I’m back in Tucson, where the weather has been trying to hit the century
mark the week I’ve been here. (The century mark is the first time in
the calendar year that the temperature hits 100.) Today may be the day.
Why am I in Tucson? My back is the simple answer. I’ve never had back
problems like this. If my back ever hurt, it was over in two or three
days. This has gone on much longer.
I original injury occured when I was working on my resupply boxes. I
thought it would just go away, but that was not to be. It hurt during
ADZ, during my drive with Larry, and from day one on the trail. Still,
I used vitamin I to ignore it. At some point, I realized I was being
wreckless and putting myself in danger.
I spent three nights in a hotel in Lordsburg seeing what would happen.
I didn’t make much progress, so I caught a Greyhound to Tucson to stay
with David. A cheap hotel gets expensive after a short while.
Here in Tucson, I’ve been laying low, watching movies and reading.
My back is improving, but not on the timetable I’d like. I’ll see my
chiropractor again tomorrow, but really I’m the only one who can say
when I can hike again.
I’m so grateful that I’m not thru-hiking. If I were, I would have the
stress of the lost time, knowing that fall snows are coming to Glacier
NP. I don’t have that worry.
It’s actually nice to be relaxing and recharging. My days are easy and
unstructured. It’s almost as if my back gave me a vacation.