These boots are made for walkin'
Post date: Dec 30, 2012 1:08:25 AM
For those of you who may have received a gift or two related to backpacking during the holidays, we have a suggestion. Now is the time to put those gifts to good use.
No, you don’t have to wear them out before summer ever arrives. But this is the perfect time to wear those new boots around the house, or on a relaxing stroll through the local park. You might even put on your new backpack and wear it too. Set your tent up in the back yard, and take it down a few times. Light the new stove and see how fast it boils water—at least at sea level.
We do this, and we do it for two reasons. One of the reasons is obvious—it is much better to find out that something doesn’t work or gives you blisters when you are close to home and not trying to get back to the trailhead that is twenty two miles away.
The other reason is that it’s fun.
Break in your boots now.
In the photo at left, P is modeling his knock-off Crocs that we wears as camp shoes and water shoes. If you look carefully, you can see the snow that has frozen onto his shoes. This was in July up the Mono Creek drainage in the John Muir Wilderness two years ago. And yes, he also caught a lot of fish.