Friday, January 27, 2012

In other news

I figured out the table.  Yes, I'm answering entries to the form on the Schedule page now.

cheers
Captain.

Wet feet



One thing I cannot abide, is wet feet.  Unfortunately it's a fairly frequent occurrence  when hiking outside (contrasted with hiking inside, where one rarely gets their feet wet).  There are ways to deal with wet feet.  Rubber boots.  Foot-ectomy.  You'refineyoulikeit.  and so on.    Here's my system for inundated feet:
1.  After my feet get wet, I stop and dump the water out of my shoes.
2.  Wring out socks.  If I'm at camp: replace with dry socks and put feet into camp shoes.  If I'm not at camp put wet socks back on.  Suffer.
3.  Sometimes I put my dry feet and dry socks into plastic bags inside my wet shoes.  This is called the Vapor Barrier Method and it's also very useful for staying warm.  This is a good technique if I'm wearing tennis-shoes because the heat from my feet will dry my shoes before my feet get soaked with sweat.  There's a trade off though--because plastic is impermeable to water (the point!) my feet sometimes get quite sweaty which can also cause wet feet!  Conundrum, I know!

Other folks have different methods.  Here's a new one I'm interested in trying:  Neoprene socks Little wetsuits for your feet!

Here's a picture of one of my scouts demonstrating this skill:




I had a big problem with keeping my feet dry a few years ago when I was in Ireland.  I also didn't stop as often as I should have to take care of my feet.  As a result I got a nasty case of what I think may have been Immersion Foot (trench foot) which is probably one of the most painful things I've experienced.

Right before I went to Ireland, I was given a video camera.  I took MANY (tm) videos.  By the end of the trip, most of these videos were closeups of my feet.  I made a little montage for you.  Viewer Discretion is Advised.