Practice Hike 1: Swain’s Lock

20120824-183015.jpg

This was my first night on the trail. I planned a short training hike in preparation for the main trip in October. I came in 5 miles to the South by bus, and hiked to this camp site called “Swain’s Lock”. After a night trying to get some sleep amongst partying car campers, dogs, and sweltering heat, I would walk south into DC, a 16.5 mile trip, and then take the subway home.

No problem. Except the nasty blisters.

A week earlier as part of my preparation, I had walked into DC.  I put on my old sneakers.  Big mistake.  Blisters on the balls of both my feet within 3 miles.  I followed the advice I see everywhere online:  Don’t pop them!

I put moleskin over them for the 5+16.5 hike above, and they grew.  They branched out.  Owww.

One Reply to “Practice Hike 1: Swain’s Lock”

  1. I popped mine, big mistake, as it ended my trip for 3 weeks…and lose the sneakers, get some good walking shoes, i did, have walked from DC to Wilmington, IL with no problems…

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *