An accomplishment...

[Guest guest]

For the record: I had a LeForte I with the bilateral sagittal osteotomy

and jaw rotation on March 31. I'm still on a soft food diet.

I went camping/hiking last weekend with a couple of friends of mine. We

were planning a big hike on Saturday -- a shuttle hike in the Ansel

Wilderness area (California) that would also take us into the back

side of Yosemite National Monument. Around 25 miles, all between 7000

feet and 11000 feet.

I turned out to be the " caboose " (no surprise here). The hike was quite

pretty, quite green, very few people (We ran into one group on their

eighth day of a backpacking trip, and a few more toward the end of the

hike, but that's it).

After a few miles, it was clear there was really no turning back. I

stood a good chance of getting lost and not finding my way back to the

start car. So on I went...

Toward the higher elevations I started to get tired and faint. You all

know why, but I think I was also getting a tiny bit of altitute

sickness. Nothing horrible, but I had to watch it carefully. Like I

noted, there was no turning back.

Near the top of one of the peaks there was an underground stream

protected by (but not fed by) a snow pack. No need to filter the water

-- no possible source of impurities -- and it was the best water I've

ever tasted, bar none.

Once I started descending I began to feel more lucid. It was a looong

descent and I just about got carried away by mosquitos. California had a

wet winter which means lush greens, standing pools of water and snow and

plenty of mosquitos. In spite of plenty of bug repellent I have several

hundred mosquito bites -- everywhere. If I take a shower I look like

I've got a bad case of chicken pox. But as time progresses I'll remember

the lush scenery more and less the mosquitos.

But I made it...otherwise I wouldn't be typing this. The other two

hikers helped me, of course, with words of encouragement and whatnot.

So anyway....I wanted to crow for a bit.

Bill