No, this is not another recipe entry. Although I have loved my meals so far, I wanted to give an update on health issues.
Thus far, the trip has seen more rain than sunshine. The nature of backpacking is having to ford creeks. As a result, wet feet are a common problem. As an added feature, if the temperature drops below freezing at night the wet shoes and socks become frozen.
You are welcome to try this at home, but I do not recommend it. Placing a frozen sock over a nice warm foot that just emerged from a cozy sleeping bag is challenging. Placing the socked foot into a frozen hiking shoe is a battle: a battle of will, engineering, and words.
Lucky put on his frozen boots at Strawberry Creek and hiked. He is like me and we both wake up when the birds start chirping. However, by 10 in the morning we stopped and he checked out his feet. Sure enough, the frozen upper part had been pushing down on the big toe of his right foot and he had a bruise that would make a boxer cringe.
As for myself, I have developed blisters on both heels. Moreover, walking through creeks and rain and muddy trails means my feet are always wet. At night, when I finally get into my tent and sleeping bag, I take off my shoes and socks. The best I can describe the appearance is to say the bottom of my feet look like uneaten oatmeal that has sat near the dishwasher for a few hours and my heels look like hamburger. I try to rub my feet and apply a lotion to repair overnight. It mostly works. Can’t wait for drier weather.
(Out of respect for both my blog followers, there are no pictures for this entry. )
backpacking over the hill 