Starting Dehydrated

One year for our anniversary, my husband and I hiked to Conundrum Hot Springs in Colorado. The hot springs sit high in the mountains and are naturally occurring. Some work has been done to create deeper pools for people to sit in, but for the most part, the area is rugged and majestically beautiful in its untouched state.

We’d planned to leave after my husband got off work, which meant our goal was to hike the about eight-mile trail in one afternoon. Not a terrible plan, just ambitious. Everything started off great. A cool, sunny afternoon, a steady pace, and for the most part, little elevation gain.

I started to feel woozy about ¾ of the way into the hike. Because we’d left in the afternoon, I hadn’t thought about my lack of water consumption earlier in the day and I’d started the hike dehydrated. Then the elevation began to rise. The hike from the trailhead is relatively gradual until the last portion where you gain over 2,000 feet of elevation to reach the hot springs near the tree line.

That probably wouldn’t have brought me to tears. But the snow and the snow melt that year had taken down a bunch of trees and the Conundrum trail had yet to be cleared. Dusk was setting in as we found the previously clear trail now obscured by thick trunks and needles.

Although we were only a short distance from finishing the hike, it took us several hours to find our way as night set in.

After climbing over, going around, and retracing our tracks several times through heavy branches, we finally reached the sign showing the spread-out campsites for the hot springs. We’d made it. I promptly sat down and started crying, and then threw up. Elevation sickness is a real thing, and it feels like you’re freezing with shivers, nauseousness, and dizziness.

Thankfully, after the first night, the elevation sickness subsided, and we were able to enjoy our weekend with wine and raspberry crumble dessert.

Such adventures often bring unexpected challenges. Back in 2017 when The Adventure was published, I had hardcovers, paperbacks, and E-books on my radar but nothing more. Perhaps that’s why it’s taken me this long to approach audiobooks. It just wasn’t a thought in my head that there was a fourth format to consider. Yet the audiobook market is still growing.

I kind of feel like I’m starting the audiobook process dehydrated. Like there’s way more I should be doing to prepare for it. But honestly, I don’t know what that “way more” is. So, this last week I reached out to a company who produces and distributes audiobooks and essentially said, “I know nothing, tell me stuff.”

We’ll see how it goes. I’m hoping, fingers crossed and lots of prayer, that the unexpected hiccups are less uncomfortable than elevation sickness. Just because the hike started dehydrated doesn’t mean the weekend was terrible. In fact, it’s one of my favorite anniversary memories. So, I’m tentatively excited, and a lot nervous. Yay for doing new things