[philmont] Camp Shoes

For what its worth, having backpacked over 600 miles on the AT, and been an
advisor on a Philmont Trek in 2003, I feel competent to offer an opinion.

1. Most AT thru-hikers now try to keep their pack weight down to around 20
lbs. Except for certain sections (e.g. 100 mile wilderness) they don't
carry much food. Most use a tarp or tarp-tent and a light weight bag. By
keeping pack weight down, they can hike in light weight foot wear such as
Tevas or Crocs and still put in 20+ mile days. For our Philmont Trek our
Ranger's pack weight was in this same range.

2. Contrast this with the typical Philmont trekker load, carrying what is
prescribed in the Philmont checklist. Our average pack weight in 2003,
after picking up a fresh load of food, and using the Philmont tents, was
between 40 and 50 lbs.

3. If you are going to carry 40-50 lb pack weight you should be using a
sturdy hiker or trail runner as your primary shoe. If you can get your pack
weight under 30 lbs, you should be OK with alternate style footwear for
hiking as long as you've put in some training miles with them.

4. From personal experience, Crocs or Waldies are great for camp shoes,
river crossings, or for footwear emergencies. I have wide, high volume feet
and Crocs work better for me than the Keen's or similar shoes. The other
advantage of the Crocs for camp is that after a day of backpacking your feet
tend to swell and the Crocs still have enough room to be comfortable.

Larry Salvatore ("After")
Troop 36
Long Valley, NJ
Philmont 2003 713F7

-----Original Message-----
From: philmont@troop47.com [mailto:philmont@troop47.com] On Behalf Of White,
Billy Wayne (GE Indust, ConsInd)
Sent: Thursday, May 17, 2007 1:04 AM
To: philmont List Member
Subject: [philmont] Reinventing The Wheel

Shane said, "Watch the trails (not just at Philmont) and you'll see more and
more hikers and backpackers in Tevas, Chakos, or other sandals as their
primary footwear. We aren't even advocating that. We are just trying to
find lighter yet useful camp shoes..."

And he's right. My wife and I hike a section of the AT each year and more
and more hikers are wearing the lighter sandal type shoes instead of boots
for hiking not just for camp shoes. Crocs or a similar type shoe are
abundant on the AT. A personal friend, when he was 22 years old, hiked the
AT from Virginia to Maine wearing Teva sandals.

So lightweight footwear is not just for camp anymore although I believe that
all Shane and company were trying to do was find the majority opinion of the
best camp shoe. I personally seldom ever carry extra shoes but they would
have been nice to have on occasion.

Wayne White
Troop 222,
Moulton, AL.
Philmont 92, 96, 00, 03
AA 06

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Received on Fri May 18 09:29:49 2007