I agree about the insulated boots. But eventually the conditions get bad enough to warrant them. I want to be prepared for that. I'll check out 400gr insulated Kenetreks
I bought my first set of Kenetrek 400s this year, and put 100-150 miles on them prepping for a hunt Idaho last week. Kenetreks, IMHO, take about 25-50 miles to break into your foot. They were not bad to break in, but they are stiffer than most people are used to. The temps in Virginia were 70s-90s+, and I didn't think the sweating in the boots was too bad, but I was only hiking for 1-2.5 hours and taking them off.
For the Idaho terrian, I really liked the stiff and the support, especially for some stupid downhill routes, and a lot of sidehill walking. I had an Achilles tendon issue on my left foot all of this year, and the Kenetreks were the only boot that didn't aggrivate it further.
Temps on the hunt were low 30s - mid 70s, and I had good quality wool socks. For the temps with a gator on, it was too much insulation. I did get on the verge of trench foot on a couple of days, and did get a blister from the excess moisture allowing slippage in the toe area.
If I did it over, I would have gone with the un-insulated boot. Even changing socks at the mid-day if I could, the moisture was present. I found that taking the gators off helped, but I don't think I ever really got the boots dried out after the first day.
