As I do one of my usual nighttime wake ups with my foot screaming in pain, I think about how grateful I am that even with this painful foot I feel able to start out on another adventure. In a few days I will start the North Country Trail, the only one of the eleven National Scenic Trails I have not hiked.

Due to the heated insole explosion in October, which melted my hiking boot to my foot, requiring skin grafts and a number of follow up laser surgeries, I am starting three months later than I was hoping. But still, the fact I am heading out at all this year, is in large part to the village that has supported me during this difficult winter.

At first it was my friend Angela, who ran back to the car and got me to medical treatment when this injury happened. She has remained a steadfast friend. I am grateful to the hikers who came along, sat with me for an hour on the trail and then helped me get to the car.

There are more medical people than I can begin to mention, from the emergency clinic to the surgeons, nurses, and specialists. Some of them caused me great frustration and set me back doing things that were harmful, such as pulling off part of my skin graft when changing the bandage, but still I am grateful I did get some good-quality medical care, even if my medical bills might be over $700,000. I’ve had to work hard to advocate to get my needs met, but I know in some parts of the world an injury like this could’ve caused me to lose my foot or die from infection. As usual, the medical people most important in my care have been my physical therapist, who is good at looking at my whole body and seeing how my foot is affecting the rest of my joints, and my sports medicine doctor, who has kept me patched up for years and always goes out of his way to help me stay active.

There are all those who gave me rides to medical appointments especially Dot, Nancy, and Lynne. Lynne and Dot both gave me places to stay and fed me when I wasn’t able to warm my wood-stove heated house through the winter. Lynne has now driven me four times from my home on a bumpy dirt road in rural Vermont, to Mass General Hospital in Boston, braving rush-hour traffic, snow storms and a long slog on a very hot day in a car with malfunctioning air conditioning.

I’ve seen a number of podiatrists, including one who has gone out of her way to make orthotics for me that will help me walk properly without throwing out my SI joint. This has been critical because my right foot is now a different shape then the left one. She’s made them by scanning my foot with a cell phone and printing them on a 3-D printer. Then, because of the burn wrapping under my foot where I walk, she’s been finding ways to modify the orthotic so I can walk with less pain.

I’m thankful to the Mass General burn surgeon who was willing to trust me even when he didn’t believe I’d be able to sit through the surgery with no anesthesia. I’m also grateful he was willing to listen to my reasons to do the surgery at a higher density, so rather than burning a grid pattern that took up 5% of my foot he did much of the third procedure at 10% density. It’s more painful to heal from, but I’m hoping it’ll break up more of the uncomfortable scar and limit the number of future laser surgeries I’ll need.

There have been numerous friends who have helped me at various times, including Tii, Lindsey, and especially Jim who made sure I had wood in the house and fixed some critical items, such as my stove pipe, door knob and blown outlet that my freezer plugs into.

I am grateful to all those who have given me both financial and emotional support during these difficult times, allowing me to purchase the pressure garments and skin care items I need. These folks include longtime friends such as Susan, Pip and Betty, as well as newer friends such as Brooke, who I met in Alaska and Kremlin, Debbie, and Jenn who I met on the CDT. There are too many to mention who donated to the go fund me to help when this first happened. Thank you to all.

And now that I’m setting off on my hike, I recognize there is already a village gathering to support me. Deb will continue to monitor my mail and inform me of things I need to take care of. Marty from the Ice Age Trail will ensure my garmin mini satellite device stays activated and sends out nightly pings to those on the list.

The Koshers, Trail Angel’s from the Ice Age Trail will hold onto my car for me in Wisconsin and get me to the bus station for the 10 hour bus to Bismarck, North Dakota. Glee, a woman I have never met made arrangements for another woman to pick me up at the bus station and drive me over seventy miles to the trailhead in Lake Sakakawea State Park. Glee also made arrangements to make sure I will have water no more than 15 miles apart in one long stretch of trail where the water is full of agricultural runoff. I have more than twenty individuals offering me a place to mail a resupply box to. This has become more important for me than on previous hikes because of the need to include in my supply boxes items I need to take care of my foot. Some of these folks have offered to drive out of their way to bring my box to me in remote areas where a road crosses the trail. This is a huge relief since there are some stretches where it’s more than 200 miles between easy resupply places, and with my injured foot and old lady body, I’m glad not to have to carry more than about a week, or 100 miles worth of food at a time. I’ve already been blessed with a few of these trail angels offering me a place to shower and take a zero day if needed.

I’m aware that when I first started hiking in the 1970s and 80s there was not the same kind of on-trail help as there is now. Hiking the Florida Trail with a broken foot on crutches forced me to accept more help than I usually do on Trail. So now rather than wasting time feeling like a wimp because I’m utilizing so much help, I’m working to embrace the fact that at this stage in my life (today I turn 69), with the injuries I’ve had, I can focus on gratitude. I appreciate every little kindness and hope that all of you reading this knows I appreciate the time you take to read my work. Let’s all keep on spreading kindness in the world however big and small, and thank you one and all.

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