7.4 miles of hiking • 1500' elevation gain •
A beaufiful day in an awesome area turned out to be a death march! A few miles into the trail I started having stomach pains, and thought it was just indigestion. We kept going but the pain was only getting worse, so we turned around and headed back to the TH. I showed my wife how to send an SOS on our Delorme In-Reach Explorer in case I couldn't go further or passed out. We thankfully made it back to the car okay and headed back to Vancouver and to Emergency. The pain kept intensifying during the drive and all I could think of was would it be my Gall Bladder or Pancreas or something else? I arrived and checked in while my wife went home to drop off our gear. Amazingly, the pain started to subside after the EKG and blood tests! Everything was negative after the tests, and the diagnoses was Gastritis! The worrisome part is that I am already taking the medications they prescribed, but they had me go home anyway! No endoscopy, CAT-scan or MRI was ordered, and I have no clue what the cause really is? This happened once before about one month ago on the Cummins Creek Ridge Trail, but this time was much more painful. It now spooks me to go out hiking alone as I wouldn't be able to drive in this condition and would rather not have to be rescued. Thankfully, I had scheduled a checkup for tomorrow morning and will get his opinion. A safe hiking to everyone, and don't second guess serious pains on the trail! I was fortunate to have my wife with me but foolish to keep hiking further from the TH! Another lesson learned the hard way!!!
