Chap. 5 – Bird watching and blisters

Blisters in the title, you know what that means…

I have seven.

Yes. Seven vials. I’ve been good at using Leukotape, and even used one of my two emergency blister strips. Tonight I took off all the tape and bandaids at camp because they were peeling off and probably weren’t helping anymore. I ended up putting a ton of Gold Bond on my feet and covering them with socks to sleep in overnight. We hope that does something!

Twelve of us woke up at Mt. Laguna Campground at 5:30 this morning, having enjoyed the magic of the trail there last night. Boostie decided to move towards Julian because his shoes were demolishing his feet. Honestly, I’m starting to wonder if that’s my problem too. Maybe I’ll try on shoes at Julian’s if they have any. What I really need to do is drain the blisters so they can heal, but my feet are so dirty that I don’t feel like I should risk infection.

These grow much more here compared to the east coast!

Since Boostie went to town, I spent most of the day walking alone. I spent most of the day chasing the Australian couple we met on the first day. Most of the time they listened to a podcast together, but we chatted while having lunch together. Our lunch spot was the smallest strip of shade under some bushes next to the trail. We are descending into the real desert right now, so it was getting hotter and hotter as the day went on. I could see the heat waves radiating around me, literally. Fortunately, I had plenty of water. The dry, warm air made me thirstier than usual!

50 mile marker

Today’s terrain didn’t make it easy for any of us. I had 6 blisters this morning, now there are 7. One on each big toe, one on each little toe, one on each heel and one on the left arch. A member of our tram (who I think we called the group “Mountain Mates”) said he cried a little on the way down because of his blisters. One of its blisters covers the entire toe, even the nail. I think that would be especially painful! I told him that instead of crying about my pain, I muttered curse words under my breath at all the rocks. Hopefully today the rocks felt hurt and took everything I said very, very personally.

Hydration yum yum

At the water fountain, everyone had taken off their shoes to get some rest. I was the last one to appear. No wonder, it could have gone 2mph. Maybe less, frankly, than the way I limped down the 16.2 miles we did today (more like 17 miles walking back to the trail from camp in the morning). I was all good until about mile 6. The muscle soreness set in at that point and the seventh blister began to form. Tragic. We stopped for water at mile 6 and did some bird watching (the Aussies brought binoculars), and I guess my feet and legs got a little too stiff.

General daily outlook

Today still seemed like a good day all in all. Especially once we got to camp and spent a couple hours just laughing, eating, and resting our feet together in the shade. I missed hiking with Boostie, as this is our first night on a trail that doesn’t stay in the same place, but at least the people I’m hiking with make me not feel so alone. One of them even offered to bring me a liter of water to camp when he saw how much I was limping during our break. I declined the offer, but it was a kind gesture. The people along the way and the views today made all the pain worth it.

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