By John D. Brown
In the last post, I talked about hiking the hills of the
Bear Lake Valley. Well, if you’re going to hike, you need decent shoes. But
finding decent shoes for me has been like chasing rainbows.
In the last six months, I’ve tried dozens and dozens of
different shoes. One day I spent hours at the Shoe Depot in the Logan Mall just
before it closed down. I tried on every suitable shoe and walked about in them.
I think I did a million laps around that store that day.
This one let my heel slip out. Another pinched my toes like a
nasty little demon. The next had ties that strangled my ankle like a garrote. Its
neighbor stabbed my ankle bones. Round and round I went. Shoe after shoe. I
took shoes home only to have them rub the skin off the back of my foot. Some had
so much padding you felt like you were doing the moon walk. Others had none.
And how stupid was I to purchase a pair of those? I saw the
online ads for barefoot, no-pad shoes, and fell for them hook, line, and sinker.
Yes, they’re light. Yes, my feet felt as free and naked as a hippie. But there
are rocks on the trails around here.
Pointy rocks!
Maybe if you’re some kind of Legolas, you can flit over the
foot-crippling surfaces without a problem. But I ain’t Legolas. I have a more,
shall we say, American stature. And after wearing those barefoot beauties for a
few weeks, my feet were so battered and beaten I was at risk of being reported to
the Department of Family Services.
I went online and began a revolving door of shipments there.
After who knows how many shoes, I began to despair. I just
needed a 12.5 or 13 wide that didn’t try to hurt me. Was there nobody who made
a shoe that was built for man?
And then these arrived.
I didn’t have much hope, but I put them on. Did I hear the
faint sound of a heavenly choir? I think I did.
Notice the shape of the toe box. A blessed foot shape
instead of a cone. Who came up with the idea of stuffing your feet into a cone?
The laces didn’t cut into the front of my ankle. My heel didn’t slip out. Nor
were the sides of my feet rubbing.
I thought it was too good to be true. And so I wore them
around the house for a week, waiting for the other shoe to drop (hee-haw). But there
wasn’t a drop. They were just lovely. And so I mustered my courage and took
them out for a true test on the hills, rocks and all.
Folks, they were terrific. They performed like champs. I’ve
now put many miles on my pair, and they’re still going strong. They’re light,
have tons of traction, and they protect the soles of my feet without overdoing
it.
If you’re looking for a great pair of hiking or
trail-running shoes, if you’ve got wide feet, let me recommend you give the Lone
Peak 8 shoes from Altra a try. Maybe you, in a not-too-distant future, will
be singing The Hills Are Alive along with me.
*
John D. Brown is a local, award-winning novelist who
writes action-packed thrillers and epic fantasies. Find his latest at johndbrown.com
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