Giardia Delay

Garrison Keillor used to open the story portion of his “A Prarie Home Companion” show with the phrase “It’s been a quiet week in Lake Wobegon…” By contrast, my past week has been eventful. After reuniting with my hiking brother MAV to tackle the final few hundred miles to the border together, I managed to contract giardia again, having also dealt with it toward the end of my Continental Divide Trail thru-hike back in 2019. That time I spent weeks on the trail struggling with the effects before getting diagnosed and treated after returning home with Wendy. For better or worse, this time around I recognized the onset and symptoms within a day and- thanks to MAV’s buddy Tim from their days in the Marines together- was able to climb down a couple thousand feet from the trail near Idyllwild, California and get to a hospital for tests, IV and treatment meds.

Tim picked us up from the trailhead, drove me to the hospital and two different pharmacies, then took us back to his home where I’ve been recovering. I can keep food down now and expect to be fully on the mend within another day or so, when MAV and I will resume the hike for the final 170 miles to the border.

In the absence of any other roadblocks or delays, we expect to wrap up after about one more week of hiking, give or take. Despite the loss of appetite and energy and extreme discomfort/embarrassment of uncontrollable diarrhea (yeah, definitely not kidding about that “uncontrollable”part), it’s still been amazing hiking with a trail companion and we’ve had an excellent time. The pictures on this post continue to portray a landscape far more diverse than the “PCT Desert Section” label implies.

As we wait out my recovery, Tim has been an absolutely incredible, generous host, upending both his work and weekend schedules to accommodate us and making me feel completely at home in his beautiful house. The three of us all lived in Japan during several overlapping years, so there’s been plenty to discuss and reminisce.

Thank you all again for your ongoing interest in this thru-hike! Barring any further drama, my next post will likely be after I return home (Spokane again!) from the trail. Once again, there are new videos on my YouTube channel, (videos 73-75 are new) so give that a look-see as well! Love and best wishes to you all! Max