This has been one of the hardest weeks of my life. I am actually in Canada right now, in Saskatoon. My father passed away yesterday. My brother, sister and I were able to fly up here the day before he passed away and we'll stay for his funeral this wednesday.
I never would have been able to come up here had I not injured my foot. I had been in Big Bear 5 days when I received the call from my mom. I did something to my foot last week after coming down 8,000 feet from Fuller Ridge. It was extremely painful to walk on but I made it the last 50 some miles to Big Bear. I stayed in a great hostel there and consulted all the hikers, some of whom are nurses and massage therapists. Based on my conversation and observations I concluded that I probably had a stress fracture, and that meant I'd be off the trail about 6 weeks. Which meant my chances of finishing the trail this season were gone. It was a devastating thought. After more assessments I had hope that it was actually a joint problem, and not a fracture as I had feared. I was about to head out on the trail again on friday when I found out my dad had only a few days left. I left the next morning and arrived here with my siblings on saturday.
My foot definitely needed this time to heal and if I hadn't injured it there would be no way I could have been able to come say good-bye to my Dad in time. Its interesting how things work out. I should be back on the trail this coming saturday. I'll be 200 miles behind the people I have been walking with, but I am so thankful I can continue walking and look forward to the time for reflection after this week.
also, I added some pictures to the gallery last week. Check them out.
