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Re: [at-l] re: blister prevention

> and finally, there's a really easy way.  don't hike 20 miles  :).
> seriously, when you start your thru hike, take a few days, maybe up to a
> week or so, at 10-12miles a day.  this will give your feet time to toughen
> up.  then they won't be so stressed by doing 20.

For my thru-hike next year, I plan on doing exactly what you suggest for the 
first couple of weeks.

My problem right now is the shorter duration hikes I'm making this year. For 
example, in April I'm planning on section hiking the AT from the Delaware Water 
Gap to Greenwood Lake, NY, and then resupply and hike back to the DWG. With my 
ultralight gear, I should be physically capable of doing that 150 mile hike in 
8 to 9 days. This works out great by allowing me to take a week's vacation from 
work to complete the hike. If I'm going to be stuck at 10-12 miles per day, 
it's going to take me 7 days just to make it to Greenwood Lake.

I've received lots of suggestions posted here and via private E-mail. Thanks to 
you all for sharing your experience with me. Right now it appears that I have 
following alternatives available to me for dealing with my heel blisters on 
high-mileage days:

1. Spend more time walking barefoot to help toughen my feet prior to hiking
2. Use tincture of benzoin for the week prior to a hike
3. Tape my heels at the start of the hike
4. Tape my heels at the first moment I feel a hotspot while hiking
5. Assume I have tender feet and just forget about power hiking until they're 
trail toughened for a week or two

Right now, I'll probably try the combination of 1 and 3, or 1, 2, and 4. Number 
5 will be a last resort!

Thanks again, everyone!

+-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=+
Michael Connick
GA->ME on the Appalachian Trail in 98!

E-mail: Michael_Connick@clrmnt.com
Michael's Ultralight Backpacking Page:
    http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/mconnick  
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