Hiking with MS

So, after my sojourn to Yellowstone the other week, I cannot go back to not doing active things because I’m tired, or I hurt, or anything like that; once you’ve spent an entire week camping and hiking you kinda lose the “I have MS” excuse for getting out of activities.

This is good, it means that now I’m home, I can’t revert back to the way things had been for the past year. 

That being said, I have a few thoughts on going hiking with MS:

1.  Know where you are going and the kind of trail you will be on.
2. With no exception; every rock, tree root, and divot in the trail WILL try to trip you.
3. The wildlife you were so eager to try and see will only come out while you are watching your feet for the aforementioned rock, root, and divot. The moment you look up, they mysteriously vanish.
4. Pick the right shoes. This goes way beyond the whole ‘shoe fetish’ issue; any real hiker will say the same thing. However with MS, the wrong shoes can mean the difference between being stiff the next day or completely unable to walk.
5. Don’t let the slightly chilly, overcast day fool you; the moment you hit that first steep incline, I don’t care if it’s snowing, you will get overheated.
6. It doesn’t matter how great your big, heavy, ultra professional digital camera is or how it takes fantastic, high resolution, pictures; after 7 miles it’s like carrying a 5 pound dumbbell on your shoulder. Next time, opt for the smaller, less professional, camera; it’s not like you’re going to actually get to see any wildlife staring at your feet.
7. Leave your mopey, whiney, preteen at home. There’s only room enough on the trail for one complainer and you called dibs.
8. Pick a trail that takes you uphill at the beginning of the hike. That way, as you head back, you’ll have gravity helping to propel you forward.
9. You’re not as spry as you used to be; just because your son was able to nimbly negotiate a mud bog without falling in doesn’t mean you can too.
10. When you get home, call dibs on the first hot bath/shower. Sure everyone else is tired, dirty and sore, but they weren’t the ones who mistakenly wore the wrong shoes or foolishly tried to follow their kid through the mud.
11. Finally, while soaking in the tub, and using up the hot water, mentally curse the trail guide you purchased the other day. There really needs to be a guide book that has a 'fat bastard section' rating trails based on how an out of shape, overweight, individual with MS would do on a hike.