On The Road Hiking With Bad Feet

I like to hike and this year I haven't been able to hike as much as I like due to a swollen left ankle that I have no idea how I aggravated it, but it was just before my Monterey family visit.

(Web Photo)

I kept walking on my sore left foot and it didn't get better, no surprise I guess.  I decided to stop by REI in the Monterey area and purchased Merrill Moab hikers. (Above)  

I have had them in the past and although they don't hold up much overtime they have fit well and provided good support.

I have been using Zamberlin hikers that I brought last year with me and I was getting lifting that gave me blisters on the base of my heals on long hikes.  That is why I bought the Merrills to solve my foot lifting problem.

Last week Wednesday during my performance hike test of Sabino Canyon I wore the Merrill's and I got heal blisters on both feet but on the side of the heal.

Now I was in a dilemma on what boot to hike with as both had problems.  To complicate this is that I have extremely flat feet that are very narrow at AAA.  It's has been hard to find shoes all my life with size 13 feet.  As a child size 13 was not available in the department store so I was out in size 12.  Shoes were all made wide then, so I slopped around in shoes that were too short and too wide.

My diagnosis of what happened to the Merrills is that although the Merrill laces tied ok for width the heal space was too large.  When my heals lifted while walking they came down on the edge of the sole insert scraping the side of my heals since my feet are flat.

I went to Walmart and bought some Dr. Scholls inserts with gel heals.  The insets are softer on the side to.  I put the inserts in the Merrills and went for a short hike and I still had lifting and rubbing that rolled the bandages under the sock.

Knowing I can't get the Merrills to work in the short term, I went back to the Zamberlin's boot I brought with me.  I put in the Dr Scholls in the Zamberlin's and went on my 4 mile up hill hike this Wednesday and I had no problem with rubbing and band aids stayed in place.

The softer thicker sole padding appears to have helped the Zamberlin's.

Today I mailed the Merrills home to deal with them later.

Now I will use the Zamberlin's and hope that my new insoles will solve my blister problems and my ankle swelling will go down in time too.

Brent

macaloney@hotmail.com