Since I'm in recovery mode and can't do many activities right now, I may as well post some pictures of some recent outings prior to being "restrained".
Fatbiking the Bald Eagle/Otter Lake trails by my house.
Had my first surgery experience this week. Last spring, at the end of broomball season I had some pretty extreme wrist pain at the base of the thumb on my right hand. Despite easing off on some activities that seemed to aggravate it, the pain did not go away. I went in to see a hand specialist and she declared that I had De Quarvain's Tenosynovitis, an inflammation of the tendon sheath at the base of my thumb. The Doc gave me a cortisone shot and I was on my way. Within 2 days the pain was gone and I was functioning like new.
Fast forward to January of this year. I had been doing a fair bit of XC skiing over the Christmas and New Year break and noticed that the pain was returning. I stopped skiing but the pain did not subside. So, in early February I was back at the Doc's office to check it out again. No shot this time. The next step was to go in and surgically create a larger opening in the tendon sheath for my tendons to slide through. On Tuesday morning the 12th I went in and had the following procedure done. Dequarvains Release.
Overall my first surgery experience was great. Almost less annoying than going to the dentist. I was knocked out with an IV sedative and everything after that was rainbows and unicorns.
Now comes the recovery. I need to take it easy for a few weeks which means no outside biking, XC skiing, or heavy lifting. Thankfully, I can still get on the trainer to get a little bit of excercise though. The annual Man Trip, winter camping weekend is coming up soon and though I may not be able to partake in all the adventures of the weekend, I'd still really like to get up there and camp, since I missed out last year due to this same injury. Hopefully this fixes it for good!
This years hunt greeted us with ultra warm weather and a tough go of finding animals. Morning temps ranged from the low thirties to an unbelievable 58 degrees one morning. The animals don't tend to move around too much in that warm of weather. Jim was able to down a mule deer buck one morning and then it wasn't until Tuesday evening that Scott and I stumbled upon a cow elk that would become the first and only elk in our freezer for the season.
Though the quarry played hard to get, the hunt is still great because spending time with great friends and family, in the beauty of the mountains is always better than a day at work. We averaged about about 7-8 miles of hiking with our packs everyday this year. My pack with all the extra clothing, food, camera, binocs, and supplies for taking care of a downed elk probably weighs about 25lbs. Tack a 9lb gun on there and you've got quite a load to carry around all day. Once you down an animal, now you've got meat to carry. A boned out, meat only, hind quarter of your average size elk weighs about 50-75lbs. Now toss that in your pack. One of these years I should plan a backpacking trip right after elk season. It sure gets you in shape quickly.
