Chap. 49 – New shoes and discomfort

I felt ready to go this morning. I knew I needed to buy some toilet paper and probably a can of gas, but after breakfast I felt ready to hit the road.

Instead, we procrastinate. We ate our pancake breakfasts (I finished both whole pancakes this time!) and then waited. And he waited. Then he waited a little longer. Boostie transferred fuel to our cans, so at least I didn’t have to buy more. But the wait was killing me.

Marathon and Coyote were waiting for Marathon’s trekking poles to be delivered, so they had good reason to wait. Us and the Australians? We had no reason. We got to see someone who is part of our tram but has been after us for weeks, so at least the wait was worth it!

Boostie, the Aussies and I finally started walking in the afternoon. At least at the higher elevation the afternoon sun doesn’t feel so miserable and hot! I felt great for the first few miles and the new shoes added pep to my step. However, after about five miles, I started to feel some pain in my right heel. I took off my shoe and it had left a small cut on the heel. I tied my shoes tighter and hoped for the best.

Ten minutes later, the pain worsened. I stopped and applied KT blister prevention tape. Twenty minutes later, the pain worsened again. I stopped, removed the tape and applied moleskin. I hoped the thicker barrier would help. He did it…for about thirty minutes. At this point, I was running out of ideas. My last resort was a triple antibiotic, a band-aid, and some tape over it to keep it in place. While I still felt a little discomfort, that finally made the pain manageable!

First night with cans of bears.

As soon as the heel pain got better, I started having gas. It is not the usual gas, it is a painful gas. I also had acid reflux, so Boostie prescribed me an antacid to see if it could help. Damn, I was miserable! We ended the day two miles before our planned campsite. The sun had set and I wasn’t feeling it anymore, so we knew we’d better save those two miles for the morning.

This website contains affiliate links, which means The Trek may receive a percentage of any products or services you purchase using links in articles or advertisements. The buyer pays the same price they would otherwise pay, and their purchase helps support The Trek’s ongoing goal of bringing you quality backpacking information and advice. Thank you for your support!

For more information, visit the About page of this site.