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Things To Bring On a Hike, Part 1

© Wayne R. Brown

As I write this, it is the middle of winter. If my hours at work didn't make hiking difficult enough, the weather certainly would. Many of my favorite places are buried under snow right now. Others, at lower elevations, are simply cold and soggy. This seems like a good time to sit in my pajamas and talk about what I would be wearing if I were hiking.

I know this is a departure from the type of article I usually write. It is, however, important enough to spend at least a little time on. And while I am no expert on the subject, I have learned a little something from my experiences over the years.

Footwear seems like the best place to start. Let me begin by telling you what I've found doesn't work very well. I've learned that if you don't break your hiking shoes in, you can expect really uncomfortable blisters by about mile seven or eight. The following year I learned that you shouldn't wear an old, comfortable, broken in pair of sneakers with half the tread worn off. This is especially true when hiking steep, mountain trails with loose footing. This is a good way to land flat on your back with one of your legs bent back behind you at an unnatural angle. This is an experience I recommend you try to avoid.

Now for some things you should do about footwear. First, don't skimp. A pair of sneakers is great for a three or four mile walk on even, level ground or a really well maintained trail. But they aren't what you should wear on a serious hike. If you're going to go out in the wilderness and hike, spend the money on a decent set of footwear.

By this, I do not mean the thirty dollar pair you'll find at the local department store. What I do mean is that you should go to a sporting goods store and find yourself a comfortable pair of hiking boots with good tread and ankle support. They are going to cost you. Plan to spend about a hundred dollars, perhaps a little more.

Now, you could easily spend twice that, but I don't see the need. For myself, I bought a pair of Merrell Monarchs at REI on sale for about seventy dollars. I think they normally ran about a hundred and twenty. There were a lot of hiking shoes there to choose from, and I tried a good many of them, tromping around the footwear section with this pair or that (or a differnt kind on each foot) while I narrowed down my selection. In the end I chose the Monarchs for two reasons. The first was the tread. They simply had a better (in my opinion) tread than any other shoe in the store. I really put them to the test by climbing up and down a slanted little stool they had in the footwear section. The traction was superb. Hey, I may have looked funny, but a level carpet is no real test of a hiking shoe. The other reason I bought them was for comfort. If a shoe isn't comfortable for two minutes on a carpeted floor, imagine what it might be like after six miles of hiking.

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