Date: 2013-02-06
To: Shoes and smartphones
Miles today: 0.0

Hiking shoesLately I have been giving plenty of thought to my footwear on the Trail. I well know that one pair of shoes will not take me 2200 miles. The adage that Pennsylvania is where shoes go to die has been repeated to me many times over. At first I simply figured I would start out with my Timberland boots that I reserve for hiking so as to not just wear them out at work on the roads. I am reconsidering this though, as they were bought with a very different idea of what hiking would require.I bought these shoes in a size slightly smaller than I would normally wear. Back then I thought this was a better idea and would give me better traction and hold my feet in place in the shoes. I know now that this is the wrong thinking, and that I at least want plenty of space in front of my toes. This is desirable to keep one's toes from being crushed into the front of each shoe on downhill sections. After reading accounts of this, most notably in Awol's book, I remembered how uncomfortable my feet were on my four-day trip in 2011. My big toes especially were numb for weeks after the trip. Reading recently makes me aware that this is not the norm.All accounts I have read so far also mention how larger-than-normal shoes are desirable to compensate for foot swelling. One's feet might expand from the constant pounding. Picture yourself preparing meat, pounding it with a hammer to flatten it and increase the surface area. Now picture your feet. Ouch! I wonder how much this phenomenon will affect me though. Except for dance festivals, where I want to keep my feet and legs up and running for hours upon hours of dancing, I like to dance barefoot. I started dancing barefoot before my 2011 walk, 45 miles from the Delaware Water Gap to High Point, NJ. The idea here was that I would toughen my feet and build calus and that this would prevent blisters from coming up while hiking. This was partially successful, and the only blister I picked up was on the back of my heel.I feel like blisters in that area will be less problematic if I opt for hiking shoes instead of boots. I have been leaning more toward hiking shoes the more I think about footwear. The easier movement within the shoe is enticing. Not having shoe rubbing on the back of my heel and potentially causing irritation there seems to be more of a boon, and the extra support and extra constriction of boots is looking like more of a burden. My current everyday shoes are hiking shoes (just like every pair of shoes I own) but I will probably look into a new pair of shoes the next time I am at REI.Camp and dancing shoesAnother concern is my camp footwear. The Glenside, PA dancer that thru-hiked last year used her camp shoes for the few dances she attended while on the Trail. With the way my feet may get, I probably want them inside shoes on the dance floor. I must determine what I will bring that fills both purposes. For dancing I don't want a shoe with much traction, so I can flow freely about the dance floor.I also want the shoes to be useful as camp shoes. I may very well opt for my current hiking shoes as my camp and dance shoes. I had to dance in these once and their grip did not sloe me too much. However, I definitely missed the ability to feel the floor the way I can barefoot, or with my well-worn hiking-dance shoes. I may bring some of the very minimalist dance footwear that some of my friends wear. I could use that when my feet are feeling healthy enough and use shoes when I have active blisters that should not be agitated by dancing barefoot.My first smartphone postAll of the above musings have been brought to you by my smartphone! This is easily the most writing I have ever done with a phone - even more than when I have found myself in lengthy philosophical text conversations, methinks. It wasn't fast, but it has worked pretty well. Next time I will try the voice-to-text functionality. Hopefully that is accurate and doesn't require much editing.Peace,