Category: travel

Adventure Travels with Neuropathy

Forest Gump Magic Brace

February 5th, 2026

I was not really planning on doing any more posts until my trip to Baja, but this topic started bouncing around in my head for a while. Plus, I’m kind of stuck at home today, forcing myself to TAKE IT EASY (I hear my wife’s voice every now and then), after having an RFA procedure done on my knee yesterday (Radio Frequency Ablation) which should in theory eliminate the pain which has kept me off the tennis courts for over a year, and causes me to mutter a lot of nasty words while I’m hiking down hill. I won’t go into details on those words, but might as well discuss RFA just a wee bit. Basically, they stick electrodes into the knee joint, placed where the three nerves in the joint terminate, and then use heat to de-sensitize them. The procedure is mostly painless, other than the 3 or 4 shots of lidocaine they inject. I was able to drive myself home, and just had to put up with soreness and stiffness in the knee last night. I should be up and around by tomorrow. I might even head back to the Cosumnes Preserve again.

So this is how you know you have reached the point in life where you are considered elderly – you talk about your pains and medical procedures with friends and complete strangers. “Hi, my name is Rich. Want to hear about the procedure I just had on my knee?” I sit around at the tennis club with the other older players, and the conversations inevitably turn to everyone’s latest medical adventures. How did this happen? It’s called getting old.

But now, here’s where this gets back into the heading topic. Many years ago, I started getting numb areas in my feet and lower legs. I eventually mentioned it to my doctor, who sent me off to a neurologist. The first thing they do is an EMG test, which is a really fun procedure where a sadistic tech sticks needles into your legs and arms, and then hooks these up to an electrical source. Think of a combination of acupuncture with electro-shock therapy. “This might hurt a little” No kidding (expletive deleted). Then they use a small cattle prod to do the same thing, but at least warn you when they go from low to high. All of this to tell you what you already know – you have neuropathy, which has no cure. I’ve had this procedure three times now. I think that neurologists do this for fun.

At any rate, the numbness does get worse over time as the long nerves continue to degenerate. Losing feeling in your feet does have a major impact on stability…..not a good thing when you really enjoy hiking, which is one of the activities I enjoy in my travels. Bummer. The funny thing is that it does not affect me going uphill. I did the 2798 steps going up the Manitou Incline. No problems at all (other than the 2798 steps). Going down is a problem though, especially on rough trails. Antarctica had it’s moments as well – I did fine on most of the shallow, snow packed slopes, but bailed out of going on some of the steeper outings. You just have to be realistic on what you are capable of. I also bailed out on one long, steep hike in Zion to the start of Angels Landing trail (never doing that), but managed to do well on all the others. Besides, my focus on most of these trips is more on photography than completing a climb (except for the Incline – I absolutely had to get to the top!). And in Antarctica, I got to stand around with penguins down by the shore instead of hiking up an icy trail to see more of the same penguins.

So, what can you do about this miserable numbness creep, when the focus of your life is “expedition” style traveling around the world? So far, I’m handling it pretty well. First of all, you have to accept the fact that right now, there is no cure – most of the ads you see for miracle cures on the internet are pure BS. Really. There are some supplements which can slow things down – Alpha Lipoic Acid helps primarily for neuropathy associated with Diabetes, which I don’t have. But I take it anyway, since it is an anti-inflammatory. Turmeric is also and anti-inflammatory, so I take that as well. Increasing some vitamins (B-Complex) is a component of a lot of the so-called cures, but you need to check with a physician first. Too much is not a good thing. And cutting back on alcohol is helpful. Right. I’ve already described my answer to that….the one glass a week thing.

The second thing I do is work on my balance, something recommended for most people as they get into their 70’s and 80’s when falling is a major cause for loss of mobility. There are a lot of great exercises for maintaining core strength, as well as the ability to maintain balance. I have a few exercises which focus on standing on one leg for a minute or two. It looks weird when I do these at the club, but it really does help. And if I ever get stopped for an alcohol check, I’ll just show off to the officers and ask them if they can do the same. Just focusing on walking in a straight line when you go on walks helps (unlike a certain 79 year old president who meanders around like an inebriated duck).

