[pct-l] Light Weight Boots

[Diane at Santa Barbara Hikes dot com]

On Nov 3, 2008, at 4:51 PM, pct-l-request at backcountry.net wrote:
>
> The A16 shoe fitters vary from store to store, I have found.  The  
> best fitters by far are in the Averado Canyon store, in San Diego  
> Mission Valley.
>
>
I have never had good luck with people fitting my shoes. They always  
pick shoes that are too small. I don't have much luck picking them  
out myself, either. My feet just do not fit the mold.

The best shoes I wore on the trail were a men's size 10. Some kind of  
river hiking shoe by Columbia that I bought at the outlet mall in  
Cabazon. I brought my sore and blistered feet in the store with my  
backpack and tried every shoe. Men's size 10 is 5 sizes bigger than  
my professionally fitted women's size 7 Merrils. With that huge size  
I had no trouble. Blisters cleared up (eventually) and I never had a  
problem with them being too big. My feet did not slip around inside,  
for example. I filled them up with extra insoles (superfeet plus some  
squishy foam ones) and two pairs of socks. After my feet started  
filling them up themselves, I wore only one pair of socks. They were  
so comfy I preferred wearing them to my croc camp shoes. I almost  
sent the crocs home, but they were too convenient for middle of the  
night peeing.

My feet grew two sizes after my hike. I found some men's size 8.5  
that fit wide enough. New Balance, of course. They actually feel a  
little too big. If I could hike barefoot I would. Shoes are just too  
variable and unreliable.