As one who spent his working life walking 10 miles a day 5 days a week I find it hard to credit the number of blisters, bunions, and other foot problems this hiker talks about having. Now I realize we’re talking about a 42-year-old computer programmer but even so I can’t believe the amount of trouble he describes having with blisters, bunions, and infection. A picture I saw the other day reminds me of the hazards of having narrow hips and legs that chaff between the thighs literally creating friction that wears holes in the pant legs. Not a personal problem. After 70,000 miles of walking a mail route I can count only a few blisters, on my toes, not my heels. Mind you I know well enough to never start walking 10-miles a day with brand new boots. No matter what shoe stores may claim there is no such thing as a shoe that doesn’t require breaking in. One would have thought someone about to embark on a 2000-mile-hike would have started with a set of well-broken in boots he felt comfortable wearing. I can’t believe that someone started out on such a trek without having sorted out his footwear before he started. Walking a treadmill in runners hardly equates with hiking in the woods.
I have had mild cases of shin splints when I got on a route with a great number of steps up to each house. Certain neighbourhoods are notorious for this. It doesn’t take long in bad weather before one stops attempting to climb icy steps. In one neighbourhood ignoramuses compound the problem by tying their dogs up on gated doorsteps. Approaching a strange dog in a confined space is always a hazard. If someone in a car asks for their mail with a dog inside one must always ask them to reach out the window toward you, never the opposite. Believe I got side-tracked there. When there are ice storms Canada Post has had so many fall related injuries that Workman’s Comp threatens to refuse coverage due to the employee recklessly endangering himself.
The one issue I do have and one that continues is the build up of callus on my heels and along the edges of my soles. My soul probably has calluses as well but that’s another matter. Where some people have sweaty feet mine are dry and the build up of dry callus leads to cracking and even bleeding. When I’m on the road I miss the opportunity to soak my feet and scruff off excess skin.
There is a chapter or so devoted to the issue of defecating along the trail. No mention is made of avoiding poison ivy. Hikers carry a plastic trowel and a roll of tissue for the purpose. At least male hikers have the advantage of voiding liquid in an upright position. The writer describes the proces in the rudest of terms. All water consumed must be pumped through a filter or treated with purification tablets.
The Bruce Trail is 500 miles and at some time or other I have hiked most of it. End-to-enders have recorded hiking the entire stretch but most do not set out to do it in one season or as a through hike. The idea of completing a 2000-mile hike from start to finish is rather daunting. When one is backpacking everything one needs every ounce counts. An entire industry surrounds the provision of high tech light weight sleeping bags, tents, cooking utensils, stoves, water bottles and clothing. Food is freeze-dried and reconstituted by adding boiling water. If this sounds expensive you have the right idea. Backpacks even come with built-in solar panels. One of the writer’s fellow travelers had a cat that sat atop his pack and fed on the mice that infested the shelters along the trail. Combine crowded shelters and people eating in a confined area and vermin are bound to follow. Litter is quite another issue.
It may seem counter-intuitive but walking downhill causes more stress to the lower extremities than climbing up, the steeper the incline the more this is so. I am waiting for a chapter on the costs attached to hiking this trail. His pack, tent, tarp, clothing, rain gear, boots, dried food, cooking gear, restaurant food, lodging, car rentals, pay phone bills. I would expect a modern hiker to have a GPS enabled smartphone these days.
In his afterword the author talks about the practicalities of the trip. Aside from lost wages the trip cost him approximately $5000 plus about $1000 worth of gear he purchased in preparation for the trip. His most telling regret is not taking more pictures and allowing for more serendipity. In the end the journey’s the thing, not getting there. ..http://theatguide.com/NewGear.html
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