A lot of walking around

So, we're planning to do a lot of walking around in August.

Like 135 miles +/- a few off-trail hikes and such.

Plus some more walking around between now and August to prepare ourselves for all of that walking around.

You have to practice walking around when you're going to be doing so much of it, you know.

And what the fuck, exactly, am I talking about?

We're hiking the John Muir Trail this summer (well, half of it) and we've started training. By walking around on the trails closer to home.

You know, to get ready.

But who will prepare the wilderness for us? This is a real issue.

See how all of our shit feels after hiking 10 or so miles now so that we can make tweaks to our gear, figure out how many pairs of socks we need, decide we don't need to bring a tent because that means we'd rather allot that weight for booze - you know, serious preparation - so that we can hike 10 +/- miles per day for two weeks in August.

And I see you right now raising those eyebrows and you can just stoppit.

Sure - we have a lot of shit going on and maybe this isn't the best time to be planning a two week long backpacking trip into the middle of wilderness when we should probably be doing things like finding meaningful employment with our newly minted horticulture degree or something, but to that I say...pffffffft.

Plus - this is sort of horticultural-ish, right? There are a lot of plants along the John Muir Trail and on these training hikes we're taking and in the books and websites we're working through in our quest to find out what we should pack into our resupply and who will pick us up and drop us off at the trailheads and how much is *too* much Nutella (answer: there is no such thing) and whatever, there are plants there.

And ladybeetles.

Rule 1: Kiss all ladybeetles

Whatever. We're going. And we're training. By walking around a lot.

Including this lovely hike we went on a few weeks ago, during which time I discovered that my hiking boots DO have removable insoles (duh) that will accommodate my custom orthotics (because I'm 100, remember) so that perhaps on our next hike I can experience something other than searing, stabbing, soul-crushing foot pain after just 10 miles of hiking over marginally strenuous terrain.

That'd be nice. To have my feet get in line with the rest of my body that, after a 10 mile hike with a pack filled with water jugs, was all YAY! Let's keep going! while my feet were all, FUCK YOU ALL. We're going to sit down forever.

I didn't want to get up. Even though that rock was sort of raping me.

Not good, is what I'm saying.

But I realized after the hike that the insoles come out of my boots (again, so duh) and in slip my orthotics like they were meant for it and WOO if I wear WrightSocks instead of the Smartwool hiking socks I stupidly wore, I probably won't even know what the word, "Blister" means by the end of our 135 +/- hike in August.

Lessons learned from training hike #1:

1. Take out hiking boot insoles and place them forever in the garbage. Replace with orthotics. Live happy life.
2. Wear WrightSocks because you get blisters otherwise.
3. Soaking thy feet in a cool stream at midday is about the best thing a person can do.
4. I can lose myself for a long time in a ladybug swarm which other hikers in my group might not appreciate.

Such an educational day.