20,000 Steps A Day = Sore Feet

Hi from Franklin, North Carolina;

Made it into another month, and another state, and over 100 miles; but still only 5% of the way thru. I�m glad I already have a trail name, "Izzy", or I would be given one. Something like Gimpy, Hop-a-long, or Chester for those who remember Gunsmoke. By the end of the day, I am walking with a pronounced limp. My feet are very sore, and hurt with each step. I�ve calculated, over 2,000 steps per mile. That�s 20,000 steps per day, and over 4 million steps for the entire trail. My left foot is worse than the right. I�ve determined that I am not only left handed, but left footed. I lead mostly with my left foot in difficult terrain. The good news is that since I bought new hiking shoes in Haiwassee, it is not getting any worse as it was each day before.
I am taking a recovery day off today in Franklin to see if my feet will be better by tomorrow. I probably should have planned an off day every two weeks.

Still I think I have walked 5 miles today around town re-supplying myself. I will also take the time to 5S my back-pack and re-organize, post office, etc. It was also an opportunity to get a good meal last night at Cody�s Roadhouse. Beats the freeze dry foods on the trail, and had a few cold beers. I will be careful though, not to gain weight on the trail. After all, one purpose was to get in shape. Based on my belt notches, I believe I have lost a little weight.

The trail in North Carolina is similar to Georgia, up the mountain, and down the mountain. The overall terrain may be at a little higher elevation, mostly between 4,000 and 5,000 feet. There were a few opportunities were it was more level along a ridge line. The highest point so far was Standing Indian Mountain at 5,498 feet; but a nice gradual climb. The hardest climb was Albert Mountain which became more of a rock climb than hiking. But it was not too long, and a great view of the North Carolina mountains from on top.

Occasionally I still run into people I met two weeks back in the first couple days. The guys from Connecticut are here in Franklin. One is called Bear, the other two are just called the guys from Connecticut. They started out together, and by coincidence, Bear also from Connecticut, joined them. They told me they thought Postcard and Fatty were behind me. I expected Fatty to be out in front, and gaining, as slow as I thought I am going. I still haven't stayed overnight in a shelter, but stop for lunch at them sometimes. There are notebooks to leave messages and comments in, and I see Jim and Monk are out front by a couple days.

Generally I see about 10 people per day going in either direction. Last Monday I walked all day without see a single person. I am not meeting any new through hikers. I think that most all through hikers have already been past here by now, or they will not make it to New England before the weather turns too bad. Because I am flip-flopping, going from West Virginia to Maine and heading south back to West Virginia, I can be a little later. I am now meeting a lot of section hikers. These are people who will do a part of the trail each year. Yesterday I ran into a German couple who will spend four weeks on the trail.

The weather has been nice except for one cold spell. My first night in NC, I set-up in a little saddle between two mountain tops. Unfortunately this acted as a funnel to channel the winds through. It got down to 25 degrees F and the winds were howling all night. I froze my butt off. I got up to pee and it was sleeting out. That night I learned not to drink too much in the evening. It is not as easy as at home to get up and go to the bathroom in the middle of the night. The next day it did not thaw until noon. I saw a very unusual frost formation that morning. Little spears of ice crystals were growing out of the ground. I�ve also had some rain, but nothing heavy so far. That is forecast for tomorrow afternoon. I will let you know how that goes in the next update.
 

Today I bought some hiking poles. Most all the through hikers, and most of the section hikers use them. I think it will take some pressure off my feet. I made a lot of rookie mistakes in planning for this hike. I thought I was an experienced hiker because I did a lot of day hiking. But it is not the same as continuous hiking. Fortunately nothing serious yet that I will not recover from.


Happy trails,

�Izzy� Jim
 

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