WhimsySeasons: On August 17

Zero Day

I slept in today and when I woke up I went upstairs to use the computer but was unable to get on my blog or e-mail. Bear cheerfully told me to help myself to anything I could find in the kitchen (leftover blueberry pancakes-yum!). Then Bear told me that last night a hiker named T-Bone came off the trail because he is really sick.

This year, it seems for the first time people can remember, there is a Norovirus, or some sort of stomach flu that the hikers are passing around. The symptoms are one day of severe vomiting and diarrhea and another day or two of weakness. Because we sleep together in shelters on the trail or often ten people in a bunk room in town, we share privies or bathrooms, and on the trail we have limited access to hand-washing, this bug has been spreading North and South along the Trail Corridor. Sobos are convinced that the Nobos started it and vice versa. But at this point many people have been ill. There have been so many reported cases that the Center for Disease Control (CDC) has become involved, going to hostels to put up hand washing posters and going to shelters out on the trail to put up warning posters. Hikers are telling each other what shelters or towns to avoid for fear of the bug. But we're hikers, we pick things up and we walk miles a day, so by now, about 3-5 weeks into this rash of people being sick there are cases being reported all over the corridor. A complication seems to be that some cases are worse-I talked to two men whose symptoms lasted six days. Many hikers do not have health insurance; many are between jobs and out here on a shoestring budget. So far, I feel healthy. I have been careful to wash my hands more and listen to what people say about where people are sick. I figure, too, though I have no data for this, that hikers are a relatively strong, healthy subset of the population, so this bug must be strong also, right? No one really knows. I call it the Hiker Plague.

Anyway, so Bear told me T-Bone came in last night with what appears to be The Hiker Plague. And this morning Honey is so sick she can't get out of bed. Bear told me that they would not be bringing in any new hikers until she feels better. He asked if I could help out at the hostel-maybe do some laundry or clean the bunkroom or kitchen. I said, sure, that sounds o.k. I mean, I'm here all day, 3 miles from town. What else am I gonna do, right? Then he asked me what I wanted to cook for dinner. I suggested that we all go into town to the Grill since it is Friday night. Back downstairs I washed the dishes, washed about 3 loads of laundry, cleaned up and vacuumed the floor. Then I took a nap.

When I woke up, Don, the son, was back from driving the shuttle. He had been surprised that the place looked so nice and the other hikers told him I did it. So he told me that I could have the first night as a 'work for stay'! Many of the hostels offer a 'work for stay' option. Usually only one or two hikers per day can be accepted. You talk to the owner and work (washing dishes, doing laundry, checking newly arrived hikers into the hostel, driving the shuttle) for about 2 hours or so, and then you stay for free that night. It helps a lot of hikers on shoestring budgets make it farther down the trail and gives the hostel a healthy person to help for two hours that day.

Don had gone to the grocery store and purchased steaks for himself and the three hikers here today. Don is growing a full garden, and he told me to help myself to anything I found there. Yosemite likes to cook, and obviously, T-Bone can grill a steak, so I knew I was in for a treat. I picked lettuces, cucumbers, tomatoes, beets, and green beans from the garden. Don told me I could have another work for stay if I wanted to spend a few hours weeding the garden. I am debating it. I could easily stay here a few weeks and love every minute of if.

The bunk-room at The Cabin