Carne Mountain to High Pass (page 15)

Kidney Stone Camp

Somewhere between there and here (Big Creek) it became apparent that I was in the initial process of passing a kidney stone. Suddenly I realized how I had misread all of the symptoms, the nausea and the back pain. But once the stone starts moving it is an unmistakable sensation. Having passed a few before, I knew immediately what it was. It's a strange thing; while the stones are in your kidney you don't really experience any discomfort. It's not until they drop from the kidney into the narrow tube that connects the kidney to your bladder that you feel any pain. Then you are in absolute misery.

At the moment the mental light bulb turned on I knew I had to immediately find a spot to pitch my tent, gather water, and get into the sleeping bag. Fortunately, a tent site (which I dubbed 'Kidney Stone Camp') miraculously appeared just off the trail next to the stream. For those of you objective, western-medicine types, I'll say that it was a long miserable night with only aspirin to dull the pain. The stone took about six-hours to pass.

For the rest of you, I will say that I experienced one of the most profound spiritual moments of my life in that camp alongside the non-descript stream tumbling down the wild slopes of a hillside north of Glacier Peak. In my pain and in my suffering, I reached out to the only source of comfort I had available to me, my Earth Mother and the life entity we are both made of. I FELT the lines of power running below me from tree to tree, and to the other life forms around me. I knew I could tap into and become part of those lines of energy. I sensed a comfort washing about me in a nurturing embrace. Then I slept.

Hours later, in the middle of the black night, I crawled out of the tent and was able to urinate freely for the first time in two days. I gave thanks to whatever powers that be for my release from that crippling pain, then ducked back into my tent and slept the sleep of a grateful child.

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