u/NursingMyWorries

Hello! I (31F) just wanted a bit of advice regarding the itinerary of a backpacking trip my friend is planning. There will be 6 people. Myself and husband, two of our local friends and then my out of state friend who is planning the trip with her husband. Of the 6 of us three of us have no backpacking experience and I specifically have never been camping before.

The itinerary:

Day 1:

Arrive at hoh rainforest trail head

Hike 5 miles to 5 mile island camp site

Set up camp for evening/sleep

Day 2:

Pack up in the morning

Hike 6-7 miles to Lewis Meadows

Set up camp/sleep

Day 3:

Hike to elk lake or hike glacier meadows or stay at lewis Meadows

Day 4:

Pack up and hike 11 miles to car

My friend who is planning seems to think this is a reasonable itinerary for multiple beginner backpackers. All of have experience hiking but I've only hiked about 6-7 miles and this was with no back pack granted there was more elevation. I am told this hike is mostly flat but I can't help but be concerned that it may be too much. Specifically the 11 miles back on the day we leave. I did voice some concern to my friend and she emphasized that the hike was flat and that she and her husband would be willing to help share some of the weight for anyone that is struggling. I want to trust her judgement since they are more experienced but I still feel nervous about the whole thing. Any thoughts ?

Hello! I just wanted a bit of advice regarding the itinerary of a backpacking trip my friend is planning. There will be 6 people. Myself and husband, two of our local friends and then my out of state friend who is planning the trip with her husband. Of the 6 of us three of us have no backpacking experience and I specifically have never been camping before.

The itinerary:

Day 1:

Arrive at hoh rainforest trail head

Hike 5 miles to 5 mile island camp site

Set up camp for evening/sleep

Day 2:

Pack up in the morning

Hike 6-7 miles to Lewis Meadows

Set up camp/sleep

Day 3:

Hike to elk lake or hike glacier meadows or stay at lewis Meadows

Day 4:

Pack up and hike 11 miles to car

My friend who is planning seems to think this is a reasonable itinerary for multiple beginner backpackers. All of have experience hiking but I've only hiked about 6-7 miles and this was with no back pack granted there was more elevation. I am told this hike is mostly flat but I can't help but be concerned that it may be too much. Specifically the 11 miles back on the day we leave. I did voice some concern to my friend and she emphasized that the hike was flat and that she and her husband would be willing to help share some of the weight for anyone that is struggling. I want to trust her judgement since they are more experienced but I still feel nervous about the whole thing. Any thoughts ?

Hey there! I started having dry eye symptoms last year after being a long term contact user for 15 years. Everyday use about 16hr a day. I saw an opthalmologist who said my eyes were healthy and he didn't see anything on exam that was abnormal. I saw an optometrist before him who did a test with dye that showed my tears break up fast. Anyways, he suggested I use a few different eye drops and sent me on my way. Told me to use my contacts way less, use the eye drops and come back if it didn't work. Eventually my eyes became more stable and I stopped needing the drops. I also continues to wear my glasses more frequently and switched to dallies.

Almost exactly one year later. In April I notice some eye redness at the top of my eye ball. It stays like this for weeks. I wasn't really having dry eye symptoms otherwise so I just watched and waited. Then the redness spread and became more visible. I started noticing a bit of dryness so I started using the drops again however I noticed no change in the redness. I went to an optometrist who said my eye looked fine and to continue the drops. So now it's been like 3 weeks since this first started. I then notice these greyish spots on my cornea over the iris of my eye. Small dots. I make an appt with the ophthalmologist again who says that the dots indicate there was some sort of inflammation but otherwise my eye is healthy. He also states that he thinks I might have a rare eye disorder called superior limbic keratoconjunctivitis. Apparently is associated with thyroid disorder so he also had me get some labs done and ordered restasis for my eye stating that it would help with the inflammation and redness. The labs came back normal and I have been taking the restasis for 2 weeks but I still have eye redness that fluctuates throughout the day. At this point it's been a month and a half of this. He told me it wouldn't be an immediate change but I was hoping to notice something by now. Can anyone tell me what their timeline was for seeing a reduction in eye redness while taking restasis?