Bill/Re: An accomplishment...

[Guest guest]

Bill,

Go ahead with your crowing self. That hike sounds like an

adventure! I am so proud of you making it to the end despite your

tiredness and faintness, not to mention those pesky biting

creatures..(haha) It's like the little cabbose that could..(haha)

What an accomplishement you have made in your life!

Keep up the good work,

--Caboose

> >

> > For the record: I had a LeForte I with the bilateral sagittal

> osteotomy

> > and jaw rotation on March 31. I'm still on a soft food diet.

> >

> > I went camping/hiking last weekend with a couple of friends of

> mine. We

> > were planning a big hike on Saturday -- a shuttle hike in the

Ansel

> > Wilderness area (California) that would also take us into

the

> back

> > side of Yosemite National Monument. Around 25 miles, all between

> 7000

> > feet and 11000 feet.

> >

> > I turned out to be the " caboose " (no surprise here). The hike

was

> quite

> > pretty, quite green, very few people (We ran into one group on

> their

> > eighth day of a backpacking trip, and a few more toward the end

of

> the

> > hike, but that's it).

> >

> > After a few miles, it was clear there was really no turning

back. I

> > stood a good chance of getting lost and not finding my way back

to

> the

> > start car. So on I went...

> >

> > Toward the higher elevations I started to get tired and faint.

You

> all

> > know why, but I think I was also getting a tiny bit of altitute

> > sickness. Nothing horrible, but I had to watch it carefully.

Like I

> > noted, there was no turning back.

> >

> > Near the top of one of the peaks there was an underground stream

> > protected by (but not fed by) a snow pack. No need to filter the

> water

> > -- no possible source of impurities -- and it was the best water

> I've

> > ever tasted, bar none.

> >

> > Once I started descending I began to feel more lucid. It was a

> looong

> > descent and I just about got carried away by mosquitos.

California

> had a

> > wet winter which means lush greens, standing pools of water and

> snow and

> > plenty of mosquitos. In spite of plenty of bug repellent I have

> several

> > hundred mosquito bites -- everywhere. If I take a shower I look

> like

> > I've got a bad case of chicken pox. But as time progresses I'll

> remember

> > the lush scenery more and less the mosquitos.

> >

> > But I made it...otherwise I wouldn't be typing this. The other

two

> > hikers helped me, of course, with words of encouragement and

> whatnot.

> >

> > So anyway....I wanted to crow for a bit.

> >

> > Bill