Camp shoes

I've tried all kinds of camp shoes:

• Extra insoles with homemade elastic flip-flop straps: Worked okay but you can't walk very far in them. Can be stored inside your shoes under the top set of insoles.
• The existing insoles tied on with extra shoelaces: Worked okay but they don't stay on very well and you can't walk very far. The extra shoelaces can come in handy for other things.
• Flip-flops: When dry I was able to walk 15 miles in them one day when I had bad blisters. When they get wet they are very slippery and difficult to walk in.
• Crocs and crocs knockoffs: Could potentially hike the whole trail in them. Can add superfeet or whatever for extra support/protection. Heavy and bulky.
• Loosening my hiking shoes: Probably the best of all solutions I found. Sucks when your shoes are wet or frozen, though.
• Leaving the hiking shoes at home and wearing the "camp shoes" (hiking in Chaco sandals): I like hiking in Chacos. I never stub my toes. They work great most of the time. They have limited grip on some surfaces resulting in several nasty falls, snow gets trapped under my toes, and after a very long hiking day the lack of cushioning can be painful.

I still haven't found the perfect solution.

Can you be allergic to castile soap?

Yesterday I washed my body with baking soda. I filled a large cup with about 3/4 a cup of baking soda, added a little bit of water and then rubbed the paste on my arms, legs and face. This morning I when I woke up I thought my full-body rash felt a whole lot better.

So, I decided to do it again. In the shower I am rubbing baking soda on and it feels pretty good. Then I decided maybe I would finish off with some soap so I smell good. All of a sudden the burning and itching started. I think it is the soap causing it.

The soap I currently have is new. I've only used it 3 times. I've had the rash now for several weeks. But my previous soap was also castile soap. My previous soap was coconut castile and my current one is olive oil castile.

I do not understand how someone could be allergic to so basic a product. Castile soap is usually recommended for people who are allergic to other soaps.

I will keep trying the baking soda and see if it really does help. And I'll see if not using the castile soap also helps.

PCT Tattoo, failure on the new shoes, and I have a rash

I think I want a PCT Tattoo. I went to a tattoo place to make an appointment for a consultation. The tattoo would, of course, go on my leg. I'd like a map of the trail and the emblem and maybe some flowers or something. I'm not very artistic so I am hoping they can do something nice without me having to draw it. I kept imagining a post with the emblem on it and I found an image online that looked just like what I was imagining, but I'm not sure that would look right on my leg.

They said they could make my existing tattoo look a lot better. I would really like that. I've never been all that happy with it. Now I'm not sure if I should get a new tattoo and ignore my old one or fix my old one or do both.

I ordered some hand-made shoes from a company that makes them custom to a tracing of your foot. I sent in my tracing but they said I didn't need a custom shoe. Their regular pattern would fit me. They finally sent the shoes but they were so tight my toes were completely squished. I could hardly put them on. They hurt really bad and my feet went numb. I had to send them back. I felt bad about that because I had high hopes and I didn't want to have to send back hand-made shoes. They were like 4 sizes smaller than I would choose.

I can't figure out what to do about hiking shoes. My sandals work well but my local trails aren't in good shape like the PCT. There are foxtails that ruin your socks. I sewed some leather socks from a leather dress I found one day. Maybe that will work. But my fur-lined Chacos will catch foxtails in the fur. I just don't know what to do. I almost want to take a class in shoemaking so I can make my own shoes that fit me the way I want them to.

Meanwhile, I have a terrible rash. It started before my hike in the Sierras. It seemed like it was starting to go away during the hike. Immediately after taking a shower at Parcher's Resort, I broke out in hives again. I've itched all over ever since. It's mostly on my lower legs and lower arms, but today it has traveled up to my upper arms, my cheeks and my ears and moved down to my hands and fingers. I scratched my arm silly and noticed a big blood blister during work.

I wish I knew what was causing the rash. I thought it might be jojoba oil. I stopped using jojoba oil before my trip but I still had the rash. I thought it might be laundry detergent since the rash came back after I put on a clean skirt. We bought costco laundry detergent a few weeks ago. I have a long history of being sensitive to laundry detergent.

I've washed most of my clothes and the sheets in our old laundry detergent but the rash is still here and getting worse. It's truly awful. And now suddenly summer has at long last arrived. So I am hot and incredibly itchy.