ALTITUDE SICKNESS IS NO JOKE
When it comes to high altitudes you must always be prepared. Well let me correct myself, no matter what you do outside, you should always be prepared. But for the sake of this conversation I want to talk about altitude. If you don't remember, I went to Colorado where the elevation was extremely high for my dad's mountain goat hunt. I am from northern California, where my highest altitude I reach every day is 3000 feet, which is actually pretty high for my area. But when we went to Colorado we were camping at an elevation of 9800 feet. Which is a huge difference for us. But here's the thing that wasn't even the highest elevation we went up to, the trip consisted of us reaching an altitude of 11900, whereas the mountain goat actually was about 12200 roughly. This was a very difficult trip for me because I have never been active at this kind of an altitude before.
When it came to preparing for this hunt we were not prepared whatsoever due to the fact that we only had a couple of weeks to plan the whole thing, but also no time at all to get used to the altitude change. What I ended up working on was of course getting into shape to be able to hike these kinds of trails, but also focused on my breathing when hiking, making sure to go slow and steady to not overdo my breathing so much while hiking that it felt like my lungs were on fire. I knew this would help that much with the fact of altitude change, but if I could get my breathing under control when I hiked maybe it would be easier at a higher altitude. Well I was wrong, I got winded from just putting up my big canvas tent.
I did, however, talk to my doctor about taking altitude medicine. They got me one that is over the counter, and was told to take mine once every 12 hours. I started to take the medicine the day we left for Colorado, since we knew that the 20 hour drive would take roughly 2 days for us with a trailer ( oh how right we were, with trailer flats, and major accidents on the interstate that ended up shutting it down both ways for about 5 hours). The side effect of the medicine though was funny enough the exact symptoms of altitude sickness. How ironic, so I am not sure if the medicine actually worked but gave me side effects, or if it just exaggerated my symptoms of altitude sickness.
AND BY NO MEANS AM I A DOCTOR. PLEASE CONSULT YOUR DOCTOR FIRST BEFORE TAKING ALTITUDE MEDICINE AND TALK TO THEM TO SEE IF YOU NEED TO TAKE IT FOR WHERE YOU ARE GOING.
When trying to figure out what a high altitude is it is usually considered anything from 8,000 to 12,000 feet whereas very high/extreme is up from there. We were in a high altitude range but it is still very important to know the symptoms of altitude sickness. There are actually three stages/types of altitude sickness. The first is
Mild, Short-term Altitude Sickness - These symptoms include : Dizziness, fatigue/loss of energy, shortness of breath, loss of appetite, and sleep problems.
Moderate Altitude Sickness - are more intense and worsen instead of improving after your body has adjusted for 12 to 24 hours. These symptoms include : Worsening fatigue, weakness and shortness of breath, coordination problems and difficulty walking, severe headaches, nausea and vomiting, chest tightness or congestion, and difficulty doing regular activities though you can still walk independently.
Severe Altitude Sickness - Shortness of breath even when resting, confusion, fluid buildup in lungs or brain, and inability to walk.
When I got to camp and started setting up, the only symptoms I was feeling were a headache and getting winded super quickly. I made sure to take things easy and drink lots of water. The medicine I was taking causes you to have to pee alot because of how much fluid you need to drink. But I was still trying to use the camp set up day to get used to the altitude. We ended up leaving camp and driving some of the trails though. Well that is when things started to get worse for me. By the time we stopped at a higher elevation I was feeling sick. I felt like the truck was still moving yet it was not. I felt sick to my stomach like I was going to throw up and also slightly like I wanted to pass out. We did not see any critters so we went back to camp. By that time, I was still feeling sick and barely ate any dinner then went to bed. I felt much better by morning though. We left camp on day 2 to drive to the other side of the mountains. We climbed up to those mountains with the trucks and I was still not feeling great, the higher we got the worse I felt. We had not even done any hiking yet and that started to worry me. How was I going to be able to hike up and help get these mountain goats?
Well we finally spotted two goats. And by that time all of the symptoms from the night before were back in full swing. But this time I tried to like it a little bit and ended up on my hands and Knees because I could not breathe. Both my dad and his hunting buddy both knew it would not be safe for meto go up any more in altitude let alone hiking it. They had me stay at the truck. I Felt Awful for not being able to be there or to help out. But safety always comes first.
Looking back, I think I had Moderate altitude sickness. I felt very weak, I had shortness of breath, difficulty walking, severe headaches, severe nausea,and difficulty doing regular activities, and had lost most of my appetite. Since we were lucky enough to have shot the billy on the second day of being in Colorado, that meant we would be staying at camp the next day to clean and start packing up gear.
So on day 3 I was feeling much better, I still felt a little weak, I still had the headaches, I was walking normally, and I was barely feeling any nausea. I did learn now looking back, that you really do need a full day, even two full days to acclimate to the elevation change. If you could learn anything from this post I hope it is that.
Be careful out there, and always happy hunting.
