[philmont] And that's all I know about that

If you need to be told what boot to take to Philmont, you do not have enough trail experience to qualify you to go to Philolnt in the first place. Sound rude? Nope, it's just the way it is.
   
  So go do something about it. Go out on the trail and get that experience TODAY. Not tomorrow, do it today.
   
  On the purchase of boots, the most important thing is fit with THE socks you will wear with them. And that is another problem. What socks and how many to use.
   
  Coop gives some really good advise on boot selection in his treatse. Read it. I wrote a long article on boot fit and the selection process. It's found in Seldens list. I'm not going to repeat it here. Just go read it for your own good. Do your homnework.
   
  Crocks. The name says it all. They are a "crock". Enough said.
   
  But if you do take them, put them and EVERYTHING else INSIDE your pack instead of hanging on the outside only to be deposited along the trail as more liter. Don't mess with Texas, the Republic of Texas that is and Philmont is in the Republic of Texas.
   
  Frugality. I've been buying from REI for longer than most of you have been alive. REI stands behind everything they sell including boots. Repair or replace free of charge if you are not satisfied. When my ASOLO boots delaminated the soles prematurely, REI furnished me with a brand new pair free of charge. That' a cool $200.00 saved and they will do it again for the life of the boots. Pretty sound investment I'd say.
   
  This past October sitting in front of a tent at Philmont tent city were a pari of new ASOLO boots with sole seperation that had been repaired with duct tape to limp back in on. Had these been purchased at REI, the owner would have gotten a brand new pair of $200.00 boots for free.
   
  But you say they should not have done that. Well if man puts them together, the leements can and will take them apart. And you don't know the hiostory of their use/abuse. How many times have you seen people flirting with the fire with their boots. Think heat won't disolve glue? Think again.
   
  Why even bother with Crocs in the first place, just get a bottle of tuff skin (tincture benzoin) and start painting your feet to make them tough. Then when you leave for Philmont take a bottle of New Skin with you (from Walmarts) and paint yourself some extra skin on the bottom of your feet and wala who needs Crocs anyway?
   
  This reminds me of a City Ordinance in Galveston years ago addressing the barefoot hippie problem. It stated you had to wear shoes in public to avert the barefooted hippies who mostly did not spend money in the stores, they just wanted to walk through to cool off in the AC.
   
  So the city fathers passed an ordinance requiring shoes. However they forgot to list that the shoes needed to have soles on them.
   
  Enter Col Bubba the local Military Surplus guru. He had bought thousands of sneakers at a cheap price without soles on them, just the tops, so he sold them for $5.00 a pair for a $4.95 profit per pair and the hippies bought them by the thousands making Col Bubba rich and the city fathers furious. But they had shoes on, it's just that the shoes didn't have any soles on them. And Crocs are shoes too according to Philmont Fathers but not to any sound thinking individual and that's all I'm gonna say about that.
   
  Shakedown is not just to exercize muscles. Use it to test out ideas and give it enough time to make the discoveries of what works and doesn't work for your group.
   
  Different things work differently for different people from different parts of the country. If Crocs are your kinda show, but all means Croc it.
   
  Carrying a pistol in your pocket may work well for a Texas boy, but it won't cut the mustard in New York City, it will get you put in jail, permit or not. Same thing with trail equipment.
   
  I'm all for crew gear and the utilization of the team. But there has to be some personal responsibility taken by team members for their personal items, boots included.
   
  All the talk about what shoe, croc, etc to use IF a boot blows out is fine, but in the end if this occurs, the best thing may well be a credit card for a purchase from TOTT or a small roll of good duct tape. They both work well. Have many times every summer and will continue to do so.
   
  John LeBlanc

       
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Received on Thu Dec 6 22:47:09 2007