Hiking Trail Journals

Appalachian Trail 2003 - Chelsea's Journals

Entry #2 - January 24, 2003

I finally bought a pair of boots today. We decided to go to REI after work. I had looked there before, and hadn't really seen anything; I had intended on going with a full grain leather boot, and they didn't have many on the shelf. But, after reading a bunch of trail journals & forums, etc. online, I found that a lot of people suggested a lighter boot, or even a shoe. So, when we went to REI, I tried on a bunch of the lighter boots - synthetic materials and split-grain leather instead of full grain. I decided on the Asolo Fusion 95 GTX. They feel awesome on my feet - incredibly more comfortable than the heavy leather Merrells I had tried on previously. Hopefully they'll wear pretty well. I read one journal where a girl was able to get 1,000 miles out of them. That's about what I had expected, especially because the soles seem pretty thin. There just isn't enough tread, I don't think. I'm also hoping that they're fairly waterproof (says they're Gore-Tex) and that they dry pretty fast. Andy's got full-grain leather boots, so we can compare notes (and swamp foot, ha HA!) Well anyway, we'll see how they do. For all I know, I could be limping off the trail with raw sores covering my feet after a week!

Next | Previous | Index