havecarryonwilltravel

Hiking boots seem to be my “bug bear” right now. My old boots disintegrated. I had to buy new boots. My new boots felt great for 2 weeks. When I increased my backpack weight to 18 lbs my new boots started giving me trouble. (sigh!)

Half way though a practice hike, my Achilles tendons start to hurt. Not a blister kind of hurt, but a pressure kind of hurt. I tightened my boots. OUCH! I loosen my boots. OUCH! I limp home. (Why does this always happen at the farthest point from home?)

It pays to have patience and keep trying different solutions until you stumble on one that works. Murray and I figure out that maybe my feet are too low in the boots. Maybe my feet should be raised up so the inside contour of the boot hits my legs at a different point.

I take my boots to Sundance Ski Shop, Alex Messinis confirms our diagnosis. She outfits me with a pair of Superfeet footbeds that will raise my heel up. I am hopeful.

Superfeet footbeds (red) and heel lifts (black)

Superfeet footbeds (red) and heel lifts (black)

Next time I walk in my boots, the right heel does not hurt at all. YIPPEE! The left one still hurts.  I fold up some cardboard and place it under the footbeds for more height. Not quite there yet. I borrow some heel lifts from Sundance and put those under the footbeds. My left Achilles doesn’t hurt but now there is a spot down by my ankle that hurts. One problem solved, now onto another one. I talk to my personal trainer, Tracy Rollo, about what muscles run down beside my ankle and what would cause them to hurt. I go home with new ideas.

My ankle seems to want to move inward when I walk and the boot is not allowing this to happen. Murray and I try tipping my foot inside my boot, an idea I am not sure about, but try anyway. We try different combinations of footbeds, flat insoles, heel lifts. THEN I tie up my boots a slightly different way. You see, I watched YouTube videos the other day about boot tying to give me ideas on my boot issues. Well, I tried retying my left boot slightly different and WOW!!!! NO PAIN!!!! I take a short walk, with my backpack on, and STILL NO PAIN!!!

RIGHT Boot with normal tie up

LEFT Boot with alternative tie up

The right boot has the multiple crossover tie on the 5th crossover up whereas the left boot has it on the 4th one up. The tops of the boots are tied up slightly differently also.

So what happened was that I was tying my boots too tight around my ankle, not allowing my ankle to move the way it wanted to. The alternate tie method loosened the boot around my ankle so that it quit hurting. My heel moves a bit in my boot, but that is minor compared to the pain. I can work on getting just the right tightness to stop my heel moving, while making sure there is no ankle pain.

I’m going for a hike!

Shady path by the river

Our twice a week walks, preparing to backpack the West Coast Trail, take a new twist. We dig out our backpacks from the cupboard, dust them off, figure out whose pack is whose, try them on and begin to walk with our backpacks on. Oh, and we add weight inside them.

The first week, I have 11 lbs and Murray has 12 lbs of pack weight. We raid the pantry to make up the weight. We carry a combination of water bottles, cans of beans, chickpeas, tuna and tomatoes.

Today we up the weight to 18 lbs for me and 23 lbs for Murray. I take my Garmin with us on our walk because we do not know exactly how far we have been walking. We have also been taking my hiking poles to practice with. I have heard and read that poles are a good idea on the West Coast Trail.

Murray on the trail towards Goldstick Park

I have been told that walking uphill with poles is much easier. I practice and I agree with the statement. It IS much easier and quicker to go uphill using poles. The trick is to pole with every step, which takes some coordination, but once mastered going uphill is a breeze.

Murray and I share the poles, each taking one pole, when we are on the flats. We both find that alternating the pole between our hands reduces the swelling in our hands that we get when walking for a long time. Murray figures it has to do with working our hands with the movement of the pole which keeps the blood flowing, not allowing it to pool.

I haven’t quite got the downhill poling figured out. It feels clumsy to me. I think my knees will benefit from using poles, if I can figure it out.

Murray on one of the bridges along the path

The path we walk is mostly the path we cross country ski in the winter. It looks so different in the summer when there is no snow. The hills do not seem as steep and the trail looks much narrower in the summer.

We arrive home, I check my Garmin, and we are amazed that we have walked 10 km. No wonder my legs are tired!

Murray and I both have 30 year old Hanwag hiking boots. Unfortunately they have been sitting in the camping gear cupboard for about 8 years unused. Here is what what they look like.

Murray’s Hanwag Hiking Boots

Murray and I slowly increase our mileage in our hiking boots. We walk to the library at Bonnie Doon Mall, about a 10 km round trip.

We arrive at the library, pick up the book on hold for me and start our walk home. About a block later, it feels like I have mud stuck on the bottom of my boot. Something is scraping the ground each time I take a step. But I haven’t walked through any mud! I stop to look at my boot. The bottom of my boot has come apart and the back end is flapping like a flip flop. It isn’t just the sole that has come loose, it is the sole and half of the cushioning section.

We don’t have anything with us to temporarily fix the boot, so I continue to walk home flapping. I leave a trail of boot crumbs. By the time we reach home, my boot is flapping quite well.

I phone Track ‘N Trail, the shop where I originally bought the boots and ask them for the name of a shoe repair place where I could take them. They recommend Corona Shoe Renu. I go there and they give me the sad news that my boots are unrepairable. The chatty fellow tells me that our climate is very dry and when boots, or shoes, sit too long unused, they do dry out. This is what probably caused my boot to disintegrate.

So,  boot shopping is top on my list of things to do. I buy a pair of Scarpas from Mountain Equipment Co-op but after a 2 km walk around an indoor track, I decide that they are a bit too narrow and I may have trouble on a longer hike. I go to Track ‘N Trail and ask the young fellow to fit me in some boots. Well, guess what? I am back into a pair of Hanwags. They are great boots, lots of cushioning and fit my feet perfectly.

Debbie’s NEW Hanwag boots

I walk the indoor track and walk outside through our river valley and am comfortable knowing I picked the right boot. West Coast Trail, here we come.

Our friends, J&R,  invite Murray and me to backpack the West Coast Trail with them and their daughter and son-in-law. We debate this invitation alot since we haven’t been backpacking in, maybe, 10 years. We decide to go for it because when will the opportunity present itself again.

West Coast Trail

The West Coast Trail is a 77 km hike along the west coast of Vancouver Island. In the late 1800’s it was a telegraph line to connect the western communities and then also a route for ship wrecked mariners to take to get to civilization.

I get nervous looking at the websites as this hike is not a stroll in the park. There are ladders to climb, cable cars for crossing creeks and one day that is at least a 15 km day. Check out this Parks Canada website for more information.

http://www.pc.gc.ca/pn-np/bc/pacificrim/activ/activ6a/i.aspx

R manages to get reservations for the group for the last week in July. This is a good time do to the hike as it will be a full  moon and the tides will be low. Maybe that is also why all six of us did not get reservations on the same start day. R booked Murray and me on the day before the other four and so we start a day early but we will dawdle one day so the group can catch up to us. He also has booked us on the bus we must ride one way to return to our vehicles.

If we treat this hike just like any other physical challenge, be it a marathon, triathlon or century ride, and we train, we will be ready for the challenge and actually enjoy ourselves. With this in mind Murray and I dig out our hiking boots and start walking twice a week through our river valley.

Up Next: Debbie’s hiking boot catastrophe……