It’s all about the feet

Yesterday I finished the 100 Mile Wilderness in 7 days with my daughter Fiona. I’m not going to lie; it was really difficult. I took heart that Fiona said “this is hard for me and I’m 23. I hope I can do something like this when I’m 50.” Day 1 rained all day, but in order to finish on schedule ( and perhaps summit Katahdin, more in that later), we needed to get some miles in. Hiking in the rain is slow because climbing up and down wet rocks is treacherous and no one wants to leave the trail from injury. I had been having some serious shooting foot pain which got worse and worse as the day went on. Then, seemingly miraculously, the pain stopped about 10 miles in. I have no idea why. It’s almost like the exertion fixed something. Idk.

We stopped 13 miles later after 10 hours and camped in an abandoned “road,” like the 19th Century kind. When we took off our wet shoes and socks, our feet were what we used say as kids after swimming all day “parboiled.” And there was a layer of skin that was coming off most of the bottom of my feet. Sorry to be gross, but hiking is all about taking care of your feet. My feet hurt like all hikers’ feet hurt at the end of the day, but this seemed concerning.

Next day, I put on dry socks, but the shoes are still wet so socks soon are wet too. More dead skin, parboiled feet. Weather was still wet and humid, so nothing dried. Day 3 was better, but by then all socks were wet, and my feet sore like a sunburn. We put in some good miles considering we were doing 4 peaks each day: Chairback Mountains and Whitecap Mountains.

We were nursing our sore feet, elevating them, air drying, after a river crossing when we met a NOBO through hiker. We talked a bit and found out he has been hiking during a gap year from MIT. I took a risk and asked him about our feet issues. He immediately had an answer: Vaseline provides a water barrier and protects feet. The tiny tin he shared is actually Vaseline aloe lip balm. He GAVE it to us. As they say “the trail provides.l.

Amazingly, this little tin saved our feet. We had a great day and were able to heal our feet somewhat. It helped that we had a sunny day to dry out, just in time for another rainy day!

Each day we hiked until our feet hurt so much, we needed to stop. And the. Every morning, the feet healed enough to start another day pain free ( at first). We used a hood amount of Ibuprofen ( Vitamin I ) to keep the inflammation down. Hiker hobble is definitely a thing. Feet hurt during long hikes, much of the time. It’s all a matter of degree.

I am so grateful for the small blessings on the trail. The blessing of this tiny tin of Vaseline is just one concrete example. Talking to hikers you learn that everyone’s feet hurt and we are all enduring a certain amount of pain. It makes it all the more amazing that people continue each morning to start again, with this day’s goal for miles. Each day builds on the other, and soon you lose yourself in the walking, the nature around you, the people, and the frequent small blessings each day.

Thank you all for your love and support. I write more in the days to come.