I am also an AT hiker. I have done about 550 miles of the AT doing section hiking. On my last hike to Burkes Garden Vir. I developed some pretty bad pain in my heel. Actually it started a day or two before but very bad the last day. This was Sept 19, 1998 and I have had PF problem ever since. I cant walk 1 mile without a good bit of pain afterwards. I hope to do some more hiking this spring but I am not going to crawl if my PF isn't better. I found that I can tolerate walking stairs and I work in a building that has 24 floors. so I get some opportunity. Read all the stuff here on this message board. There are some really good tips. God Bless you and good luck.
Daytripper
socp-a.scsnet.com 13:36:04