The Rescue

Grit, resourcefulness & the generosity of both thru-hikers & trail angels combine to get a 30 year-old hiker to the hospital. We’re now halfway up WA state with 1,900 total miles under our belt.

That’s us with Mt. Rainier in the background

KarMMa looked up the hill at 3-Snaps, a thirty year-old German PCT hiker about fifty feet above us and said,

“That doesn’t look good.”

3-Snaps was on the side of the trail, doubled-over at the waist, teeth gritted, on the verge of tears.

We crisscrossed with her earlier in Oregon. In mid-Oregon, she had complained of knee pain. But by Mt. Hood the pain transitioned to her hip. She still carried her ice axe and micro-spikes— useless weight— and I had volunteered to send her gear anywhere she wanted. But she turned the offer down.

Today in southern Washington, KarMMa evaluated 3-Snaps. She now used her hiking poles as crutches, and her hip pain had suddenly transitioned from bearable to excruciating with no apparent reason for the change.

She was in so much pain she could barely talk. We were thirty miles into the Washington PCT so reversing course didn’t make sense. But 3-Snaps had done some research and pointed out a well-used road on her map, ten miles ahead. Her goal was to hop off the trail there.

“I’m not sure I can make it,” said 3-Snaps with a look of fear, pain, and anxiety on her face.

KarMMa took charge. Her suspicion was that this was an overuse injury after thousands of miles with a heavy pack.

“I have medications that might help you walk out,” said Kristen to 3-Snaps as she pulled out her one-pound medical kit.

“Yes, anything, thank you,” whispered 3-Snaps.

The terrain was too wooded and steep for a helicopter rescue; getting her to the road seemed like the best option. At that moment Sunscreen and Squirrel — two thirty-somethings from Denmark and France —pulled up and we distributed her pack weight amongst the four of us. 3-Snaps hobbled along, placing as much weight as she could on her hiking poles.

She was already maxed out on Ibuprofen so KarMMa started with Decadron, a significantly more potent steroid anti-inflammatory. 3-Snaps’ pain and limp didn’t improve over the next thirty minutes so KarMMa upped the ante with a potent oral narcotic to dull the pain. One pill— nothing. Over time, a second pill seemed to take the edge off, but just a bit.

So KarMMa resorted to an even more potent pain relief tactic: mental distraction. For five hours, during our 1.5 mile-per-hour trudge, KarMMa asked 3-Snaps questions about Berlin, her PhD studies (genetic underpinnings of psychiatric disorders), her seven upcoming publications, and her career next steps (India v. US v. Germany). Then they moved on to talking about 3-Snaps’ 1,000 mile thru-hike last summer across the South Island of New Zealand— the Te Araroa.

Slowly, 3-Snaps moved from one word responses to a more fluent conversation. I’m not sure if it was the power of distraction or the narcotics finally kicking in, but 3-Snaps was almost chatty.

At seven miles we stopped at a creek and noticed a lightly-used road through the trees. Sunscreen and Squirrel reported seeing a truck pass forty minutes earlier, so while KarMMa sat with 3-Snaps, soaking her hip in the cold mountain creek, I walked to the road.

Without materials for a sign or standing at the side of the road for an unknown period of time— I needed to filter water— how could I ensure the next passing truck would stop? The answer: I walked into the woods, found a downed tree, and dragged it across the road.

Twenty minutes later I saw a truck stop through the trees and sprinted to it.

“We’ve got an injured PCT hiker that needs a ride out,” I quickly explained.

Doug was a forty-year-old Dad visiting from Montana with his daughter and her friend. He looked a little blindsided but agreed to help. I sprinted back and asked KarMMa to chat with him— I wasn’t 100% confident he would wait and his truck was clearly capable of navigating the tree roadblock.

I pulled together 3-Snaps’ belongings while Squirrel and Sunscreen walked her to the truck. KarMMa had filled in Doug on 3-Snaps’ status, and with military precision, he responded:

“Just tell me where to take her.”

“Take her to the nearest hospital, about forty miles away, in Hood River,” replied KarMMa.

“Done,” said the newly enlisted trail angel.

As Doug pulled away, he thanked me as I pulled the tree out of the way. I smiled guiltily as I waved goodbye.

Here’s KarMMa, 3-Snaps and Doug just before they left:

We were off the grid for the next eighteen hours but when KarMMa got momentary cell service on a high mountain ridge, 3-Snaps’ WhatsApp message appeared:

“I'm in the ER in hood river right now, turns out that my hip is fractured.”