And lastly, there are some devices which help with another issue associated with neuropathy – drop foot. This is a problem where the muscle which keeps your foot pointed up as you walk, does not function well or at all. It causes you to drag your toe, or in my case, flop down. Jan had it for a while, caused by impingements in the spine. Hers had a cure. Mine is due to neuropathy, impacting the signals from the brain to that muscle. So, aside from more exercises, I have my handy-dandy Forest Gump brace, which I wear for long walks. It’s a light-weight, carbon-fiber thing that fits under the foot in a shoe, and keeps the foot from falling. It does work, and you get used to it after a few times wearing it. It looks weird though when I’m wearing shorts, but I can use it as an excuse for early boarding on flights. A silver lining to a crummy cloud. No touch of grey though (Grateful Dead reference in case you were wondering). I did order another brace I’ve seen on the internet, which does not have the attachment up on the calf. I tried one on and it seems to work – but it’s made in China, distributed by a bunch of shell companies in Hong Kong, and takes forever to receive the order since it’s shipped from China and has to go through customs. The one I received had some issues, so I returned it and ordered another from a different shell company. I hope this one works better.

Not my foot or photo

There is one more critical piece of the stability puzzle for hiking – hiking sticks. I’ve been using them for decades, and now own 3 pair (one was Jan’s). I usually just use one stick on most hikes – that’s good enough to provide extra balance on most trails. I throw both in my luggage just in case there are rocky stretches of trails, or a lot of steep sections. Bryce Canyon was like that, as were some of the lava rock trails in the Galápagos Islands. Better to be safe than bloody with broken bones from a fall. And now they have collapsing hiking sticks, sort of like tent poles. These would be great for trips where there are limitations on luggage size and weigh, so I see these as a future purchase from REI, once I get my annual refund check. A big shopping day will be coming up in March!

So, this year and next will be a big test on how I cope with this annoying condition. I’m probably OK until summer, when I’ve got the first Iceland trip which is not a cruise. Lots of hiking, but I’m ramping up my distance with the brace on, and should be OK. No mountains to climb, other than a volcanic cone to get to the magma chamber, a highlite for me. The Kodiak trip has a lot of hiking as well, but all on flatland, wearing waders. My foot won’t be a problem there. Grizzly bears yes, hiking no. Same for Patagonia, and another cruise in the Sea of Cortez. Local hikes are always relatively short, and once again, I did not win the Wave lottery, which might have been a challenge. Maybe next year or fall of this year.

Now 2027 will be interesting, assuming the condition does not worsen. Madagascar and my second trip to Iceland both involve a lot of hiking – but I intend to keep increasing the distance I cover with the brace, so I should be OK for that. I’m holding off on scheduling into 2028 until early next year. This will be a year-by-year check from now on. I’m not getting any younger.

And maybe Google will finally come out with those rocket boots that Larry Page promised as a Christmas bonus one year. Now that would really help.

Peace

February 5, 2026
A Late Afternoon Photo Hike

February 3, 2026

It has been about 2 months since my return from Antarctica, and I’m pretty much bouncing off the walls to be somewhere else. Just like my wife had happy feet when it came to moving every year or two, I have my limits for living the Eleanor Rigby life here in Gold River. I did get away for my little jaunt over to the coast, but that was a few weeks ago, and I still have almost three weeks until my serious travels begin anew. So, to preserve my sanity, and to get myself out of the funk I’ve been in since the holidays, I decided an outing was in order today. I need to fill these long gaps going forward. Or pad the walls in my bedroom.

Last month, I had signed up for a photo outing at the Cosumnes River Preserve with the photography club I belong to but was “fogged out” from that. I still wanted to go there since I’ve never been there before, and I thought it might be a good place to see Sandhill Cranes. Plus, I really wanted to try out some of my gear. Practice makes perfect so they say (who is “they”?). Late afternoon lighting was recommended for photographing birds at this location, so I headed out for the back-roads path at 2:30 – it’s fun zig-zagging through the farm communities to get there, although some of the roads are really beat-up. Too many tractors and big rigs I guess.

