There are no scriptural uses of “feeling one’s way”. Here scribe 3 of 𝓞 wrote prßsing (where ß stands for an elongated s ). Scribe 3’s initial p looks like an f, so when Oliver Cowdery copied the text, he misread pressing as feeling.
Similar descriptions in Lehi’s dream always use press rather than feel when referring to the movement of people:
Other examples of “pressing forward” are found in 2 Nephi 31:20 (two times) and Ether 14:12.
Summary: Restore pressing in 1 Nephi 8:31 since this is what scribe 3 of 𝓞 intended to write down; the text consistently uses the verb press rather than feel in this semantic context.