Thursday, May 21, 2009

More Blisters, More People

Wed. May 20, 9:00 PM

Well I have officially joined the crowd of people who get blisters. Both pinky toes have fully developed and as of today both pads of my feet just below the big toe have blood blisters. I am going to attribute the pinky toes to too small shoes, but I have no idea what is causing the pad blisters, unless my feet just need to get used to hiking 20 miles per day.

To reduce the pain of walking, I have switched to hiking in Crocs for the last 45 miles or so. Since the switch the pinky toes have been healing and the soft slipper/shoes have been very comfortable.

Hiking in the San Jacintos has been amazing... the higher elevation has lowered the temperature which makes hiking during the day bearable. We spent most of our day today climbing from our camp at 6000 feet up to over 9000 feet where we got to play in some snow that has yet to melt off.

As we were setting up camp tonight three more hikers rolled in after their stays in Idyllwild (an awesome trail town). They are Matt from Connecticut who we had met in Mount Laguna, Billy from Santa Barbara, and Monologue, who we have heard about being just minutes ahead f us for days and who also hiked the AT in 2006. It is exciting to camp and hike around so many people, and reassuring that we are not out here alone. Tonight we are camped at 8850 feet and at 9:00 it is about 50 degrees, so we are probably in for the coldest night we have seen so far.

Tomorrow we drop 7000 feet back down to the desert floor going through every ecological zone in California except alpine. Not looking forward to the desert but it has got to be done to get to the San Bernadino forrest coming up.

1 comment:

home said...

wishing you relief from the heat and sand, healed blisters, and plenty of water and shade! love from home, mom & dad c