The Blistering Pace

Pictures
Hours Hiked: 5
Kilometers Hiked: 15

Our team is smaller now. Lena has already left us. Andrusha cannot hike with his broken ankle, Sonya is sick and Marina is staying with her and we're 9 when we set out.

So I now understand the phrase, "setting a blistering pace." We hiked so fast today, with my little legs I was practically running to keep up. It was very interesting hiking too as we were along the river for part of the day and there were lots and lots of rocks to navigate. I liked that part.

Lyosha didn't make it today. About 1/3 of the way, he turned back because his foot was hurting too much. He hiked back to the others and joined them in convalescence.

My feet started hurting about half way through the day, but I really just did my best to ignore them. Turns out that's not the smartest move. I had 5 blisters! I've never seen blisters like these before either… 3 of them were under my toenails.

So my toenails were all sticking virtually straight up and we're a little afraid that I might lose them (3 of them). The other two blisters were on the backs of my heels - painful, but no big deal. The really really rough part, was my right foot, middle toe. The blister was quite large and I knew that hiking on it wouldn't really be very simple… so - I had a little operation. Kostya sterilized a needle and some thread with Iodine and then lanced the blister. The thread he left in the blister overnight to help it to continue to ooze the puss out. It stung, but I took it well. The most painful part was actually the next morning when I pulled the string out.

So most everyone was really tired out from the 'blistering' pace and Katia and Natasha actually refused to keep going. My blisters were a good excuse to stop. So we set up a stationary camp. I went to bed not knowing if I'd be able to go on for the next day or not. Turns out I keep going.