[pct-l] Trail Running Shoes so great?

[Scott Bryce]

Diane at Santa Barbara Hikes dot com wrote:
> People who leave the trail in the first couple of hundred miles 
> probably were not prepared physically or mentally or both

That would be me.

By the time I got to Pines to Palms Highway, I was pretty beat up
physically. I had 14 blisters, maybe more. The biggest ones were on the
balls of my feet. The others were annoying and painful, but not enough
to take me off the trail. I don't know if it is actually possible to
have two layers of blisters, but from the way my feet healed after I got
home, it looked as though I had another layer of blisters under the
visible blisters on the balls of my feet.

I got to Pines to Palms the day after the next section of trail was
re-opened. I was looking forward to being one of the few thrus who would
be able to hike the trail from Pines to Palms to Saddle Junction. I
stopped at Paradise Cafe for a famed Jose Burger. When I stood up, my
feet hurt so badly I realized that I would need a couple of days off to
recover.

I hitched to Idyllwild and got a room at the Idyllwild Inn. (BTW, they
are VERY hiker friendly!) There was another thru there who saw how bad I
looked and handed me his unopened quart of orange juice. It wasn't until
I drank the orange Juice that I realize how badly dehydrated I was, in
spite of drinking two gallons of water every day.

I was in bad shape physically, but as I assessed the situation, I was
losing the game mentally as well. I would need a couple of zeros in
Idyllwild to give my feet time to heal. I had already taken two zeros in
Mount Laguna and three in Warner Springs. Water was plentiful in the San
Juacintos, but much of it was off trail. I was already fighting hard for
every mile, so the thought of having to put in extra miles to get water
was discouraging. I had planned to hike into Idyllwild via the Devil
Slide trail to resupply. The way I was doing physically, I expected to
have to take additional zeros then. I was falling too far behind to
finish, my physical condition wasn't getting any better, and all the
zero days were costing too much money.

I spent two nights in Idyllwild and headed home.

I will write more details in response to Ned.