Then, at the end of February, I started having problems with my left foot, in which a burning sensation in the ball of the foot would develop after only walking a few miles. This gradually got worse until I could barely walk a mile before it would start. I went to a podiatrist and had x-rays taken which did not show any problems with the bones. The diagnosis ended up being Morton's Neuroma. Morton's neuroma is caused by an inflamed nerve in the foot that is being squeezed and aggravated by surrounding bones. In my case it was between the third and fourth toes.

The only recommendation for treatment was to try shoe inserts to reduce the pressure on the forefront of the feet. I ended up going to Marathon Sports to pick up some inserts and they did seem to help. I was also told that I should not be walking around barefoot, or only in socks, on hard surfaces so I also picked up a pair of padded sandals to wear around the house.

My first backpacking trip was supposed to be a trip over to Clear Creek, at the beginning of April, and I still hoped I would be able to do that. As the end of March approached, and I was still having problems, this was becoming less and less likely though. I started my drive from Massachusetts to Arizona during that last week in March, and managed to do some walking during that trip that had me optimistic, but it was still not perfect. I could not get a reservation at Bright Angel Campground or Phantom Ranch for the first and last nights of the trip, which meant I had to go all the way from the south rim to Sumner Wash on the Clear Creek trail on the first day, and this was causing me some serious concern. That's a long way to go if you are having foot problems. I did an excursion up to the Grand Canyon a few days before the start of the trip and did a walk along the rim trail, that ended up being just under 4.5 miles. That felt okay but a backpacking trip would be a lot different. I hemmed and hawed over this right up until the day before the start of the trip, but finally decided it was going to be a good idea, and gave up on it. My second trip was planned to be a rim-to-rim-to-rim backpacking trip, at the end of April, and I hoped I could still pull that off, if things continued to improve.

To get a better picture as to how the foot was doing I decided to do a day hike down into the Canyon, and decided on a day hike to Santa Maria Spring on the Hermit Trail. That ended up being just shy of 5 miles, and the foot held up for that. A couple of days later my friend, Jim, came out from Albuquerque and we ended up doing a longer hike, to Dripping Springs, using the Hermit and Dripping Springs Trails. That one ended up being just under 7.5 miles, and again the foot held up for it.

The plan for the rim-to-rim-to-rim was not much better than the Clear Creek backpacking trip, since I still could not get any reservations for Bright Angel Campground or Phantom Ranch for the first or last nights. All I had was two nights at Cottonwood Campground below the north rim. The plan was to go to Cottonwood the first day, then day hike to the north rim and back to Cottonwood on the second day, and then hike back out to the south rim on the third day. That was three 14-mile days in a row. To make this a little easier I decided to hike down to Phantom Ranch late on the day before the intended start of the the trip. I could take rest breaks at Cedar Ridge, Skeleton Point, The Tipoff, and then a really long rest at Phantom Ranch before doing the final 7 miles to Cottonwood. I even managed to snag a breakfast at Phantom Ranch. And so go the best laid plans of mice and men...

Trip highlights

• A couple of nice day hikes.
• Getting to take Jim on his second Grand Canyon hike.
• Any time spent in the Canyon is good time.
• A side trip to Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument for some Milky Way photography.
• I also visited Natural Bridges National Monument, in southeastern Utah, on the way out to Flagstaff, and got some nice Milky Way shots from there one night.