[pct-l] Boots or shoes

[CHUCK CHELIN]

Good afternoon,

Several years ago at the KickOff I actually saw a hiker who had bought-in
to one of Jardine’s interesting shoe theories.  It wasn’t the fact that he
was wearing running shoes – most of us do that – but he had also
knife-whacked the things to remove the tongues and padding, and had made
generous ventilation slits in several places. He was the only hiker among
probably a thousand that I have observed that had gone to that extreme. I
cut him considerable slack because I knew him to be a serious and
experienced long-distance hiker.

Mostly I see inexperienced hikers exhibit one, or more, of these
“Jardineisms”.  For example I’ve seen hikers walking along with an
ultra-lite pack jauntily slung over just one shoulder, and I’ve seen others
pick a campsite so they can lay out their sleeping bag or robe with the
foot end 4” higher than the head end, etc.

10 years ago many hikers started out with a packsack full of corn pasta,
but they became somewhat of a laughing-stock so they quickly dumped the
stuff in hiker boxes.  Strangely, that’s one “Jardineism” I whole-heartedly
support.  I like my corn pasta deep fried and lightly salted.  I buy it
that way:  It’s called Fritos Corn Chips.

Another “Jardineism” I support is his design of a very lite, simple pack
without any frills.  I’ve used that design since year-2000, and still
prefer it today.  I have 4 or 5 of them by the name of GoLite Breeze which
are in various stages of decay.  The Breeze isn't available today, but I
could make or buy something very similar when this batch is totally
spawned-out.

As a sincere complement I will say that I agree with nearly half of what
Jardine writes.

Steel-eye

-Hiking the Pct since before it was the PCT – 1965

http://www.trailjournals.com/steel-eye

http://www.trailjournals.com/SteelEye09/


On Thu, May 17, 2012 at 2:37 PM, Jeffrey Olson <jolson at olc.edu> wrote:

> For those just taking up hiking, or thinking of doing a long hike, I
> highly recommend one of the editions of Ray Jardine's,  "The Pacifc
> Crest Trail Hiker's Handbook" on hiking the PCT.  While there is
> polarized opinion about his perspective, there is a LOT of wisdom in his
> engineer's logic.  One of his most detailed explanations/rants concerns
> the weight of the shoes a hiker wears.  It's fun to read too...
>
> Jeffrey Olson
> Martin, SD
>
>