July 2 BLISTERSWe broke camp early as we had planned a long day. We hiked hard and after 10 miles reached Pine Grove Furnace Park around noon. There is a hiker challenge at the concession stand in the park. The challenge is to eat an entire 1/2 gallon of ice cream in one sitting. I’m pretty sure Castaway could have done it but since we planned on hiking 7 more miles he settled for 2 cheeseburgers, an ice cream cone, and a bowl of ice cream. Castaway grabbed some pastries and snacks for the road too.However, we did get to see two other thru hikers, Banjo and Two-Thirds take the ice cream challenge. They did it, but later told us they took a three hour nap before they could continue hiking. When we left the park to continue on, Backpacker and Jack had arrived and were ordering their half gallons too. Unfortunately, I have developed a pretty severe blister problem, 7 blisters in all. I taped them today and pushed thru until about the 16th mile when I could barely walk because of the pain. I did “surgery” once we reached camp tonight and they are all drained and bandaged now. The plan is to try to hike out tomorrow but if I can’t take it, we will come up with an alternate plan. I have to say, Nate’s been an amazing hiker. I’m enjoying the time with him on the trail and he’s been really helpful now that I’m “injured”. He polished off two hamburgers pretty easily at the concession stand and I think a few more days on the trail and he could match Castaway’s appetite. Nate has a trail name now. It’s Seeds. Castaway named him on account of the sunflower seeds he’s been eating on the trail….after Nate rejected his initial idea of Sunflower for his name. Haha. Aunt Donna…we did 15 miles on day one, 13 miles on day two, 17 miles today, and have 13 miles left for tomorrow. Karen Meehan
Good girl no. Name (Karen). Tell Castaway that I will forgive him if he doesn’t make it thru NH after reading the book. He is way better than Katz anyway
Typing on iPad so lots of errors. Want to tell C astaway he’s better tan all the rest combined. I couldn’t think of Bryson
Could your name be Blisters?
New shoes Karen? You’ve never had blister problems before, have you?
Say “Hi” to Castaway and Sunflower for me. (Sorry Nate, but I think the name has stuck!)
It great hearing all your stories! Have fun and enjoy your hike!
I have never had blisters before. The boots are not new, in fact they are the ones I brought to California to hike in the Sierras. I think the only thing I can blame for the blisters is my pride. I should have stopped at 10 miles the first day. Rookie mistake!! Lol
My trail name is still Newt but I didn’t use it on the AT. I don’t want to be Blisters. Lol. Once was enough!!
Love reading all the stories from the trail. Not this story about the blisters, though. Sorry to hear that, Newt. I can sort of relate because of my foot pain for so many years before I finally had my surgery. It’s not fun to try to walk when your feet hurt. Hope today was a better day!