At a very slightly earlier time, we all made it out of our tents, and eventually around the breakfast … well, logs. While the fish continued to jump up over the lake to catch their breakfasts, we nearly emptied our packs of food, all the lighter for the march out.

The trip out being mostly down hill, we made excellent time at first, reaching the fork for our home of the previous night very quickly. We maintained the quick pace for a while, as we started decending down into the valley. The dappled sunlight proved to be tricky, however, as Steve took a hard fall over a root hidden in the shadows, slamming his chin into the ground and eating a mouthful of dirt. Once he felt he was ready to continue on, and the pace picked back up, the nausea that I almost felt coming on really did assert itself. When we stopped a bit later, I tried having a bit of a snack, in case it was a blood sugar issue, but not long thereafter, I was throwing up on the trail. I tried to shout out to Sue to let her know I was still behind (as I let the group know I wasn’t feeling well), but it’s amazing how much breath you don’t have when you’re throwing up. I slowed down significantly, but there was nothing for it but to keep going.

A Blurry Last Day

It hit me one more time, at an overlook where everyone stopped for a break, and there really was nothing left in my stomach, but it was still unhappy. At this point, in order to make this more doable, Sue traded me out some plain water for the Nuun (an electrolyte replacement water additive that I’ve had many times in the past) watered I had which would no stay in my stomach, Steve took my remaining water and tent to get about nine pounds out of my pack, and Bill took up rear guard, to make sure I was ok. All that remains in my memory is keeping one foot in front of the other and counting my breath. At one point, everyone regrouped, Bill took the car keys, trading positions to be in front, but eventually, we all met back at the car.

Twisp Restaurant Refuel

Twisp Restaurant Refuel

After a bit of initial cleanup and first aid on blisters and scrapes, we packed back in, and Bill drove us up to Twisp for lunch at the Twisp River Brew Pub. Fortunately, I was feeling well enough to think about food, and the waitress talked to the chef to turn what is ordinarily a madras curry into something gluten and dairy free, but also nice and easy on my stomach. Real food tasted wonderful. The others partook in the home brewed offerings the pub had.

There were just two more stops on the way home, or gas and for ice cream. And so, we ended back at the park an ride where we started, five hatchbacks lined up with hatches open, redistributing gear, giving our final hugs, and heading home.