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Posted by Lynnette (75.163.78.98) on 11:23:20 08/16/11
I think I posted this someplace else, but I couldn't find it...
When we got back from our hike above Black Lake, the first people
we saw were Joshua and Daniel! Errrr.... They were supposed to be
at the Boulderfield, ready to summit Longs Peak in the morning.
Daniel told us the story........ Just before they had made it to
July camp (I think they may have gone too fast. They made it from
the trailhead to July camp in less than 4 hours... That's 10 miles
in the mountains on their first day. Maybe that was the problem,
maybe not. We will probably never know.), Joshua started to feel
really sick... headachy, upset to his stomach, etc. Daniel offered
to set up the tent by himself, and Joshua accepted the offer.
That's a clue to how miserable he was feeling. Daniel wanted to
explore the area.. Lake Nakoni, Lake Nanita, etc. Joshua just felt
like ... well.. doing absolutely nothing. Daniel went off exploring
while Joshua lay in the tent throwing up for most of the afternoon
and evening. (Which raises the question..... They knew they had to
pack all their food and anything with odors in the bear canister
and store it away from the tent. What do you do when you are sick
and throwing up? I know it has an odor..and so did they. But Joshua
needed to lay down... and it would hit too fast for him to get away
from the tent very far before... well.. you get the picture..
sorry.)
By the time it was dark, Joshua was feeling a little better and got
a pretty good night's sleep. Next morning, he was feeling quite a
bit better. The boys ate breakfast and headed over Flattop.
Unfortunately, before they started down, it hit again, and worse
this time. Joshua couldn't keep anything down, not even sips of
water. He was feeling too weak to walk, and terribly dizzy. He felt
as if "the world was turning green", like it does before he p@sses
out. Daniel took both packs and headed down towards Bear Lake for
help... but then he thought better of leaving his brother alone on
the mountain feeling as sick as he was... He met another hiker,
left the packs, and they both headed back up toward Joshua. Joshua
had felt a little better after resting and started to come down on
his own, but didn't know if he could make it much further. This
other hiker had a cell phone.. WITH RECEPTION.. (the boys had cell
phones, but neither one had reception)... and the rangers' phone
number programmed into it. He called the rangers who talked with
the boys and got an idea of what was going on. Daniel started to
help Joshua down Flattop and they met the rangers about a mile
above Bear Lake. The female ranger (Joshua thought her name was
Melissa) asked Joshua if he had any objection to her giving him IV
fluids. She gave him one bag quickly, then another bag slowly. When
Joshua tried to get up afterwards.. he felt MUCH better. The
rangers helped him down to Bear Lake where an ambulance waited to
take him to the hospital. The EMT checked him out and agreed that
he probably didn't need to go to the hospital at that point, so the
rangers just gave him a ride back to our campsite just outside of
Estes Park. By the time we got back from Black Lake, Joshua had had
a nap was was feeling fine.. back to normal! It had to have been
the altitude, but this was not the first time they had hiked in the
mountains. They have always pushed themselves from the first day
on... Why this happened on this trip, we don't know.
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