Guys I'm doing the GR20 (corse, France). Sense Nord-sud. I already did the most difficult part, after doubling one time and yesterday doing one and a half I'm between stages 5 and 6. In this place I have access to the road.
The thing is that at the beginning of the second day I started developing really bad blisters. I never had blisters like that, even though I'm really prone to blisters so I have a shit ton of medikit for that. But they are huge and in the sole of the foot. Yesterday I started using compeed but apparently it's super infected and compeed only worse the infection.

I'm so frustrated cause I already did the hardest part, and since I'm carrying all the food I was way heavier than before, so everyday should be easier. But the blisters are fucking me up. Everybody said that the part nord was the hardest one, that it was very technical. But I found it normal, I feel like physically I'm super fine and if I didn't had blisters I could easily double every day without effort. But I just can't handle the blisters. And it's getting worse and worse.
I think I will take a day off here, someone gave me eozine (Betadine) and I took off the compeel to dry them, do you think that a day off could help. I don't mind the mild blisters I can deal with them. But the ones in the sole of the foot are just terrible. I'm being a baby?
The other problem is that for today and the following days there are going to be thunderstorm after 2pm. And apparently the weather in Corse is super dangerous. So I was thinking before in walking everyday all I can and doing bivouac mid journey if I can't take it, but that's impossible with the thunderstorms since I have to arrive to every refuge before 2. And I don't trust in my speed since I'm going super slow due to the blisters.
I will post pics in the next posts.
(1/?)

>>2827074 (OP)
Do you think that after a day off healing them I will be able to continue? Should I just give up?
I have seen people continue with blisters but they are super small and they are not inflected.
I drained it after the pic and a lot of pus and blood came out.
A boomer told me that if I'm able to continue the only way to actually clean them and dry them was to pierced them more so I cut them with a scissor to drained them better.
(2/?)

>>2827075
This one is getting better I guess in the part of the lower part which naturally pierced. But the upper part it's getting more and more infected.
(3/?)

>>2827077
(4/4) These ones hurt but I think I could take it if they were the only ones.
I have some other ones but they are not a big deal.
So my alternatives are to take a day off and continue tomorrow hoping they are mostly heal (at least the infection). Or going to the beach, relax and chill, and continue from here once I'm heal (I could stay there till the 15 of July at most). But ngl it will kinda feel like cheating. I'm absolutely destroyed, I can't believe some fucking blisters are fucking up all my hike.

>>2827078
chill for a few days, are you trying new shoes or something ?

>>2827089
How many is a few? It kinda fucks me up to stay in one place too long cause I was planning on doing it on less than 10 days.
They are getting better now that I'm not doing anything but I'm afraid that they get bad again once I'm walking again.
I had to buy new hiking shoes cause mine where fucked up. I bought I nice pair of Sportivas. I did some little pilgrimages before the GR20, I would say around 45/65 kms with them, but not on mountain since I didn't had the chance. I was super happy cause I usually get blisters super easily even when walking a lot around a city, and this time I wasn't getting any.

>>2827096
Well ideally until your blisters are gone, but if your shoes are the problem they'll just come back after you go back hiking
Try different socks or changing the soles mb, you shouldn't be getting blisters everywhere just because they're new, maybe the shoes are just too big

Youre either gonna have to wait or stop or accept a lot of pain. You cant really do anything for blisters other than stop making them worse and letting them heal.

A thing that could help is moleskin, but with how advanced those blisters are it wont do much, just lessen the pain a little while moving and stop it from getting worse. Its better in stopping developing blisters.

If you do have an infection, and the pus coming out indicates that, like its yellow or another color and smells and is goopy, then you do need to stop and go to a doctor, cus the infection could get serious.

>>2827101
Completely gone means a lot of time, more than a week for sure.
Shoes are a little bigger than my feet, but I read and also the guy in the shop told me that when descending the toes shouldn't touch the edge of the shoe, cause that's way more dangerous than a blister.
>>2827108
Compeed is a moleskin and it fucked it up even more, because of the infection. I'm pretty sure it's infected cause, even though it's not a big infection to be super dense yellow, in the first picture you can see that it looks a little yellowish transparent, and when I did a bigger cut on it to drain it, the drainage came out not fully opaque but it was definitely a yellowish (more yellow than normal serous) and with blood. And not full goopy but a little bit.
This is how they are looking right now. I feel they are drying pretty well, thought the worst one of the heel (the one that compeed peel off all the skin) is hurting a bit too much and till an hour ago was beating a bit. Now it's better I think.
The worst one is the one of the first picture, cause the part that it's dark red under the skin hurts a lot even if it's dry.
The light red color on my feet is due to the eozine, I know it can be misleading sorry about that.
Going to a doctor for a blister I think it's way too much, let's say it's really infected, and I can't control it, and it's getting worse. Then I would have to stop. I think you have to go to a doctor only if you have a fever or something like that.

>>2827126

Blisters are the worst, sorry m8. Next time you go trekking just wear broken-in normal tennies, you can replace the insole before heading out if its worn. In all honesty running shoes make an ideal trail hiking shoe. It's way more important to have a light comfortable shoe that dries quickly than something super rugged. If you're hunting in late Fall, bush whacking in the desert, or occasionally post holing in snow that's when you want a rugged boot, but if you're just trail hiking and crossing a creek every now and then... just use a running shoe.

