Feet - Saturday, April 19

Yesterday a lady who is starting the PCT in a few weeks was at the Warner Springs Community Center giving rides to the Post Office and seeking advice about the trail for her upcoming adventure. She asked Sally and I what one bit of advice would we give. My first thought was the filth we live with each day so I blurted out "baby wipes". Sally gave the question a bit more thought and gave what I consider a much better answer, "your feet".
We walk on them everyday, and I suspect most of us take them for granted. But out here where everyday is totally about walking on those feet you can't pay them too much respect. Muscles can get sore and recover in a few days, but once blisters form it takes weeks before the open sores heal and the pain subsides. On a hiking trip this means walking on open sores all day long. Backup calls it the Hiker Shuffle. Feet so sore they hobble around, wincing in pain.

Blisters are the common ailment. Blisters in the likely and most unlikely places. On the back of the heels. On the bottom of the heels. Pinky toes with blisters twice the size of the toe itself. Between each toe, often where one toe's nail gouges a chunk out of the adjoining toe. Between the row of toes and the ball of the foot. And on the arch. Anywhere a shoe can rub, a blister will form. Walking 10-14 hours a day affords lots of opportunity for friction.
The number of people with blisters and the hiker shuffle far out number those with pristine feet. Here at mile 109 in Warner Springs well over half the people shuffle about their business of getting resupply boxes, washing clothes, showering, camping and repacking. They have changed out of their offending trail shoes and into sandals of some type, looking for relief from the pressure points. Each rely on the faith that their feet will toughen and callus in the coming days and weeks. In the meantime they endure the pain.
The shoe of choice on the trail are "tennis shoes", usually in the form of trail runners or some high bred form of sport hiking shoe. The mesh cloth of the shoe is designed to allow the feet to breath, stay cooler, and dryer to help stave off blisters. Unfortunately, that same mesh allows fine dust and dirt into the shoe, coating the wearers feet. When the shoes come off and the sandals go on often those objects at the end of a hikers legs are recognizable as feet only by their shape, not their color. In a word their feet are filthy.

Sally has been fighting blisters on her feet since day one. She owned a great pair of hiking shoes that we're wearing out, so months ago we bought the same size, brand and style with adequate time to break them in. Unfortunately, they have not fit as well as the originals and are causing blisters on her heels. However, she also has a pair of Teva sandals, so she alternates between the two shoes, letting injured parts damaged by one shoe heal while trying to minimize the damage the current shoe is causing.

Far Out's blisters are finally beginning to heal. This is partly due to care we have been giving them, but mostly due to 3 or 4 low mileage days and a zero day here at Warner Springs. We had hiked 10 days in a row and felt it necessary to spend a day off the trail letting our bodies rest and blisters heal.

We woke in the community center this morning around 6:15-really sleeping in for us! We had the breakfast provided, then spent the morning talking and helping the volunteers by washing dishes and sweeping the floor. About 30 PCT hikers ate breakfast this morning and most of those that spent last night here we're gone before noon. Our group (Far Out, Backup, Horizon, Crotalus, Coyote, Danger Zone, Goldilocks, Grasshopper and 1st Class and I) all decided to take a zero day today and stay put. We ate the hamburger lunch provided, sorted gear, helped each other with cell phones, apps, etc. Far Out had purchased some salad makings, so after the center closed at 4, we gathered in the chairs outside and had a dinner, welcomed a new couple from Vancouver into our group and eventually drifted into our tents for the night.

Sally and I will get up at our usual 3:50am tomorrow morning to beat the heat, predicted to be in the low 80's. The rest will rise later and catch up with us on the trail. Most likely our group will begin to splinter over the next few days. Sally and I do not do enough distance each day to complete the PCT on time ( about 20/day are needed), so the rest will have to start leaving us behind if they hope to make it to Canada in time. We knew this would be the case before we started the trip, that people would be moving faster than us and we would watch them leave us behind. Still, it hard to see friends we have made bonds with over the past 6 days literally walk out of our lives. But the blisters on their feet are healing and it is time for them to put some distances down.