Saturday, April 06, 2013 – 12.5 km

I wasn’t a happy camper today. My ankle started aching as soon as I picked up my pack to carry it to the car, and I was worried and unsociable on the ride (sorry!). At the trailhead I wrapped my ankle in a tensor bandage again. A tensor bandage is my solution to everything – if I cracked my head open on a boulder, I would probably wrap a tensor bandage about it. ‘Ma’am, there’s a nuclear missile coming-‘ ‘Tensor bandage it!’ The ankle wasn’t hurting enough to be painful, just enough to remind me that it was mildly injured and ought I really to be backpacking?

I rarely wish for a hiking partner, but now I needed a distraction (the only other times I want a partner are when I’m feeling lazy and want someone to do the camp chores, like said partner or an underpaid neighbourhood child… so perhaps I actually want a servant…). I broke out the headphones and started feeling better after hearing Chris Cornell sing ‘all your fears are lies’ a million times. Thanks Soundgarden! Then he sang about wanting to father a child and I had to accept that not all song lyrics are about my life. Darn. But at least that got me out of ‘too weak to survive’.

Not much else to say about the day. The trail was level and uninspiring into Passage 14. I camped near Tucson Wash.