Water...

It is probably the most important item we carry on the trail, aside from our 'shelters' of our tent and sleeping bag. Our day and our route is planned with a water source in mind and we constantly depend upon it to keep our body moving throughout the day. Not having enough water can result in all kinds of physical and mental problems during the day. And as tiring as it gets to drink, you have to or else funny things will happen.

Particularly during cold or rainy days it's easy to forget to drink water. You may not think you are thirsty and so you don't drink. As dehydration sets in your muscles start to fatigue and your mind begins to do strange things.

The past few days, I have not been drinking much water, which is stupid, but sometimes I was so focused on the hike, I forgot to drink. I was noticing that logs I was passing were morphing into animals that would speak to me as I passed by them. I started talking to myself and would occasionally just shout out meaningless things as if I had Tourets syndrome or something. I would see strange checkerboard patterns to my side field of view and weird colors. No drugs were ingested, I promise.

If I was lucky, I would remember to stop and drink after which I would start to get back to normal, otherwise, I would just become more and more fatigued until I would barely be able to amble a foot or two at a time like some clothes-shredded lost guy in the desert.

The other thing that happens is that you start getting this irregular heartbeat thing going on where your heart skips a beat or goes a bit irregular. This scares the crap out of you, let me tell you. A heart doctor said this often indicates a lack of electrolytes where your body starts doing strange things. A drink of potassium and sodium based fluids will help get things back on track. Another hiker this year experience temporarily paralysis, first of his upper limbs, then of his lower before someone called 911 and had him airlifted off the mounting. The diagnosis was a severe lack of electrolytes.

So, I endeavor to drink more fluids and have those little tubes of sport drink powders. Fascinating how the body works, isn't it?

Ron