Robert Francisco

Destination: Hwy 299
Starting Location: Dry Creek Gully on Hat Rim
Today’s Miles: 24.80
Trip Miles: 1417.00
Hat Rim (1391.1, 4810) to Hwy 299 (1415.9, 3110) ascent (1640) descent (3422)

I had an absolutely miserable nights rest as I lay on my bag itching while suffering terrible stomach problems. When I got up to dig an emergency hole I could not find my way back to my bag as it was black. When I knew I had walked far enough I thought to take a compass bearing so I would not walk in circles. Then I sat down & listened. Finally someone made a noise & I walked over. I was only 15’ away.
Up at 5:00 a.m. to beat the heat of the rim and after my 5th cat hole break I was looking at a long day. At breakfast Pang gave me a dark chocolate bar and said they work for diarrhea. Given that I could not take anything else because of the antibiotics restrictions I ate it and it worked. I was so happy and I flew across the rim, which is really neat, and did 21 miles by 2:00 p.m.
At 2:05 Sheri & Cathy found us and this time they had Subway sandwiches, cases of soda & cold juice. Cathy commented that I had hives & she was right. Benadryl calmed them down & I realized that was my problem the night before & also realized I was likely having an allergic reaction to the sulfur drug – no big deal just take it with Benadryl, right? Very, very wrong. Thunder called Keri & gave her an update on her remote patient & when he returned he said “if you have hives, that is really bad – really”. Wonder what that means so before I took my next dose of pills I called Dr. Delphine & without going into why it is really bad – really she told me to immediately quit taking the sulfur drug – uh, okay. Then she asked what else I was taking & I told her the name of the antibiotic. She quickly asked if I was having diarrhea. Until I ate a chocolate bar yes & it was really bad.
She strongly recommended that I also immediately quit taking the other antibiotic as it is strongly associated with diarrhea, kills too much good stuff, & can often cause significant complications if you have diarrhea. Okay but what about this crap that is eating my arm? After a lengthy dialogue about what it was doing & what it looked like the recommendation was to treat locally with antibiotic cream & monitor. Now Delphine is a good friend and a great doctor so for now I am following the second opinion’s advice.
Saw some good trail maintenance today I thought about my friend & trail gorilla from Southern California Don Bennett. Got word that Don succumbed to cancer and I remembered out last conversation in April when he told me he was looking forward to getting back out there. May your saw always be sharp Don – you will be missed but not forgotten.
Showers & more food at Burney Falls State Park after Sheri & Cathy loaded up 7 stinking hikers at Highway 299. We also found Inaki (now rain skirt), Mike Unger and a couple of 1000 mile section hikers & we celebrated, complete with cake, ice cream and talking candles, Tadpole the hippo’s birthday.
When my head hit the pillow after 10:00 pm I passed out.