Hiking 1:32:53 [1] 4.3 mi (21:36 / mi) +689m 14:25 / mi
One of those days where almost everything that went wrong went wrong. It started off with planning. I went up last night to stay with Lindsay and today we were planning to go to the Darn Tough sale (which we did, and it was awesome). She was planning a morning hike and I did not inquire how much of a hike it was but it sounded pretty tame.
Halfway up I realized I had not brought any pants other than jeans.
No worries. Dinner, sleep, driving up to Hunger Mountain in the morning. All the hills were white. Still not realizing what was going on. Grabbed my less tread-y shoes and got in her car for the last segment (yay, carpooling). Met Anna (who I worked with in 2011 at Mizpah) and her sister (good skier, might be interested in ski-o) and we started up. About 200m in I thought I should go back and get gloves, but didn't. I had an orange vest on (hunting season) but had left my puffy jacket in the car (it's orange, too). There was snow on the ground. I was expecting a couple mile hike with some moderate elevation.
It got snowier. And icier. None of us had microspikes which would have been key. Near the top, icy ledges we struggled in a few inches of snow; I borrowed Elissa's extra socks to keep my hands from freezing and we pushed on to the summit. The view was great. It was wintry. We'd climbed to 3500 feet, 2200 feet above the trailhead. I was not expecting that kind of elevation, and the associated weather.
Then we started down. I needed to keep moving to stay warm and Elissa and I got ahead of Anna and Lindsay chattering about skiing and rollerskiing (and me selling her on O). About two thirds of the way down we decided to stop and wait for them; it was warmer there. I hadn't had any water all day, and was maybe still somewhat dehydrated from rollerskiing (but thought I'd rehydrated last night). I was also having the phenomenon where I regain warmth in my extremities and sometimes I get a bit nauseous when that happens.
Then I felt very light-headed. Then I went to try to prop myself against a tree and fainted. Then I was able to stumble/crawl to a rock and try to catch my breath. I had no idea what was going on. I barely had my faculties, didn't want food or water, and just wanted to get up and go down, no matter the consequences. Elissa offered me an apple and I wanted no part of it but said I had gels in my drink belt and had her take out one of those. We stumbled down the mercifully gradual and by this point not icy trail, and about a minute later I broke open the gel and started sucking it down.
Two minutes later, I was ready to run. It was really super quick. It must have been some weird bonk—maybe that I didn't notice because with the ill-preparedness we were going much slower than I usually would—that snuck up on me to that degree. Thank goodness it happened at the bottom, and thank goodness it passed. But it's a great lesson: be prepared, ask questions, turn back if you forget something, and just don't be stupid. It all could have added up to disaster today. It didn't. But it was sobering.
We now return you to your regularly scheduled training.