One option would be surgery to put a screw in to stabilize it, but I don't really feel comfortable to make that decision right now…”

KarMMa was eager to refer 3-Snaps to an orthopedic surgeon in Portland, but when they finally managed to chat in real-time, 3-Snaps was coming out of surgery, with three new screws in her femur— she had a femoral neck stress fracture at risk of displacement. In layman’s terms, a potentially unstable broken hip. Hood River is an athletic town so they had plenty of well-qualified orthopedic surgeons on hand. They had inserted the screws to prevent her femoral neck from shearing off.

Later, when KarMMa chatted via WhatsApp in real-time, she asked:

“”Was the surgeon amazed that you walked seven miles out on that fracture?”

3-Snaps: They were all very astonished that I managed to walk on it at all, yes. I guess, hiker determination is real.”

3-Snaps was released to the sister of one of her trail-mates who lived in Portland at the end of that day.

After resting in Portland, she took the train to Seattle to say goodbye to her trail family and she’s now back in Berlin. It took her a week to recover from the disappointment of not completing the PCT. As she said,

It’s a tough transition going from walking 25-miles a day to 25 steps.

But hopping off the trail was her only choice. A broken hip is an unequivocal, trail-ending injury.

Looking back, none of us besides KarMMa imagined that an over-use injury could evolve to a serious stress fracture, resulting in a broken hip. And KarMMa was pleased that her medical kit included narcotics. KarMMa has now earned a permanent injunction against me complaining about the weight of her one pound medical kit.

Nonetheless, KarMMa recalls telling her Trail Angel friend/physician, Kathryn Kocurek, that she didn’t need to pack narcotics on the trail.

“What happens if someone breaks a leg on the trail and you need to help get them out?” Kathryn had asked.

Luckily, Kristen took the narcotics. (Side note: we now have lots of young thru-hikers joking about hip pain.)

The PCT is full of stories but this one epitomizes the grit, camaraderie and resourcefulness of thru-hikers supported by a fleet of generous Trail Angels. While a freak accident leading to helicopter rescue would have been more dramatic, this story is far more common: accumulating miles combine with higher daily mileage, incremental pack weight, and marginal nutrition to create intolerable stress on the body.

But why had this happened to 3-Snaps? She’s only 30, she had maintained her weight, and she’s a very fit, highly experienced thru-hiker. Both KarMMa and 3-Snaps’ scientific minds hopped into gear and beyond some additional lab work for 3-Snaps they plan to survey PCT thru-hikers to get more insight on the reasons some thru-hikers develop stress fractures and some don’t. They’ll publish their findings next year.

Scout (of “Scout & Frodo,” the famous San Diego-based trail angels, author of “Journey’s North” (a PCT memoir) and current head of the the US Trails Association), commented on KarMMa’s story:

Good on you for staying tight on 3-Snaps, and ushering her to safety. Your story proves once again, that though medicine is a wonder, the mind is its equal or more.

Your distraction therapy carried 3-snaps to the road. I can think of a number of examples where hikers should have been medically off trail, but sheer will carried them hundreds, even a thousand miles. Not-a-Moose hiked nearly 1,000 miles with severe foot pain. Why? "Anywhere was better than being back in my cubicle."

Scout nicely illustrates the challenge of the PCT. Grit is required to finish the trail, but knowing the limit of how far to push, especially with stress fractures, is a tough to pinpoint grey area.

Another friend, Dave Britton, commented to KarMMa:

KarMMa, you are a total "Trail Saint."The PCT and many of its weary pilgrims will honor you!

Truer words have never been spoken!

What’s the genesis of 3-Snaps’ name? She began as 2-Snaps when she broke both hiking poles post-holing in the snow. When she broke a third pole she became 3-Snaps. Now, with a broken hip, she’s 4-Snaps.

Where are we now?

We’re 300 miles from the southern Washington border and have 200 miles until the northern terminus. Washington is challenging with lots of ups and downs— there are no flat stretches. But KarMMa and I are in good shape and can link twenty-mile days, despite the elevation. Some highlights…

We saw Bird and Kat — the 25-ish year-old Stanford graduates who hustled us in Cornhole on the OCT. They are now Snobos (they restarted at the northern terminus due to snow and are hiking south to the High Sierra). Bird had Achilles issues so took a bus to our Bend house where he convalesced— supported by Duncan’s grocery runs— while Kat hiked solo for a week. A mini-rescue, of sorts.

