[pct-l] Light Weight Boots

[Diane at Santa Barbara Hikes dot com]

On Oct 31, 2008, at 10:00 AM, pct-l-request at backcountry.net wrote:
> Hoping to thru hike the PCT in 09. I have with a struggled with a  
> variety of brands of boots that do not have large enough toe boxes  
> and loose toe nails after my hikes. Are there any brands of light  
> weight hiking boots that anyone recommends that have more toe box  
> room.

I ended up having success wearing shoes that were about 4 sizes too  
big in order to accommodate my wide feet. Sounds crazy, but they were  
comfortable and made me happy for 600 miles.

Then, when those wore out, I made the mistake of choosing something a  
little better fitting. They felt fine at the store and for the first  
few days I was happy. But slowly but surely their overly-supportive  
construction destroyed my feet. It felt like the toes of my shoes  
pointed upwards and held my feet prisoner until it felt like the  
bones were actually breaking. I left the trail in Dunsmuir because I  
felt I was doing permanent damage to my feet and feared if I  
continued I might never be able to hike again.

When I got home, I had to wear shoes in the house because my feet  
hurt too much to walk on tile. I wore only sandals. Slowly but surely  
my feet healed enough to get by, but they still hurt, even right this  
minute. Walking barefoot seems to heal them the most. I'm now a fan  
of those barefoot runner people even though I don't run.

I recently got a catalog from a running store that organized all the  
shoes based on how much support they provide. The shoes I had,  
Montrail Hardrock or something like that, were for people who need a  
lot of support. I will NEVER wear shoes like that again. Next time on  
the PCT I'll wear flip-flops before I wear supportive shoes.

So my advice is to find out what kinds of shoes you need beyond just  
width and stay away from shoes that won't meet your needs. That  
assumes you know what you need, but now I know my feet need to be as  
close to barefoot as possible.

~Piper