Shoes

August 5, 2019August 5, 2019Paraphernalia7 Comments

Now that we have hiked more than 1700 miles, I will try to write some posts about our gear.

Both Ros and I are on our third pair of Altra “Lone Peak” shoes. We get about 500-700 miles from them. After that the material in the uppers starts to develop holes, and the cushioning in the soles is less. The soles themselves hold up well.

It is good to be able to buy shoes online and know that I can start wearing them without any problems or breaking in period.

Altras are a very popular brand among through-hikers. They are light and comfortable. The toe box is wide so it minimises toe blisters. They are zero drop meaning that there is no height difference between heel and toe as with most shoes. This is supposed to stretch your Achilles tendon and add a bit of strength to your stride. Don’t know whether this is true but we love them and have already bought our next pair ready to use after we finish Washington.

The photo above shows my old pair after 700 miles of Northern California and Oregon.

7 thoughts on “Shoes”

Gary Tischer

August 6, 2019 at 3:21 pm

Do many people wear leather boots?

robertloudon

August 8, 2019 at 6:20 pm

I asked my wife and OG what they thought and it was similar to me: we have seen maybe 5 hikers in leather boots, about 10 in sandals and about 20 in mid and high cut synthetic boots. Everyone else wears some sort of trail runners.
- Gary Tischer
  
  August 8, 2019 at 7:47 pm
  
  Thanks Moss 😉
  I was glad to be wearing leather boots on the Overland Track, particularly in snow and mud but they are a lot heavier and I certainly wasn’t doing 20+mile days.

Meredith

August 5, 2019 at 11:51 pm

These shoes were made for walkin’, and that’s just what they’ll do…

Carolyn

August 5, 2019 at 3:08 pm

Thanks for that. We are looking for new shoes for our next adventure. Of course, we will not be doing the walking that you guys are doing, but we need a good pair of walking shoes for our next adventure or two!. Interesting that they are not waterproof, considering the snow and rain that you have come across. I am assuming that the weep holes were a much more important feature than the waterproofing. Thanks for the review, very helpful.