Mile 1834.9: Crater Lake Resupply

I learned something today: taking care of my feet at night is the most important part of my day. My new shoes, though squishy and comfortable underfoot, give me terrible blisters. So I've mostly been using Chacos, which give me terrible callouses. The callouses then split, causing deep, painful gashes. Solution: prevent crackable callouses by applying Vaseline (or Carmex, now that I'm out of Vaseline) after cleaning feet every night, then wearing socks to bed. Problem: I haven't been doing this religiously, so I got three in very rapid succession.

I learned something else today too: ibuprofen is not a choice. I was told by Hasty a long while back that ibuprofen needs to be in your system for a few days before it becomes REALLY effective. I forgot all about that, and since my knees were not hurting so bad anymore, I stopped/backed off on the regimen. Poor choice. My joints were scraming in agony.

So, I got up early, and hobbled down the trail excrutiatingly slow, trying to get to Mazama Village. It took a long time, but I showed up. I showered, resupplied, and did laundry, then we hitched back to Crater Lake lodge We ate delicious, expensive food, and stayed in the lodge to the extent that we actually just slept in the landscaping.