The preserve runs along Franklin Road, south of Elk Grove near I-5, with a visitor center and trails on the East side, and more trails with larger wetlands on the West side. It’s a pretty easy drive from where I live, about 50 minutes depending on how many tractors are on the roads.

As I approached the river, I could see large flocks of waterfowl on either side, and quite a few cars pulled alongside the road. Birders no doubt. I’m not one by the way – I really like photographing them, but cannot remember the names at all. My brother was a master birder, as is his wife, and they traveled the world to add to their species list (and of course, to vist some fantastic places). I appreciate the beauty, but I’m not interested enough to identify the species of everything I see. It’s sort of like collecting baseball cards. Or gnomes. I’m going to get in trouble if I keep on going with this train of thought. I know a lot of serious birders. Sorry.

The preserve manages about 50K acres of wetlands, floodplains and agricultural land along the Cosumnes River – the river is permanent, but the wetlands mostly dry up during the summer. You can see that on the current Google Maps photos – there is not much water visible when those pictures were taken from space. But during the winter and spring, the river floods into the open areas, and it’s a great place for birding and photography. I opted to start with the west side mainly because I passed by the parking lot first. It was a good decision.

The main trail for this side of the road is a raised levy and boardwalk which winds through the flooded areas and ends in a raised viewing area. I picked a perfect day – very few people and perfect weather. I hooked up my camera and 500mm lens to the fancy monopod I purchased last year, and trudged off in search of things to photograph. The first flooded area had a variety of ducks and geese – nothing very exciting, but very tranquil.

The sun was still high, and the lighting harsh – not really conducive for photographing the waterfowl. But all of a sudden, a huge flock, almost a cloud, of snow geese exploded out of the ponds to the North, and swirled around in waves of birds. The chattering was incredibly loud – time to take some pictures!

I’m not sure what triggers these mass flock movements, but it seems to happen every 20 minutes. So, I just kept on walking, and stopped to photograph the clouds of birds every so often. I also switched to video a few times.

Once I reached the end of the trail, I hung around at the viewing area for a while, just watching a flock of Coots paddling around. The lighting was still awful, so I decided to head back to the car, and drive over to the visitor center. Which unfortunately was closed. Darn. I did wander around some of the trails, one of which goes to the river and another which leads back over to the other side of the road. Since the sun was setting, I decided to head back to other area and take advantage of the improved lighting conditions.

I pretty much had the boardwalk and viewing area to myself as the sun set. I shot a few more photos of the Coots and geese, and just enjoyed the incredible beauty and tranquility (other than the noisy geese).

I did have a surprise guest as I approached the viewing area – cute little guy.

The one creature I was hoping to see, Sandhill Cranes, were somewhere else. When Jan and I first moved to the South Bay, we drove off one day to some other wildlife refuge, where the big birds flocked to during their migrations. It was pretty amazing. But it was an open agriculture field, dry, not flooded. I chatted with a couple of birders along the boardwalk, and they gave me directions to a couple of farms where I might see the cranes. Maybe next week. Or not. I’ll probably visit this preserve and another wetlands area again instead.

And I did get to play around with my toys – this was the first time I really had an opportunity to use the fancy monopod I bought last year. Worked really well. I also played around a lot with focus, ISO and exposure settings, something I really need to gain some expertise in instead of experimenting on a trip.

Viewing area and my strange monopod

In three weeks, I’ll be photographing gray whales in Laguna Ojo de Liebre (Baja)…maybe even petting one. I made a promise to not pet or kiss the whales…forget kissing. Gross. But I would like to touch one, even though the naturalists with National Geographic said that is not proper etiquette.

I’ll be shooting mostly video with a GoPro on this trip. No big lenses. And switching gears, here is the finished product of the changes I made to the fireplace in my living room, with the rotting log photo I had printed on acrylic.

I’m through printing acrylics for a while – I’ve got too many trips coming up, and want to save some wall space.

Peace

Here’s a link for the preserve if you ever want to check it out:

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February 4, 2026