Hello Everyone,

Well, I am still at Camp 9, which I’ll call Camp 10 now. Didn’t trek today and stayed put because the rain and a few other related issues.

It rained hard all last night and lightly into the late morning to about ten or eleven. Weather forecast was for no rain in the morning and then two to four in the afternoon. Wrong on both counts.

I didn’t want to start out in the rain and just decided to hunker down and stay in the tent and read and rest. Most of my stuff had stayed fairly dry except one of my most important, my so called waterproof shoes. My right foot was completely full of water and I had to wring out my sock. The shoe is still soaking wet now and I’ll have to trek in a wet one tomorrow. Surely didn’t like the idea of doing that today while it was raining.

I was very disappointed as I spent a long time researching for the right shoe, and especially a waterproof one for this leg of my trek. I have tried at least 8-10 different styles and manufactures and found the New Balance and Merrell the most comfortable fit for me, and they are the shoes that I have stayed with.

I usually buy one size bigger as my feet tend to swell on the long days and this helps avoid blisters. I don’t think I can completely avoid them, but as soon as I feel a hot spot or any sensitive spot on my foot, I cover it with duct tape, blister bandages, regular bandages, and mole skin, or a combo of all of them.

Unfortunately the shoes that I picked are not Gore-tex, even though they come that way, but I was told by their customer service department that their own waterproofing is just as good. I guess not! Mindee contacted them and they are sending me a new pair of Gore-tex shoes to the REI store in Eugene for free since I will be there to pick up supplies anyway. Thank you Merrell.

Today I actually had a nice day, which probably was good after such a long day yesterday. My shins are a little sore and I think it’s from the long downhill yesterday.

The weather looks clear for the next seven days or so and I will start again tomorrow and hopefully make it to Eugene by Monday?

Please keep sending me your positive thoughts and prayers. Please excuse the typos, spelling, etc.

Best wishes,
Ted