Shakedown Breakdown! – The walk

The truth of shakedown

Most of us know how important so-called shakedown hikes are, because there is simply no substitute for experience when it comes to hiking, or anything else. You can read articles and posts on social media and you can watch YouTube videos until you go cross-eyed, and those can be great sources of information for sure. But there’s nothing like planning, packing, slinging your backpack, hiking, camping, cooking, urinating and defecating in the woods to test the reality of AT. It’s like falling in love. No one else can do it for you.

And so, I did the test walk. I started by setting up my new tent on our front porch and sleeping outside one very cold night. Approval. Good. A little bit of reality, but not much. At least I learned how to set up the tent. Then I took a couple of quiet local excursions to the state parks here in Delaware. I learned how to use my equipment, which was great. Delaware is a very beautiful place, but it is quite temperate and absolutely flat. So I was ready to move on to bigger and better extortion situations.

Moving up

Next I decided to plan a real mountain hike. He planned to arrive at the whites at the end of August and again in October. On the August trip, I planned to do a Pemi Loop. This is an infamous multi-day trip around a glacial cirque encompassing Franconia Ridge, Mount Garfield, Twins, and Bonds. The loop begins and ends at the Lincoln Woods Visitor Center. It is just over 30 miles long and passes some of the highest peaks in the Whites. Most people do it in 2 or 3 days. I planned to do it in 3 or 4 days, using three established tent sites (Liberty Spring, Garfield Ridge, Guyot) and thinking it would be a conservative and safe trip for a rather out of shape, chubby old lady with bad knees. But, you know, “best laid plans” and all that.

breaking down

The first day was long and brutal. My lack of form became painfully evident as soon as the trail became real and I began climbing Mount Flume. Dragging my 32-pound backpack and 160-pound body up the steep rocks and stairs (many of them) nearly killed me. But I stumbled upon the Liberty Spring store site with enough daylight to set up, make dinner, and socialize a bit. I slept like a stone. That first day it was 7 miles and it took me 9 hours. Oh.

The second day, which I thought would be a little easier (another 7 or 8 miles over Franconia Ridge to the Garfield Ridge store site) turned out to be my downfall. I was already bruised, bruised and stiff as a board from day one. Why did I think I could go from the couch to carrying a backpack up and down steep, steep mountains without a problem? On top of all that, I ran out of water. Well, almost.

New England was in the midst of a severe drought. I knew it and thought I had planned accordingly. That’s why I planned to stay in the established tent sites. They all had reliable water sources. The problem is that I never made it to the second store site on the second day.

It was clear and sunny…a fantastic day to hike Franconia Ridge…but I was too slow. Because it couldn’t go faster. As the day progressed, I had less and less strength in my legs. So I started using my arms a lot more to do a lot of rock flips. Then I had less and less strength in my arms. I started to go even slower. Sensing trouble, I began to ration my almost 3 liters of water. When I finally reached the top of Mount Lafayette at 4:30 in the afternoon, I knew I wouldn’t make it to the next campsite or the next water source. So I rationed even more and moved on.

Finally, just before nightfall, I set up camp somewhere in the woods between Franconia Ridge and Mount Garfield. The next day I had enough water for dinner and breakfast, with a few sips left over. I had never slept alone in the woods before and always thought it would be scary. It wasn’t! It was beautiful, peaceful and amazing. I was a little sick and in quite a bit of pain but, again, I slept like a rock.

Amazing Grace and Trail Angels watching over me

The next day, I broke camp and walked to the Garfield Ridge tent site. There was no water. Anywhere. After a few hours, I started to feel really sick and weak. I prayed. I was wondering whether to ask for help. Not to rescue me, but to please someone, please bring me some water. I began to notice the first signs of the “wobbles”…stumbling, stammering, and clumsiness…and I knew I was getting into trouble. Finally, I saw a flash of sunlight along the trail in front of me. On the ground. It was the most beautiful little mud puddle I have ever seen! I stopped, filtered, drank, drank and drank. Thank you God! Thanks for the miraculous mud puddle!

I stumbled upon the Garfield Ridge tent site late in the afternoon. I can’t even begin to imagine what I would look like, but I didn’t really care. The biggest problem now was that he couldn’t walk anymore. Not precisely. One of the other people there said he walked like a fawn. I think that was pretty descriptive. He was walking on tiptoe, basically lame.

At dinner, I met a lovely man named Bruce from Arlington MA who was out for the night with his dog Beau. He offered to walk me down the mountain the next day and take me to my car, which was located 45 minutes from where his car was parked. I warned him that I couldn’t really walk and that it would take a long time to get down. «Well, that’s why you shouldn’t be alone,» he said kindly.

The next morning, Bruce, my trail angel, and his angel dog Beau, slowly, painfully, and patiently escorted me down the mountain. I will never forget your kindness. It might have even saved my life. I preached on them a few days later. I am an Episcopal priest and that Sunday’s gospel spoke of Jesus teaching his followers to help those who could not pay them. It was perfect. My congregation was able to “meet” Bruce and Beau in my sermon. I was and still am very, very grateful to them.

Shakedown Shakeout

What did I learn? Oh my goodness, where to start! First, the final tally of my injuries from this trip was this: severe dehydration that took days to completely resolve, countless bruises practically everywhere and especially on my legs, a sprained right ankle, a perhaps broken coccyx (tail bone), a broken left knee that took months to rehabilitate, and bruised feet that lost 6 out of 10 toenails. Yuck!

I learned to never overestimate my abilities.

I learned to never underestimate my need for water.

I always learned to say “yes, please” to offers of help.

I learned to never doubt God’s ability to save me from myself.

Shakedown some more

After a long healing process, I planned and did another test hike in the Whites in mid-October. I planned it very conservatively and tried to prepare my body for the challenge. It worked! I had a great time, modified my gear, and gained some realistic confidence in my abilities. Hurrah!

And now, to the OT!

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