[pct-l] footwear, blisters

[Diane Soini of Santa Barbara Hikes]

I had rarely had problems with blisters before doing my first PCT  
hike. I did relatively frequent backpacking normally and a lot of day  
hiking. I trained with my pack on daily before I left. But when I hit  
the PCT I started getting really bad blisters just beyond Mt. Laguna  
and they didn't go away until after Kennedy Meadows. Some of these  
blisters were in the usual places I've had them in the past but  
others were in completely new places I'd never had blisters before.

The blisters hurt so bad I had Trailhacker send Chaco sandals to  
Idyllwild so I could try those. They gave me blisters, too!

I went to the outlet mall in Cabazon and with my painfully blistered  
feet I tried on shoes until I found some that didn't hurt my  
blisters. I ended up with mens size 10 (probably mislabeled and  
really a size 9). I measure a women's size 7. I wore those shoes for  
600 miles. They never felt floppy or insecure.

I also wore a flip-flop one day because I picked the blister skin a  
little too much and couldn't even put my shoe on. One flip-flop on  
one foot, tied on with a shoelace, for 15 miles. No problems hiking  
in flip-flops in my opinion. Could even be a viable option for  
someone really struggling. Just use your shoelaces to make a heel  
strap so you can go uphill easily.

Something about the Sierras healed the blisters. The clean water and  
the pruny skin from perpetually wet feet is what I think, plus the  
sand and gravel that worked its way into my wool socks never to be  
washed out again. It really toughened up the skin. After the Sierras  
I didn't need anymore foot powder, bandaids, toe-bandages, toe- 
separators or double-layered socks. I could just wear a thin wool  
sock and get no blisters at all. The skin on my feet felt like it was  
a half an inch thick.

Since then I've tried all sorts of shoes for hiking. I bought some  
shoes that felt great. I ran in them and hiked with them with no  
trouble, and then I took them for a long weekend on the PCT and got  
blisters. Arrgh!

It's so hard to tell if your shoes will work or not. I've always had  
this issue, whether it's with hiking boots, Merrells, running shoes,  
Chacos. I've learned to not be too terribly attached to my shoes. If  
they hurt, that's it. They're consigned to wearing to the cubicle  
farm and won't be backpacked in again.

On Feb 28, 2011, at 9:38 PM, pct-l-request at backcountry.net wrote:

> footwear, blisters