Pain, Zeros, and Art
Videos: Sanford at the museum
Status: At mile 1,653 hiding from rain in a warming hut on top of Bromley Mnt. Since the last post I have finished MA & CT, had quite few zeros, some serious foot pain, and experienced a mild desire to quit for the first time.
I had been hiking at a fast pace (20 — 25 miles/day) to get ahead of my trail family so I could have a chance to meet up again after I got off the trail for 5 days for a wedding in Toronto. I suspect this speed and rocky terrain of PA contributed to my feet hurting horribly. At the end of my blitz, friends from high school picked me up just a little north of the Mass Pike and when they dropped me back off after the wedding I was a hundred something miles ahead of the tramily — my estimate of where they would be was way off, I did not expect them to take multiple zeros and I just went too fast. I slowed down when I got back (10–20 mile days) and my feet were still hurting me after 6 or so miles. Once they started hurting I’d have to stop every couple miles and elevate my feet and the pain would ease after about 10 minutes resting.
The second day back on the trail I ran into one of the top 3 favorite trail families I’ve met since starting and hiked with them for a few days before they got ahead of me when I did a shorter day so I could go to Mass MoCA with my dad in North Adams. Here’s a video I made (edited entirely on my phone in my tent) of my dad and me at the museum. North Adams is where I first started a section hike when I was a teenager with my friends and I found the spot where I first had my picture taken on the AT to do a “Then & Now” pic.

In many ways, this is trip is about me going ‘home’ since I plan on moving to somewhere in the Northeast when done. So already being in Mass and the pain made me wonder why I was leaving MA just to go to Maine. I never really came close to quitting, but I definitely had the thought in my mind for the first time.
After taking a shorter day in North Adams I decided to try and do something about my feet and enlisted the best patient advocate I know, my mom.

She really helped my out by getting me all kinds of inserts and doing research into my shitty feet. I wanted to try something since there’s not much time left on the trail and I don’t want it to be all pain (also, the slower I go the better the chance my tramily catches up (incentives align)). So I went to a podiatrist that is friends with my mom and I got the shoes he recommended for the weird way I walk, orthotics, and best of all cortisone injections into my feet. When I woke up the day after, it was the first time my feet haven’t hurt in morning in months! I’m reluctantly optimistic, but after the first hike much less pain! Amazing, so grateful!
Despite the pain before the doctor, I’ve had some good times on and off the trail. The short time I spent with the other tramily was great, they always make me laugh. There was also an exceptional shelter in Massachusetts called “Upper Goose Pond”. It’s a double decker shelter with doors that lays on a beautiful little lake. It has a caretaker, bunks, and a kitchen. The kitchen seems to be for the caretakers and which they employ to make pancakes and coffee for hikers.
Currently mudding through Vermont a the journey continues.















