutes each. I made sure to spray mine too just in case. We turned on the TV to INSP and watched old westerns for a few hours. This was a kind of test to see how all the soup would settle in his stomach.

Absolutely wetting your clothes with Lysol before washing clothes.

We then went up a step and ordered food at The Happy Hog and got a burger with caramelized onions, bacon, pork rinds, cheese grits and mashed potatoes. It was safe to say that his appetite was back to full strength. He ate it all in 10 minutes and felt completely fine. What a wild disease!

A rather picturesque gastronomic lion.

Although he no longer had symptoms, Noro is known to be contagious for up to three days. Even when she was feeling better, I decided to do the refilling on my own to be safe. I felt a little strange carrying a week’s worth of groceries for two people across the street in my arms.

Now that all the city chores were done and Jessie was feeling better, I could finally go to sleep. Tomorrow will end up being a pretty big day for me as I plan to ride back and catch up on the bits we had missed and meet Jessie in town for another 10 mile push. This way she can sleep in and I can still do my best to be an AT purist.

We are both very happy that you are feeling better. All the setbacks and difficulties have affected morale. We just hope we can catch up with our friends soon!