The Savage Road

Day two started out okay, I thought i was feeling pretty strong considering the illness that was surging through my body. Jeremy was, once again, incredibly upbeat and optimistic. I can't really say I felt the same, and credit alot of it with being sick.  We discussed the potential round-trip to Toklat as we broke camp and did our chores. There was no alarm set for the morning, so we didn't get out of camp until well after 10am. If we were to be serious about making miles this would have to stop, in my opinion. Thats when it dawned on me....this wasn't serious in that manner anymore.
     We pulled out of camp and started heading west out the road for the Savage River. Things were better today in the elevation department as the road leveled out and a few minor downhill dips were encountered. On the few uphill pulls that we had I found myself extremely weak. At this point I was feeling quite feverish and had started to cough regularly and uncomfortably; it was quite challenging to be outdoors in the cold under circumstances like this.........I was not having a good time. That's bad.
 A few miles into it, I turned around to look for Jeremy. I was going to hold up and tell him that I wasn't going to make it to Toklat, only he wasn't in sight. I waited a few minutes, but then I started to get quite cold in my sweaty trail gear so I dropped  all my gear on the road, pounded some water and skiied back down the trail. As I turned a bend in the road I saw him sitting on his sled. He had hurt his knee. His exact words were, " My knee is killing me." WOW, was all I thought....we are falling apart fast. We exchanged a few words and decided to proceed to the Savage River Campground, a sheltered drive-in campground with about 50 sites. The gates were closed, which was a pain in the ass to negotiate in the deep snow of the trees, and we went downhill into the campground and chose the "group site" with its multiple picnic benches and large food locker. We set up camp, Jeremy took some prescription pain killers and a nap. He was experiencing some debilitating  pain while in the prone position. I stayed awake and formulated multiple plans: I was sure that this was the end of our endeavor and that his knee injury was going to be the turn around factor. One of my ideas was that he stash his food and perishables in the food locker to lighten his load, and we ski out and report this to the rangers. I wasn't sure how they were going to accept this prospect, but it didn't matter. When I mentioned it to Jeremy he was incredulous that I was suggesting we leave on account of his knee. At no point in all of our negotiations were we disrespectful or rude to one another: I have been in wilderness situations where that was not the case. We decided to sleep on it, under a full moon. It snowed an inch or two that night--dry, icy snow with no sticking power whatsoever. The slightest wind sent it running. We both experienced broken sleep and bizarre dreams, and in the morning we made another decision; lets make a move down to the river, camp by running water, get a view, and do some reconnaisance. My coughing was getting worse and was now joined by bloody phlegm. It was a depressing day for me, and it was time to make a move out of the trees.