These Shoes Are Made for Hiking!

Journal Entries October 2014

October 17, 2014

Well, the shoes I bought in August may not be “the shoes” for the big hike. We were at REI in Ann Arbor the other day and I tried on several lightweight hiking shoes including Keen’s and Merrill’s. I really liked these Patagonia Drifters. They were comfortable as soon as I put them on and they have a wonderful tread. Later, we looked them up online to see the reviews–mostly all positive. Surprisingly, when we went back through Ann Arbor again on the way home from babysitting, Mel tried on a men’s pair of this same shoe in Bivouac and liked them. The most surprising thing is I have a narrow, flat foot and he has a wide un-flat foot. These shoes do not come in widths, but we both found them comfortable. I’m going to wear mine for a month or so and if they pass this test, I’ll be ordering at least two more pair to get me through six months of hiking.

 

Here we are with our new, sparkly clean hiking shoes 6 months before our hike–six months to wait until we hike for six months! It’s a slow process of trial and error. If they work out, we’ll order more.

Note: The shoes have worked out really well for me (but not for Mel) and I posted this on Facebook two months later…

Facebook post December 18th

These are all my new hiking shoes. One pair for every 500+ miles of the Appalachian Trail. Someone asked if I would have to carry all of them! Oh my, no! When one pair wears out, Mel’s brother will mail a new pair to the post office in the town where we will stop next. This mail drop system will work in reverse too–if we have stuff we no longer need, we can mail it back to him.