RE: [Philmont]: RE: First Aid - Blister Kits

Larry

Can you call or email me off line about Trek 24. We leave Tuesday morning

Stan Clark

ASM Troop 63

Stan-clark@cox.net

  _____

From: owner-philmont@troop47.com [mailto:owner-philmont@troop47.com] On
Behalf Of Larry Sims - KBR Elec
Sent: Monday, June 28, 2004 8:26 AM
To: Multiple recipients of list philmont
Subject: [Philmont]: RE: First Aid - Blister Kits

We did a 65 mile fire modified trek in 2002. We did Trek #24 in 2004, which
is listed as 70 miles. Trek #24 had great skyline views. Wilson Mesa, Baldy
Mountain, Baldy Skyline from Baldy Camp to Head of Dean, the skyline above
Dean Cow enroute to Harlan, the Vaca Trail to Harlan, Harlan to Ute Springs,
and of course the hike up Shaefers Pass and Tooth of Time Ridge. We
detoured from Upper Dean thru Elkhorn and hiked Dean Skyline as a side hike
as well. We took the hike thru Hidden Valley and had Sunday worship at
Window Rock. It's great to see the mountains and plains for a hundred miles
out of your "church window".

We had many more blisters in 2004 than in 2002, since we did not train as
hard in 2004. We live in the Houston area and did about 60 miles of "flat
training hikes" in April and May. We didn't drive to the hill country near
Austin and do "up and down" training. This was a training mistake and our
feet paid the price. There is no substitute for hiking ups and downs with
full packs to condition and toughen your feet.

Luckily we had three "small" rolls of duct tape in our repair kit from 2002,
which we never touched in 02, but we started using it like crazy on 2004
trek to treat "hot spots".

I first used duct tape on a "hot spot" on my right heel on Day 3 going up
the north side of Wilson Mesa. On Day 4 it turned into a small blister,
which I again covered with duct tape. With only duct tape for treatment on
Day 5 it was a little bigger and on Day 6 even bigger. Day 7 it was bigger
and the fluid pressure was bothering me quite a bit. I punctured it down
low, drained it, and covered it with a blister pad (Second Skin I think). I
didn't quite trust the blister pad to stay on my heel so I put duct tape
over it and left it for two days. Everything stayed in place and I had two
days of no pain on the right heel. I should have punctured the blister
sooner, while it was small.

The back country trading posts usually (but not always) have duct tape for
sale. Baldy Town had duct tape. Ute Gulch was out the day we went through.
The Philmont duct tape was $3 or $3.50 per roll and we were glad to have it
at any price. It was not as sticky as the duct tape in our repair kit and
sometimes would move around under the stress of hiking.

My recommendation is to bring the best (sticky on one side and slick on the
other side) duct tape with you. The Philmont duct tape is only fair quality
for blister use.

Larry Sims

Philmont 2004 Expedition Coordinator

Troop 1288 Katy, TX

Lead Advisor 610-C4 2004 Trek #24

We enjoyed the PRESENT! Thanks Waite!

2002 Philmont Expedition Coordinator

609-A3 2002 Trek #6FM (Fire modified treks)

718-G1 1965 (The Monsoons of '65)

IWTGBTP! But my feet still hurt.

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Received on Mon Jun 28 10:33:20 2004