Trek to Johla (Day 5)

Guess I spoke too soon… I woke up around 1 AM this morning with a relapse of the chills. I tried to convince myself that it was just the cool ambient temps but I knew the truth. My alarm was for 5:20 but by 4:45, I couldn’t take it anymore, I knew what had to be done. In a way, I was excited for the upcoming purge because it had brought me so much relief the day before. I crouched down over the toilet, which is nothing more than a hole in the ground, and pulled the trigger… nothing. If the comeback of the chills wasn’t frustrating enough, this definitely pushed me over the edge.

I ended up skipping breakfast again, for the second day in a row, and tried to pull my gear together in my woozy state. An oblivious man from one of the trekking groups, meandered over and started asking me questions about how we get enough water when we are climbing. I know that it was a harmless question but I did not have the strength to appease him at this point and simply excused myself.

When I finally pulled it all together, we broke camp in Askole to head up valley about 13 miles. The minutes seemed like hours and I did my best to occupy my mind with very little success. Geoff hung back with me and kept me company, per the usual. I’d use this as an opportunity to give him kudos but his loyalty and compassion are simply the norm. We slowly made our way along the trail, which would rise and dip by the edge of the river bed, and finally made our way to a rest point. The rest of the team enjoyed a light lunch, while I slept the entire hour on a rock in the sun. When they were finished, we moved on…

In my weak state I noticed the porters, many of which were wearing sandals as they carried their 60+ lb packs. When I say sandals, I’m not talking about the strappy ones that lots of dads wear with socks. These were the kind that you would wear at a spa and they were hiking over rugged terrain while wearing them! I couldn’t help but feel a little ashamed of my sulking, so I sucked it up and we finally crossed the last bridge into a small camp, known as Johla.

The camp wasn’t much to speak of, just a nice grove of trees and a couple of dilapidated shacks that were the porters used for sleeping quarters. I found a seat in the sun and one of my teammates, Klara, a wonderful and strong Czech woman, brought me a Coke that a porter had brought up. She shared it with me because she thought it would make me feel better and it absolutely did! James, an American teammate, gave me a small bag of Nacho Cheese Doritos, which had been diminished to a pile of delicious crumbs, and I scarfed them down. I feel blessed to have such a strong and compassionate group of teammates. I honestly can’t say that I could imagine a better collection of personalities from such diverse backgrounds. Bonding is easy and we are meshing incredibly well, which we will need every bit of when we face K2. I feel like that is a good note to end on and a comforting one heading into what should be a much better day tomorrow!