Well, today started off great. The end...not so good. Got up and out of Bloomfield early. Ran to Walmart and got on the road to Arches. After stopping at the Four Corners, I ended up in Arches a little before 2pm. Went and setup my tent...the campground is awesome in terms of the setting. Then went to hike the Devils Gardens Trail, a 6-7 mile trail that leads you to several arches. It's a good hike and actually kind of a tough trail to follow at times because it is primitive. I ran into a BUNCH of French folks. When I parked, a mom and her son and daughter were just getting back. I asked how long it took and they said 2 hours. I reenforced..."2 hours to do the whole thing?" "Yes." I was pretty sure that wasn't possible unless they ran it. I anticipated 4-5 hours. I clocked in right at 3 hours. The first portion of the trail is nonprimitive and probably 2 miles total, give or take. I think this is what they spent 2 hours doing. They sounded German, but with all the French people there, they could have been French. They had accents. That's all I know.
I packed 80oz of water in my bladder and carried an extra 20 in a bottle so I'd know when I was getting to the end. It was HOT, and there is no shade at all. The average "tree" height is probably 4-6 feet. There are some occasional trees that may get up to 20 feet. The heat was definitely more tolerable than what I'm used to at home...100F with 80+% humidity. I made the trail without any issues. Got back to my car. That's where something went wrong. I drank about a half bottle of water on the way back to the campsite. Got my chair out and decided to snooze some. I probably sat there an hour. There was nice set of clouds moving through providing much needed shade. I didn't feel good. I thought I was just tired, so I got my sleeping pad out and tried to rest in the tent for a few. All I did was sweat. Every time I tried to get up, I thought I was going to pass out...for those who care, I still had good urine output. I decided to get in the car and drive around in the A/C. I started getting nauseated. I was even driving without my seatbelt (stupid, I know) so I'd have enough time to jump out if I had to. Everything was rolling through my head...heat exhaustion? dehydration? altitude sickness? foodborne illness? I, honestly, haven't felt that bad in forever. I decided to make the drive into Moab, both to drop in altitude and to consider getting a hotel room for the night. I pulled into the Holiday Inn Express parking lot and promptly expelled my gastric juices...my apologies to the black Camry with California plates. I didn't feel great immediately afterwards but started to feel much better within about 10 minutes. So, here I am laid up at the Comfort Suites for the night! Sipping on water and about to go to sleep. I tried to get in touch with the Parks Service to let them know I'm not missing when they find my tent and nobody associated with it, but they take no calls after 4pm. I left a message on Sue's voicemail...whoever that is.
I've pretty much decided this was all something I ate, though I'm not 100% sure. Altitude sickness typically doesn't strike until above 8000ft, and I was no higher than 5500...I came down to about 4000. I had a Subway sandwich for lunch so that's getting the blame for now, but I really wouldn't have expected it to take 6+ hours to affect me. It could have been the heat but I've never had it affect me like that. I was miserable. To the point where I wondered if I needed to check myself in at the ER.
On the bright side, I got to clean off all the dirt and sand that was coating my legs. I did pretty good with the sunblock, except for the back of my calfs. We'll see what happens tomorrow. I'm suppose to take the Fiery Furnace tour tomorrow at 9am but I'm thinking that's not a good idea. There are plenty of short trails that lead to arches that I plan on trying tomorrow afternoon after I've rested up. Hopefully, tomorrow tonight will be under the stars!
Pictures of Arches to come soon...probably Friday or Saturday when I get to Anaheim.
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