>>2827136
I think you def not want to do a trail with a d+ and d- of +7.5 miles with running shoes lol that sounds way more risky than blisters. I also find the mountain boots that are usually shilled here way too heavy in vain. I have some nice La Sportiva TGX5 (they are technically used by boulders to approach to the place they are going to scalate). Their grip is awesome. But my skin is super sensible and I usually get blisters easily, I prevent them as I use normally but I didn't take into account I'm not used to hike at such high temperatures and I guess that made me even more prone to get blisters. Nice thing is that I got a shit ton of good advices on how to prevent them and treat early blisters on the way.

>>2827146
>La Sportiva TGX5
wouldn't something like the Ultra Raptor be more confortable? I live in the Dolomites and I hike with Topo Athletic Terraventure, I have to be a bit more careful but I can hike in them all day with no discomfort. Also what socks are you using? Hiking socks usually have some extra protection in the blister-prone areas and they prevent friction between the skin and the shoe.
Even with the difficult terrain it's not normal to get that many blisters, maybe the shoes just aren't a right firt after all (it's always better to break new ones in with easier shorter stuff before getting into a multi-day adventure)
Oh and look up how to tie your laces with a heel lock, that can help a lot

>>2827126
Yea, i mean its probably fine. Your body will probably fight the infection and you probably can get to care if you start to get symptoms, but its just a risk is all. Infection can get bad before symptoms present or it could take a lot longer to get to care than you think. And since continuing on means not letting these heal they can continue to get more infected, especially if you dont have antibiotic ointment and some kind of sterile dressing to protect them. I know its not what you want to hear and its hard to say without seeing it in person but if i met you out on my job as a forest janny id probably recommend you bail. Dont have to go see a doc, but giving the blisters a chance to heal is the only way to be sure you dont need a doc. The mountains arent going anywhere.

"great rub", LOL!

I've got some experience with multi day movements under wet, mountainous conditions.
If you have a second pair of boots, rotate your boots out and see if it improves. Also, wear merino wool socks. I have a pair of Darn Tough socks I'll wear for about 2-3 days before switching to my next pair. I also recommend Omni Wool due to being a bit cheaper. Next time you get some boots, try a half size up with thicker socks.
Luco tape is good for blisters as well. I see you've already lanced (popped / stabbed) your blisters, which I highly would not recommend. It creates open wounds prone to infection. On your friction blisters, I recommend aquaphor or Vaseline. If you get the chance, they sell blister specific bandages that look like occlusive dressings that do some medical magic and form sort of padding for your blisters, while being waterproof.

TL;DR Blisters on the ball of the foot, in my opinion, sounds like poor insoles / socks. Rotate your boots, prepare a better blister kit.

I bailed halfway on the GR20 due to blisters that turned into a chunk of missing skin, having done the hard north section. It was heat and waterproof shoes.

For two days heading to Vizzavona I was in pure pain and the only way I kept going was because I had a target rail station which would get me out. The only other way was helicopter.

I've got no advice other than don't fuck yourself up and take much more skin off. You'll know when you can't carry on, make sure you have an escape plan.

>>2827459
you should've worn a pair of hiking boots that you'd already put a hundred or more miles on breaking in, also should've stopped and readjusted or dried out when you started feeling your squishy swamp skin foot sliding around in the shoe

Is this the longest hike you've ever attempted? How did you prepare for it?

>>2828180
This was years ago, and I had a lot of experience, some routes longer than this. But most that was in GB, in britmurk and max 30c ish. Now that experience includes fucking off goretex shoes if I even suspect real heat. The shoes had plenty of miles but 40c + turned them into bathtubs.

Yeah I should have dried everything out but the autists I was with insisted on doubling up whatever possible and there were no rest days with a hard flight deadline. Don't do that either.

>>2827146
I thought like you once and ended up having to 6 days worth of a 10 day planned hike in 4 days in crocs because my new hikers ate all the skin off of my heel and over my Achilles. I wasn’t even able to use the heel strap, so they were basically slides with enclosed toes.

Unless the rocks are ultra sharp, even shitty shoes are enough and “support” is overrated. Allowing your foot and shoe to work together instead of against each other is more important by far. Worn in boots are great, and let you be more aggressive about pace and such, but it’s better to have literally anything else if your boots cause you bad blisters. You can climb mountains in thongs or even barefoot, you just have to be more careful, but you can’t hike distance if your shoes are chewing on your feet.

>>2827074 (OP)

What sort of shoes do you guys hike with? Do you have sandpaper inside or what? Granted I am used to hiking a lot, but i don't even bother with breaking new shoes in. I did the GR20 in unbroken shoes, didn't have a single problem.

Depending on what I do I'm excessively partial to Scarpa and La Sportiva, and i have a fuckload of pairs, from trail shoes to winter mountain boots, all fitting like a glove. Add gel soles for my fragile lil' hip, and hiking socks, and here we go.

Salomon 4D used to be an absolute reference in terms of comfort, I think it got rebranded at Quest 4.