It's started...slowly

Last spring I planned the trip that would start my hike-a-thon: a Wallowas backpack trip that I would co-lead for the Spokane Mountaineers.  But no one signed up for the trip, and then my co-leader got an injury that would keep her at home, too.  So I scrambled to salvage at least a portion of the trip.
Instead of the 95-mile route Deb and I had originally planned, I moved the trip to the Lakes Basin.  Jeff agreed to join me for the weekend, but he had to be back to work on Monday...so I decided to go solo for the rest of the trip.
Everything started out well:  Jeff and I left town late Friday morning and drove to the trailhead, and then hiked in 2-3 miles and camped along the East Fork Lostine River that night.  We hiked to the lakes basin Saturday morning, set up one tent at Mirror Lake in order to stash our excess gear, and then took day packs to hike up Eagle Cap (9572').  There is still a lot of snow up there, and the trail to Horton Pass was pretty much entirely snow-covered.  We kicked steps up to the pass, but the ridge was mostly snow-free and we were able to pick up the trail to Eagle Cap's summit.  Then we hiked (and glissaded!) back down and picked up our gear in order to move camp to Moccasin Lake.  On Sunday Jeff packed up to leave and I hiked with him as far as Carper Pass (around 8500'), then returned to Moccasin Lake, packed up, and started hiking to Glacier Lake--I wanted to wake up to Glacier Lake for my hike-a-thon start!
Things went downhill from there.  I was feeling really, really tired by the time I got to Glacier Lake.  The trail over Glacier Pass was between 50-75% snow-covered, so I had a hard hike up with a full pack.  The pass is at about 8400', and the lake is at 8166'.  I didn't know it at the time, but it turned out I had overdone it.  A lot. 
That night there was a huge thunder storm--probably the biggest storm I've camped through.  Of course I couldn't sleep while that was going on, and then even when it ended I couldn't sleep: I had developed a hacking cough that kept me awake all night long. 
Monday morning and the start of hike-a-thon found me feeling fairly miserable after a completely sleepless night.  I even skipped the usual morning coffee in favor of three cups of tea.  I thought I had come down with a cold (now I'm not so sure).  I was supposed to hike out via Frazier Lake and the Wallowa River trail and move camp to Ice Lake (I have wanted to see this lake for years!), but I felt so awful that I decided it might be a better idea to just return to the lakes basin to camp and do a day hike if I felt better in the afternoon.  I didn't feel better.  In fact, it took me about three hours to do the three miles back to the lakes basin.  I set up camp in a different spot at Moccasin Lake and took a two-hour afternoon nap in the shade.  I still didn't feel like hiking when I woke up, and I started to suspect that something worse than a cold was wrong with me.  I started drinking Pedialyte and decided to go to bed early (influenced by another approaching thunderstorm!). 
I had no more than gotten into the tent when a very, very large group came up the trail and decided to camp right next to me!  I hadn't seen anyone else all day long, I don't think there was anyone else camping at the entire lake, and these guys camped so close I could have tossed a rock and hit their tents (and I'm not a very good shot when it comes to tossing rocks).  I counted at least 12 of them, and group size in the lakes basin is 6.  Nice.  The joke was on them, though.  I had the same hacking cough all night long, and I'm sure they enjoyed listening to me.
It was Monday night when I realized that this was something worse than a cold.  I began to suspect HAPE, which is weird considering that it isn't exactly super high altitude up there, but I did go from my house at about 2400' to over 6000' the first night, then hiked to 9572' and slept at 7473' the second night, then hiked to 8500', down to 7473', back up to 8400', and slept at 8166' when I first started to feel symptoms (and I talked to Jeff about this yesterday and he said I started coughing Saturday night--I hadn't even noticed it then).  At any rate, all of my ideas about dayhikes were out the window following my second sleepless night.  I needed to get back down instead.  I got up at first light on Tuesday (it's not like I was sleeping, anyway!), packed up and hiked out.
The farther down I got, the better I felt, but I still needed frequent rest breaks.  I just couldn't draw a full breath, and I still had the terrible cough.  I went to Enterprise to pick up some cough medicine and drove home.  My hike-a-thon starting mileage is terrible!  I need to get lots of sleep and drink lots of water and try to get caught up!
There was good news waiting for me at home, though: I was on the wait-list for the Cutthroat Classic, and I got in!  Now there's some incentive to start running more!
Stats: 
Monday mileage--3.5 miles (parts of trails 1806 (Glacier Pass) and 1810A.  Lakes visited: Glacier Lake, Moccasin Lake.
Tuesday mileage--9.3 miles (parts of trail 1810A and 1810 plus 1662.  Lakes visited: Mirror Lake, Upper Lake.  River visited: East Fork Lostine River.