Hike, Interrupted.
My brother set out this year to hike the Pacific Crest Trail. For the uninitiated, the trail runs from Campo, California, near the California/Mexico border, to Manning Park, British Columbia, on the Canadian/US border. That’s a distance of approximately 2,650 miles. He had taken a sabbatical from him job and planned on hiking for 5 months.
He had a Garmin GPS tracker that we all watched him on (“we” being his family, obviously), and it was fun to track his progress through the California desert. The photos he shared were all amazing, and at points he was above the clouds, hiking along at nearly 11,000 ft in places.
Unforunately his trip had to be cut short, as he developed “Anterior tibialis tendonitis plus pitting edema”. Essentially he was experiencing inflammation of the tendon at the front of his ankle and experiencing swelling from fluid buildup in the area. The doctor told him it would be best to heal for at least a month. So after discussing it with his wife, he decided he was done for this year.
The good news is we got to see him a lot sooner than expected. It was nice having him visit, even if only for just 5 days. We spent the time eating crappy food and talking about his adventures. Even if his hike was cut early, he still managed to hike 400+ miles. Not too shabby for someone in their early 50s!