October 16th, 2020

Ok not a great photo but you can see evidence of an abrasion yes?  Well this is on the inside of my left foot.  I have a matching on on the inside of the right foot as well.  The shiny bit is a coating of antibacterial ointment in an effort to heal faster.

I got these two booboo's this past Tuesday while on photo safari with Joy.  And not from ill-fitting shoes either.  Nope.  From sand.  You heard me. Sand.  Ordinary beach sand.  There is a lot of it here.  It's what the soil starts out as and then layer upon layer of foliage, both live and dead, pile on top of it where it gradually deteriorates and over (a very long) time composts into the creation of actual soil.  But the base, no matter how much time passes, is still mostly sand.   Because that's what there is more of here than anything else.

And, a funny things about sand, at least the sand here, the sand itself it composed of quartz.  Well yes, and broken up shells too, but mostly quartz.  Quartz is a rock.  Rocks are very hard.  Even teensy itty bitty rocks, AKA sand, are hard.  Small but mighty.

In my case, the diminutive quartz rocks infiltrated my socks. And then were trapped between my shoe and my foot.  Then as I continued to hike it rubbed and rubbed against my skin.  I did notice some mild discomfort while hiking but I really didn't think too much about it.  Come on folks, at my age, something always hurts and while it may slow me down, I refuse to let it stop me.  Mostly I just pack it up and stick it in a closet and try to not think about it.  Clearly that's what I did during the last hike.


And how did the sand get in my socks in the first place?  Well I'm not absolutely certain.  It's not at all unusual to come back from a hike with half a sandbox in my shoes.  I always empty them out before coming in the house.  But my socks?  That was new.  Well I suppose socks are porous,  so tiny itty bitty grains of sand could penetrate.  But wow, this wasn't just one or two individual pieces, this was a handful of sand.  Exfoliation gone bad.

I do recall at  least once stepping on what I thought was solid ground that turned out to be a marshy area, so unexpectedly I was up to my calves in dirty wet yuck.  So that could be when it happened.  But of course I didn't stop and take off my wet shoes and socks and clean it all before going on.  Nope, we just kept going.  That's what we do.

Perhaps it's the kind of sock.  They are shortie socks.  They come up just barely over the top edge of the shoe and in all honesty they are cheap. I bought them at the grocery store. Maybe that is the culprit more than anything.   Maybe cheap cotton socks allow  more opportunity for infiltration?

I know I know, you are thinking, why does it even matter?  Why dissect and analyze with such scrutiny?

Well because it flippin' hurts and while I do not want to go through this again, I also refuse to stop hiking.  So learning the cause will lead to the solution.

Do I need higher/better socks?  Or do I need to dust  off my old hiking boots?  Maybe I need to invest in a pair of galoshes!  It may take a little trial and error to find the answer, but find it I will.  

Meanwhile,  as I wear only sandals so nothing is rubbing on the sore spots for the next few days, you guys have a great weekend!  

​Hugs all 'round