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Sandra Zuend's first long distance hike

My dad recently completed hiking the Continental Divide Trail, a long 2,500 miles hike. Restless as he is, he suggested a shorter distance hike shortly thereafter - but he didn't want to go alone again. Mum was busy so he asked me If I wanted to join  him to hike the Ozark trail in Missouri for about 250 miles. Why not, I thought: I am a runner – so how difficult can it be to walk 25 miles a day for 10 days.

For sure, it was a long time since I slept in a tent and stayed in the outdoors for days and nights, but I was looking forward to the experience. I am strong willed, healthy, and felt nothing could deter me. Late in September, my brother who lives in St. Louis drove us to the southern trailhead from where we started our trip. My backpack weighed about 30 pounds. We had dropped food at two places earlier so we did not have to carry the full load of food we us. Dad carried a water filter. Water would be plentiful on the trail.

Ideal hiking temperature of about 60F made the first few miles quite easy. However, I was surprised that after about 6 hours and 15 miles of walking, I was tired and walking became strenuous. My feet ached and I wondered if I had the right shoes. Nevertheless, I kept trotting after my dad without complaining. I was glad we stopped after about 18 miles for camping. Dad took care of the water and helped setting up my tent. I noticed little tiny green insects crawling all over my legs, arms, actually everywhere. I pointed this out to dad and he recommended to brushing them off. I used baby wipes to wash them off.

During the night I began itching and I hardly slept. My dad woke up early, he had the same itching problem. We got back on the trail early. I was still tired and soon my feet started hurting again. It was apparent that I was very slow and had trouble to keep up with dad who likes to hike fast, especially uphill. He fortunately carried some Ace wrap. The wrap helped a bit. By the end of day and 24 miles later, I was in terrible pain; the itching from the insect bites was adding to the misery. My dad realized my misery and asked if I wanted to bail out. I was a bit insulted by the question and insisted I was quite capable to “hang in there”. But the following day my speed came to a crawl. After 8 miles we decided to hitch-hike and get a rest in a motel. 

The nice warm shower felt great. Inspecting my legs and arms, I discovered hundred of insect bites. A web search made it clear, we got bitten by seed seed ticks, hundreds of them. Luckily they don't carry a disease but cause a lot of itching. We cleaned our sleeping bags and clothes in the hope to limit any further bites. 

Because of the unplanned stay at the hotel and my foot pain we realized we couldn't finish the trail in time. The following day we decided to hitchhike a bit more to reduce the daily mileage. Even though, I had doubts that I would finish the trail because of my injury. But I was not ready to give up. Having shortened the distance we would reduce the daily mileage to 17 or 18 miles.

When we arrived at the northern trailhead in the allotted 10 days, I was so excited. Towards the end, I recovered my feet to the point where I truly enjoyed hiking and the outdoors. My dad explained that it appears that I was “broken in” for long distance hiking. He was quite apologetic, that he was over-optimistic with the planned daily distance.

I was injured, in pain and itching from insect bites but I didn't give up. I think I am ready for another, longer hike.

My first long distance hike

My dad recently completed hiking the Continental Divide Trail, a long 2,500 miles hike. Restless as he is, he suggested a shorter distance hike shortly thereafter - but he didn't want to go alone again. Mum was busy so he asked me If I wanted to join  him to hike the Ozark trail in Missouri for about 250 miles. Why not, I thought: I am a runner – so how difficult can it be to walk 25 miles a day for 10 days.

For sure, it was a long time since I slept in a tent and stayed in the outdoors for days and nights, but I was looking forward to the experience. I am strong willed, healthy, and felt nothing could deter me. Late in September, my brother who lives in St. Louis drove us to the southern trailhead from where we started our trip. My backpack weighed about 30 pounds. We had dropped food at two places earlier so we did not have to carry the full load of food we us. Dad carried a water filter. Water would be plentiful on the trail.

Ideal hiking temperature of about 60F made the first few miles quite easy. However, I was surprised that after about 6 hours and 15 miles of walking, I was tired and walking became strenuous. My feet ached and I wondered if I had the right shoes. Nevertheless, I kept trotting after my dad without complaining. I was glad we stopped after about 18 miles for camping. Dad took care of the water and helped setting up my tent. I noticed little tiny green insects crawling all over my legs, arms, actually everywhere. I pointed this out to dad and he recommended to brushing them off. I used baby wipes to wash them off.

During the night I began itching and I hardly slept. My dad woke up early, he had the same itching problem. We got back on the trail early. I was still tired and soon my feet started hurting again. It was apparent that I was very slow and had trouble to keep up with dad who likes to hike fast, especially uphill. He fortunately carried some Ace wrap. The wrap helped a bit. By the end of day and 24 miles later, I was in terrible pain; the itching from the insect bites was adding to the misery. My dad realized my misery and asked if I wanted to bail out. I was a bit insulted by the question and insisted I was quite capable to “hang in there”. But the following day my speed came to a crawl. After 8 miles we decided to hitch-hike and get a rest in a motel. 

The nice warm shower felt great. Inspecting my legs and arms, I discovered hundred of insect bites. A web search made it clear, we got bitten by seed seed ticks, hundreds of them. Luckily they don't carry a disease but cause a lot of itching. We cleaned our sleeping bags and clothes in the hope to limit any further bites. 

Because of the unplanned stay at the hotel and my foot pain we realized we couldn't finish the trail in time. The following day we decided to hitchhike a bit more to reduce the daily mileage. Even though, I had doubts that I would finish the trail because of my injury. But I was not ready to give up. Having shortened the distance we would reduce the daily mileage to 17 or 18 miles.

When we arrived at the northern trailhead in the allotted 10 days, I was so excited. Towards the end, I recovered my feet to the point where I truly enjoyed hiking and the outdoors. My dad explained that it appears that I was “broken in” for long distance hiking. He was quite apologetic, that he was over-optimistic with the planned daily distance.

I was injured, in pain and itching from insect bites but I didn't give up. I think I am ready for another, longer hike.