Also from the OCT: William and his Vizsla, Barkeley, joined us for the 71-mile Snoqualmie to Steven’s Pass section, before turning around and hiking back. We were proud to knock off 14/21/22/14 mile days, but William and his canine companion habitually do thirty-mile days. The two are a perfect pair and KarMMa gets so infatuated with Barkeley that I have to remind her that having a dog would dampen our ability to travel the globe. (With my lifelong allergies, I have to invoke grumpy Gib to keep our household dog-free).

William and Barkeley had a morning encounter with a three hundred pound mountain goat on our trip. William was peeing and the goat popped out of the bushes to smell his pee. William signaled to Barkeley to stay quiet, and he obliged. The goat eventually moved on. Apparently the goats have killed hikers in the Olympic Peninsula so they have been relocated here, along the PCT. Go figure.

Here’s William, KarMMa and Barkeley, at Steven’s Pass:

We intersected with Will Hicks— a Tuck/Dartmouth classmate— who was section hiking south. I convinced him to ditch his bear spray which is the equivalent of wearing a life jacket in a swimming pool— a PCT cred killer. (Hat-tip to Jim Kean for telling me to look out for Will.)

As Will left, I took this photo, joking that it would be the last known photo for his “Have you seen this man?” lost poster:

We’ve seen lots of Ditto, Sunscreen and Squirrel. They roar by us but take occasional side trips plus on-trail zero days that cost zero days— that’s not how 60 year-olds roll. We are the tortoises, they are the hares. Who will win?

The Trail Angel generosity continues. Brian, a former parole officer, now high school guidance counselor, and Becky, an elementary school counselor, bought us and beer in the evening, then drove us to the White Pass trailhead the next morning. Shari Kaiser from BMS hosted us at Snoqualmie (in Teri Foy’s house) and a bunch of BMS Seattle peeps from Kristen’s old team hit the brew pub with us that evening. Plus, John, a retired army officer, and Carol, a retired special ed teacher, drove us from Steven’s Pass to Leavenworth yesterday. (Leavenworth is a very cute, Bavarian-themed town that successfully transitioned from mining to tourism in the late 60’s.)

A glimpse of our latest favorite trail town: Leavenworth:

We met two same-age peers, 5-Star and Sasquatch, on the trail in Washington and hiked a week with them. 5-Star hiked 2,450 miles of the PCT last year but was stopped in Leavenworth by fire closures. This year, he restarted at the southern border of Washington to give himself more time on the trail. After two weeks his friend Sasquatch (6’4”) left the trail, with painful blisters. We’re taking a full Zero in Leavenworth today and 5-Star’s hopping back on the trail right now to fill in his missing gap to Canada.

Why 5-Star? He’s a semi-retired/recovering Wall Street banker focused on LBOs/M&A who now owns trendy bars in Austin, TX. He uses his daughter, Kennedy, as a trail concierge and after a frustrating, dry spell last year in the southern desert, he beseeched her via phone to find a “reservation at the Four Seasons in Idyllwild NOW!” When she explained this doesn’t exist, he said, “Then they damn well better build one in the next 24 hours!” The next moment, the eavesdropping waitress at the decidedly 3-Star Paradise Valley Cafe casually asked him, “How can I help you, 5-Star?” The entire cafe roared with laughter.

It’s easy to guess who’s Sasquatch and who’s 5-Star in this photo:

Other trail-name fun. I found another PUDDING! She’s from the UK, is 20-something and she always wants a Second Pudding after dinner. (That’s UK speak for dessert, methinks.)

Pudding & Second Pudding:

Another favorite trail-name: we met a hiker named Dance On. He was hiking the CDT and after being alone for an entire week, stopped to talk with two women at the edge of the trail. Socially starved, he didn’t get the hint that they wanted to be alone until they asked him, “Why don’t you dance on, big fella?”

What’s next?

We head out tomorrow from Steven’s Pass to Stehekin — a seven day food carry with rumors of 403 blowdowns over the trail (yuck)— and we’ll take another Zero at the Stehekin Valley Ranch (luxury)! Then it’s on to Mazama for another Nearo before hitting the remote northern Cascades. We’ll cross the Canadian border and end our NoBo hike at Manning Park around 8/21 and Trail Angel Mark Sherman will drive us back across the border to Seattle where we’ll hop on a plane to Bend.

Then we’re off to Northern California in September to fill in our PCT gaps before KarMMa heads to a women’s leadership conference in Chicago to give a keynote address on leadership lessons from the PCT. Pudding’s co-hosting his Product Leadership Summit in Silicon Valley in October— who knows what he’ll talk about ;)

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Onward!

Pudding and KarMMa

(Gib and Kristen)

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PPS. If you want a best guess of where we will be when, or to see the crazy spreadsheet that powers our PCT resupplies, click here.