A thread at TrailForums chats up the pluses/minuses of Vitamin I and other over-the-counter pain relievers. Something I had never heard before:
As for Tylenol, please keep in mind that the margin of safety with this drug is quite narrow, so you should be very careful with it, too. If you take Tylenol, be very careful that there is no additional acetominophen in any other meds you are taking (cold meds, Rx pain meds, etc.). Acetominophen will destroy your liver PDQ if you go over the rec. dosage, and is a common cause of acute liver failure.
Bottom line on all these things: avoid combining, don’t over-use, and check with medical authority (rather than, say, the author of a hiking blog) before packing your stuff for a long trip.
I never use pain relievers because suffering always gives me something to write about on my weekly hike write-ups.
Today, for the very first time in my life I hiked Mount Diablo. I joined in again with the Stanford Hiking Club, 19 of us led by “V” (that guy is awesome!) and we hiked from the Mitchell Canyon parking area up to the summit. My GPS claims we did 4455 ft of elevation gain and 14.6 miles. We finished in the dark. And I have to tell you, my feet and my legs are killing me. And so I broke down and took a prescription strength Naprosyn a few minutes ago. And oh man, am I beat. I’ve noticed that Tom hikes Diablo rather routinely though and after struggling to finish this hike like I did today, I have to get down on my knees and bow down to Tom. I am not worthy!
Yesterday was a gorgeous time to be on Mount Diablo. The valley smog stayed close to ground level, and left a startlingly clear view of the Sierra crest. I’ve been up there several times this winter; yesterday wasn’t the clearest day overall, but the view of the mountains hasn’t been better. I suppose the snows of the last two weeks also make it more dramatic.
I was on the summit around 12:45; having taken the hard way up (road bike from the south). Of course, that meant my knees and legs had it easy getting back down.
Today I’m off to the Big Burn in Del Valle with the wife and in-laws. That bottle of Aleve may get some attention after all.
Glad y’all had some adventures … I spent a few hours at San Jose’s Guadalupe River Park and most of the time I was wishing for some wilderness.
I was among the last few up and made the summit at 3:55 PM. The faster hikers made it up maybe 15-30 minutes sooner. I’m sure they could have been up there even sooner but “V” has one rule for the group hiking. Whenever you come to a trail junction, stop and wait for everyone else to catch up. Its a good rule I think as he makes sure that everyone completes the hike OK and no one gets lost.
And I’m not sure which is worse for me, the hills or the descent. After all my hiking up hills, I still don’t have much stamina and I just bog down on them. On the other hand, all the real pain and injury seems to come on the descents. Fortunately I did OK in that department yesterday.
But Randy is right. I was a gorgeous day to be up on the summit. Even with the smog the views were great! Quite a sight. But I am sure paying for it this morning. “V” said yesterday he will likely do a group hike to Mount Sizer in a few weeks. I don’t know if I am physically capable of that hike but after the pain from Diablo wears off, I might be crazy enough to try. 🙂
Cynthia, big “hoo – rahs” for doing Diablo from Mitchell Canyon…yow, that’s a gnarly trail (for me, anyway). I’ve only finished North Peak from there, and was ground up by the time I returned to the car. I want to try to make it all the way to Diablo from that same starting point some day, but I think it would require a night out where those aren’t generally sanctioned. Where there’s a will there’s a way, however…
Randy, I was amazed I could see the Sierra crest from Bob Walker Ridge at Morgan Territory Saturday afternoon. It was amazing – none of the valley haze I’m so used to, even at 2 pm…a pretty awesome weekend. And no sore shoulders today! I must be getting YOUNGER!!!!
Hi Bob and thanks! And I wish I was getting younger. If anything, I am more sore today than yesterday! Getting out of bed this morning was really dicey. And that was a gnarly enough trail for me too! I can’t believe how much everything hurts including my arms! Anyway, after I have a little more time to get it together, I’ll have the pictures up on my little web site along with the route. I will email it to you when I get it figured out. “V” took care of the navigation and I didn’t pay enough attention to the trail signs. It was a long enough hike as it was though and any longer and I think we would have been spending the night out there.
One thing I am still trying to figure out is which is more accurate, my GPS or the stats generated by TOPO! from my tracks? My GPS said we did about 4460 feet of elevation gain. TOPO! says just over 5000 feet. I’d like to think TOPO! has more data to work with but does anyone know? Thanks!