miles: 30
Feet.
Today my feet hurt the most. It was especially bad during the latter half of the day and was unbearable the last 4 miles. Every step is like a shock of nerve pain, just pure pain, the entire bottom of foot, both feet. It's excruciating! What is wrong? I have my new shoes, plenty big, and I wear them loosely. I started this trip wearing a womens 8.5 shoe and am now wearing a mens 9.5 shoe. I like to wear them loosely because it helps my feet breath, I never get blisters this way, and it helps the pain.
Or at least I thought it helped.
I also cannot feel a few of my toes on each foot. The feeling tends to come back once I've been off the trail for a few days, so I know it isn't permanent, but it is sure alarming!
Tough day. Woke up and the hail was solidified and frozen to the ground. It was as if it snowed over night and it stuck! All morning, we hiked over semi-solid snow-like stuff and were mystified. What was that weather system!? How crazy it was!
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| Ben trying to dry out some belongings. |
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| Late summer? |
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| Talus fields forever |
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| Starting to warm up |
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| My attempt at drying out, 9:00am |
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| Plenty of views this morning. |
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| The rocks just fall off of this guy and create these massive talus fields! |
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| So cool |
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| Our first Crater Lake National Park sign - so close! |
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| This guy. |
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| Lunch came early because we were wet. |
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| The lunch dry-out. |
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| I've become addicted to Annie's mac n cheese lunch. |
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| My lunch set-up. |
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| Drying 'em out. |
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| You can see 1) How I walk (on the ball of my foot and 2) That I need new/real insoles. |
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| Walked through an uneventful burn zone today. |
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| Listened to Radiolab after Radiolab podcast. |
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| Look at all these baby trees! |
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| This tree. |
We finally made it to the road at 7:00pm. The road that leads to Crater Lake Campground and Mazama Village (aka the store/gift shop/laundry facilities/shower/restaurant). I was displeased to find out there was a 1.3 mile road walk to get to the campground. My feet were in agony and I couldn't fathom the thought of more miles AND on concrete! But we did it.
Once at the store, we had an hour before dark and that is when they closed everything up. My priority was showering, laundering, and finding a campsite. We did everything in that exact order, actually.
The showers were nice! We had fresh clothes by 8:00pm and were setting up camp at the official Crater Lake Campground in the dark an hour later.
2 comments:
Good luck and keep going! Your pictures are incredible- they've been great to tide me over until I get to hike next year. I tried to do a thru hike last year, but ended up going home pretty early due to an injury and now cannot wait to get back out there.
I hope the pack chafe is doing better. What shirt do you usually wear with yours? I found that a stretchy running shirt helped control the sweat from my pack.
Also for foot pain, I have some Montrail Enduro Soles that I love. Superfeet were way to aggressive for me, but the Montrails have the right amount of padding and arch support (not too much). If you get some, I would recommend the LP/low profile version, since the regular ones can take up too much room in your shoes.
And yay foot buddies! I too went from a women's 8.5 to a men's 9.5 on the trail.
I hope things get better for you guys in the next few days. I'm rooting for you from afar.
I started reading your blog because you cover a section I wanted to do. But now I'm hooked and I've spent five (yes,five!) hours reading about your thru hike. Thanks for doing this---it is much appreciated.
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