End of day summaries

Saturday, October 29, 2016

Nancy the backpacker…

From her long-time friend and fellow backpacker, Will Thomas

Nancy the backpacker…

She has spent her whole life in the mountains, starting as a kid and into her 50's, up and down the Sierra Nevadas, including the length of the John Muir trail. Nancy has tremendous endurance, a love of nature and the wilderness in ways unimaginable by those who have not hiked up a mountain, seen the sun disappear over a slab of granite, or felt a spark as dawn sweeps across the mirrored surface of a glacial lake. I have had the extreme privilege to share some of those experiences with Nancy and Kirk. They are hallowed memories.
Three years ago we had to climb out of the Rae Lakes basin over Glen Pass (11,926') after a stormy night of being cramped inside our tents. The rains had stopped by morning but seriously dark thunderheads hovered over the basin, and we needed to hustle - being trapped atop the narrow spine of Glen Pass in a lightning storm did not seem like a good idea. Kirk was in the lead - he is a cyclist and it showed. Andrea, our very fit friend from Menlo Park was in the back with Nancy, and I was in the middle. I was in extremely good shape for that trip and very motivated that morning. No matter how hard the pace pressed, Nancy kept up through the entire ascent, which was really no surprise. Nancy can walk all day, up and down, under a heavy load, and it doesn't faze her. She's relentless, strong and she loves every minute of it.

Alzheimer's has lately robbed Nancy of many things like a thief in the night, but memories of the robust, mountaineering Nancy live on. Those Sierra trails may still echo with the soft thud of her lug soled boots today, her baby blue backpack settled nicely on her hips, with her characteristic bandanna and hat bobbing with each step. I think, maybe, just around that next bend...

3 comments:

  1. Please see my other more detailed comment about Lyme disease. When she is found, put her on a course of antibiotics to treat Lyme disease. There's no way that someone who is as active as she was would get early onset Alzheimer's when in reality it is probably Lyme disease. I would bet my life on it. My son got Lyme disease, Bartonella, and Babesia from backpacking in Yosemite. When it goes untreated, it looks like Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, ALS, MS, fibromyalgia, and chronic fatigue syndrome. None of those have a known cause. But test for Lyme, and you're going to find it.

    http://www.lymeeducation.com/could-alzheimers-and-borrelia-lyme-disease-be-related/

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  2. Please test her for Lyme Disease with Igenex testing! Alzheimer's is generally undiagnosed Lyme Disease, and especially given her circumstances I am willing to bet it is Lyme.
    http://thetrailtohealth.com/the-trail-to-health/what-to-do-if-you-think-you-might-have-lyme

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