Bone Bruises...Light isn't always right! (The Trap Dike)

(editors note: this has been sitting in my drafts folder for 14 years....time to unleash it, I'm publishing it with the current date but will archive it to Aug 1, 2012)

Group ascending the Trap Dike in the Adirondacks High Peaks. This is a Class 3 (with about 10ft of class 4) scramble

A few weeks ago I did a scramble in the Adirondacks (Trap Dike). I chose to wear running shoes because I knew the group would be moving fast and the approach to the start of the scramble was fairly flat and fairly soft on the feet. Moreover, I knew I'd be swimming, rather than hiking, the most foot unfriendly section of the hike in (Avalanche Pass).

That blue dot in the water is me swimming Avalanche Lake with my pack and gear in a drybag. I swam 400yds in under 10 minutes, and was dressed by the time the hikers arrived

However, I didn't really consider the descent, which of course is where the majority of the impact is on any hike. During the course of the ascent, I switched to my sticky rubber approach shoes (sort of a climbing shoe merged with a running shoe). These are a little small on me, but work perfectly for the ascents, where a tighter shoe offers more control and climbs better. These shoes are very thin to begin with, and my foot got tender under the ball on the ascent of the 3rd and 4th class terrain, but the superficial hot spot turned into deeper pain by the end of the 13 mile day. 

What went wrong? The bottom line, I was carrying 15-20lbs on my back, I was descending a fairly typical northeastern rock hop, I didn't have my trekking poles and I was wearing running shoes designed for light duty trail running on easy trails. 

The end result, a bone bruise on the ball of the foot. I followed up this with a 20 mile weekend in the mountains, and a 30 mile weekend on two of America's toughest trails. Each hike it became more evident that what was wrong wasn't just superficial. 

I admire people who are svelte and nimble enough to get away with ultralight shoes, while hiking along with little or no equipment, but that isn't me. I'm always prepared on the trail, I'm self sufficient. Besides the only way to prepare to carry 20, 30, 40, 50, 60 or more pounds in the mountains is to load up and go hiking. 

Nevertheless, it's ironic that I have solved the issues of my musculoskeletal inflammatory/overuse injuries in the last 8 months by eating a moderately to highly anti-inflammatory diet, only to be back on the injured list with a bone bruise I could have avoided. 

Hopefully someone reading this blog can learn from my own stupidity, which is definitely not that off the mark of what we are fed on a daily basis from the media gurus of the mountain world. After all, just because magazines make a fortune telling you how everything you own is heavy and overbuilt and should be replaced, doesn't mean it is. Sometimes a few extra ounces or a little extra bulk or a little more durability is worth it in the long run.