Another Blister!

May 6: I packed up camp and hit the trail before Charmin. She's a relatively slow hiker, so I didn't really expect to see her again for the rest of the day, and I didn't. In fact, the only hiker I passed all day was a south-bound section hiker. I didn't see a single thru-hiker for my entire day of hiking. I knew Charmin planned to hitch a ride into Idyllwild from Highway 74, so I wouldn't see her that night. Everyone I knew that was ahead of me was going into town. Everyone I knew that was behind me was going into town. It seemed like I was the only hiker left on the trail!

The water cache at Highway 74, as Sam and Ryan promised, had plenty of water for me to load up. It also had boxes of snacks, tips, thru-hiker discounts in Idyllwild, and a bunch of miscellaneous stuff. I ate a bunch of Red Vines from the tubs, and picked up some duct tape. I usually like to have duct tape when I hike, but had neglected it before. I rolled a bit around my trekking pole now for whatever emergency purposes it might prove useful in the future.

I saw another two rattlesnakes, one of which I apparently pissed off enough to actually make it rattle. That was the first that rattled at me. But I saw both of them on the trail without coming anywhere near to stepping on them. I'm doing better! =)

I hiked a mile off trail at the end of the day to camp at Cedar Springs. It was a dispiriting having to hike so far off the trail, and the side trail was very steep no less (not PCT standards anymore!), but I needed water, and that's where it would be.

Which is where I found Mad Hatter and Tomer who had set up camp. Yes! More hikers! It had been a lonely day by myself, and I was glad to finally know where some other hikers were. I hoped Mad Hatter would set up his shark tent for me get a picture (I even offered to set it up for him), but he wanted to cowboy camp. Maybe the next night, I thought.....

Mad Hatter and Tomer were collecting wood for a campfire when I arrived. I started changing into my camp clothes, which is when I discovered it. The Mother of All Blisters. I felt a hot spot on the bottom of my foot a couple of days ago, slapped some moleskin on it, and forgot about it. Well, I didn't forget about it, exactly. It still felt like a hot spot, but it wasn't feeling any worse either and goes with the normal pains of thru-hiking. The moleskin finally wore off after two days, though, and what I found underneath it shocked me to my very core. A mammoth-sized blister, filled with enough liquid to fill a lake. Or at least a small puddle. I couldn't believe I could develop such a large blister and not even realize it.

I immediately named it Cyclonic, then set about to pop it. I poked a couple of holes in it, and a couple of drops of liquid came out, but then it stopped. It was as if the holes had healed in seconds. I did it again, with the same results. "Damn you, blister! Can't you cooperate?!" No, it would not.

I finally switched to a larger needle--bigger holes, I thought, were needed. It worked a bit better, but still it would miraculously self-heal after I managed to squish out a little of the liquid. A bit of air got into the blister, and them I could actually see the air bubbles moving around in the otherwise liquid-filled blister. This was a most remarkable blister. I've never seen anything like this before.

I gave a play-by-play commentary to Mad Hatter and Tomer, who didn't seem all that thrilled to know off the gory details going on with my foot, and after a good ten minutes of fussing, I finally got all that pesky liquid out. That was one, tough blister!

Late in the afternoon, two more hikers arrived--John and John. I hadn't seen or met them before, a couple of fine lads from Boise. They didn't seem especially talkative, though, so I didn't really learn a whole lot about them.

And around the campfire, I told of the Cremation of Sam McGee. It was a wonderful campfire! Thanks guys! =)