[at-l] recovering after the longer hike

[KAB@concordia-ny.edu (Kurt Bodling)]

Just wondering:  is there some sort of rule of thumb on how long it
takes one to recover after a long hike?  Physically, I mean.

1.  I've been back from my month on the LT for a couple weeks now
and the soles of my feet still complain when I first get out of bed in
the morning.  Callouses are maybe half what they were when I
came off Trail.  First walk down stairs in the morning is stiffer than
it used to be before the hike.  That's the sort of stuff I'm talking
about.

2.  Put my boots back on this weekend for the first time since
getting back in order to take a short hike and found that my toes
were cramped.  Didn't feel that way on the Trail.  And, no, I haven't
tried different socks or anything.  But I was wondering whether you
folks think the boots shrunk a little since the hike, or have my feet
gotten longer SINCE the hike (remember that they weren't cramped
during the hike)?

3.  It took about a week and a half to start sleeping through a full
night in my bed.  Some of that could have been that it's so much
hotter at home than it was up in the mountains, but some of it was
my legs (especially the calves) just not feeling right, what with
suddenly NOT being asked to walk for 10 hours a day any more
(even though my last two trail days were actually short mileage
ones).

I'm actually most interested in question #2 because if I'm gonna
need to get new boots I should do it soon so they're ready for fall
hiking.

[p.s. I'm trying my best to NOT recover psychologically: still eating
breakfast out in the backyard; still haven't turned on a television or
radio -- except the car radio on two 5 shour trips; still haven't read a
newspaper; I'm enjoying the lack of 'noise' in my brain which allows
me to listen to more meaningful things.]

Thanks,

Concordia, LT '02