SHT Day 9 (9/27)

Before I tell you about today, I must warn you that by the end of this entry I will be talking about my urine in detail. In fact, it's almost 9pm and I'm still awake only because of my urine...

Today was an incredibly colorful day. The forecast was for rain and thunderstorms, but until around 4pm there was only sunshine. Since there has been so much fog for the past two days, today was the first day that I could clearly see the full extent of the color change in this area. Incredible!

In the middle of the day I hiked through Tettegouche State Park, home of the highest waterfall completely in Minnesota. I guess that implies that there is another, larger waterfall only partially in Minnesota. Anyway, I loved the little stairs they built to get to the falls.

...and the falls, aptly named High Falls.

Today's hike was the toughest so far. I only hiked 17.5 miles since most of the day was spent going up and down these little mountains. It was physically exhausting, but it was also mentally draining. It's obvious that the folks who designed the SHT wanted you to summit all of these mountains because they could just have easily made the trail go around some of them. Once or twice it was a bit much to see the trail go out of its way to summit another mountain instead of taking a more direct route. Then again, if I hadn't summited all of these mountains I wouldn't have gotten these amazing views. No mud no lotus.

I've seen tons of these little guys the past few days.

Just one more beautiful autumn view!

It started raining around 4pm, just as I was crossing this giant bog on these wobbly, sometimes tilted sometimes partially underwater, wooden pathways.

I also passed this massive glacial erratic. It's a rock that was carried into the area during the melting of the last ice age. I forget the type of rock this is, but they know it's a glacial erratic because it differs from the types of rock you would normally find in this area.

Right after I passed this rock, around 5pm, I stepped off of the trail to urinate (it's so simple and one of the joys of being a man). I noticed that my urine was dark red. Bothered, but unsure of what to do, I continued on to camp. Once at camp I made dinner as usual, set up my tent and urinated again. This time it was worse and much brighter red. I caught some in an empty container I had so I could examine it closer. It was the color of coffee with a hint of red. I smelled it as well and it smelled undeniably of blood.

Not knowing what I should do or think, I checked to see if I had reception... I did! How awesome that this would be the first time I had reception at a campsite. I called Janet, my dad, and Matthew (thanks guys) in addition to the 24-hour nurse hotline affiliated with my insurance company. The consensus was that it was likely nothing major since I have no other symptoms, but I should consider seeing a doctor just in case, as I'm only hiking further and further from civilization for the next 3 days.

Well, I'm 2 miles from the tiny town of Finland and I would have to take a $90 taxi each way to get to the nearest urgent care in Two Harbors. Also, I can't afford to even take a half day off the trail if I want to make it to the end in time. What's a boy to do? 

After some cursing, I booked a ride to the doctor in the morning. If I go, it will mean that I'll have to skip 18-20 miles of trail to stay on schedule. I say "if I go" because a few minutes ago I went to the bathroom again and, while still dark, it was much closer to normal. What if I was just dehydrated and had bladder irritation? Is the $180 and loss of 20 miles worth the caution? Why can't this situation be more clear cut?

I guess I have no option but to sleep on it, look at my urine again in the morning, and decide from there.

Here's hoping that it's normal by morning and I can continue as expected!

Rob