Oct 08 2008
Making the Best of a Bad Situation
We went hiking this past weekend. Everything started out fine but then we lost the trail. We were never actually lost in the since that we were scared we might not find our way out of the woods. We had the GPS and our compasses with us. It was just that we couldn’t find the actual trail again. We ended up tromping around the woods, and up and down the mountain. All in all, our entire hike was 6.3 miles long!
I have fibromyalgia, so this wasn’t a good thing at all! I did really well the first two miles while on the real trail. We go hiking often and as long as I take it easy and everything it’s fine. This is actually my favorite form of exercise. Anyway, having to walk that long and over uneven terrain really made the fibromyalgia act up. It also affected the arthritis I have in both knees. Every step was painful for over half the trip.
I made it though. My husband and son were with me and we all talked and joked back and forth to keep our minds off the fact that we had no idea how long it was going to take to get back to the car. I did have to make frequent stops, but they are always good about that. I often have to stop and eat a snack when my sugar drops anyway. Luckily that didn’t happen on this hike. Of course, I did make sure to snack throughout the day.
I am proud of myself that I made it through. Of course, there really was no other option. I had to get off the mountain!
I’m still sore today, three days later, and probably will be for the rest of the week. With fibromyalgia, when something happens it puts you into a flare and then it takes a while to get back to your normal pain level. I am hanging in there though. Just taking it easy and doing the best I can.
Sometimes all you can do is make the best of a bad situation. Stress will only make everything worse, so keeping cool and being able to laugh will make everything easier.
Oh, sorry to hear about your sore. I hope you feel better. And there I was in my new post, encouraging everyone to hike
. Anyway, I understand what you meant by not really being lost, but still we do get scared of not finding our way. It happened to me and my hubby too, we had our GPS and compass, yet, when we lost our trail, the hike became scary, even though we can see the line of our trail as marked by our GPS, only that, going to that line made tromp around very uneven terrain. It was kind of fun, but more scary 
as we were thinking, what if there is a big drop between us and that trailine? Once, I lost my trail (by myself), and I did not have any compass nor GPS with me since I thought I am in the desert, and I can see the world in 360 degrees! I was so wrong! The terrain was so filled with giant boulders, that I kept on praying to see some trace of humanity. After that, I told msyelf to never hike again alone! And to never under-estimate a trail.
Encourage away! I tell everyone how fun hiking is also. I still love it, just hope we never get off the trail again!
I would love to come to your neck of the woods and hike!