From: emuss3@ipass.net
Date: Tue Feb 11 2003 - 11:57:58 CST
A couple of thoughts along the camp shoes thread...
It is true the rangers wore sandle around base camp and
, to my knowledge, were required to wear socks, that is
no exposed toes.
As a matter of policy we require our crews to wear
closed toed shoes. I know we all go bare foot or wear
sandles all the time and have no problems with it.
That's fine at home. When you are on the trail you do
not need a splinter or cut or jam of a toe, better safe
than sorry, even if you are a little less comfortable.
Several people have alluded to needing a shoe to cross
streams. That may be an issue on other high adventure
trips, but is it really one at Philmont? In four treks I
have never gotten wet crossing the water at Philmont.
First off most rivers are all of three feet wide and
easily stepped across, or you use one of the many
stategically placed rocks and logs to cross. On anything
any bigger there is a bridge of some sort, so a shoe for
water use at Philmont is not the prime consideration of
my crews.
We use the Wally World water socks alot. An improvment
on those are track racing flats. While mighty pricey,
they are featherlight. I used a pair of New Balance
racing flats that weighed in at 5 ounces each, for a
size 12. There are also some plastic closed toed shoes,
look alot like a wooden dutch shoe, not heel and all,
available that are also in the 4 ounce each range. Some
of my guys found some of the soleless leather moccasins
at a tourist trap which were nice, but useless in wet
conditions. Some people just had plain old running shoes
or trail shoes and were happy to carry the extra weight
for the comfort and support.
Whatever one chooses for a camp shoe, remember the
primary purpose of the shoe is relaxation around the
camp and maybe finding the obligatory flat rock at
night. They are not replacemetns for a hiking boot or
shoe, nor should they be. If you get to Philmont and
have a blister or boot failure such that you can not use
your gear of choice, then I would venture that you
probably have a whole lot of problems that are alot
worse.
YIS
Fred Mussler
aka Hiking Czar
SM- Troop 357, Raleigh NC
Eagle Scout '75
Philmont 90, 98, 00, 02, 04?
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