[at-l] (Guest Post) RE: Boots vs. Shoes

[m2b@loa.com (MEANT 2B)]

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Ian,

I agree with Stitches.  I started my 1997 AT thruhike in a pair of hiking shoes that I had bought for other purposes several years earlier and hadn't wore hardly at all before starting the AT.  They were $20 shoes made of leather but with no "ankle support".  The insides of them wore out and started rubbing the sides of my feet raw just south of Harpers Ferry.  I duct tape the sides and that lasted until Boiling Springs before the duct tape wouldn't hold any longer.  I truly think if I would have tried duct taping my feet that the shoes would have lasted the whole trail.  I'm 6'3", weighed around 190 pounds and was carrying around 45 pounds at the start and 55 pounds by Pinkham Notch.

Next I switched out to another pair of similiar shoes and they only lasted up to central MA.  I switched to another pair and they last to Rangeley, ME.  About $60 in shoes to make the most of the trail.  In Rangeley, the only shoes I could find were $75 sneakers.  They were the only size 13's in town.  The previous pair crapped out so fast I couldn't even possibly think of having others sent to me like I did earlier.  I bought the sneakers and finished the trail and still was wearing them a year later all the time.

I tried hiking in tennis shoes before starting the thruhike but decided to start with something a little bigger.  I guess it made my family a little more comfortable but any more I just hike in tennis shoes.

I spent last Thursday-Saturday thruhiking the Monadnock Sunapee Greenway in NH and wore the under $10 pair of tennis shoes I bought at Wal-Mart.  It's all I would wear no matter what trail I was on.  Time of year would change my decision.  If snow was on the ground I would change my footwear but otherwise I would rather buy 5 or 6 pairs of under $10 tennis shoes and go through them rather then spend $200+ and end up sending them back and getting them replaced by the factory every 500 miles, as one hiker I knew in '97 had to do.

One thing that almost everyone that has replied to your question as made mention of is hiking style.  I noticed while on both the AT and the MSG that most hikers seems to love to kick the rocks.  The only thing that does is to wear out the shoes/boots that you wear.  I agree that the less distance that you lift your feet the less energy you are using.  Is it worth the pounding that your toes take or the wear and tear that you create on your shoes/boots and the trail?  One thing you may want to try is changing your walking style if your a rock kicker.  Your shoes/boots will last a lot longer and your feet won't take all the banging that they do as a result of rock kicking.  I think that is why the first pair of shoes that I used on the AT lasted as long as they did.  I do pick up my feet instead of dragging them across the rocks.

Be willing to try anything no matter what aspect of hikinh you are talking about, ie. equipment, style, etc.  The more open you are to trying out different ideas the better off you will be when you go on the thruhike.

MEANT 2B
GAME 1997