Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Backpack Hunting Lightweight vs heavy boots?

Just to touch base on this, my wife decided to attempt to complete a calendar-year CDT since we had NM in the bag and this is her jam these days. A calendar-year CDT is a borderline legendary accomplishment for anybody; for a late-50’s recent severe cancer survivor it’s pretty freaking incredible. She’s wearing low-top Topoz. She started at the Canadian border (Glacier NP in Montana) about a month ago and has now completed Glacier, and the Bob, and will be through MT/ID and into Wyoming soon. She’s averaging ~20 miles a day with a high so far of 27 miles. Extremely rugged, difficult hiking with of course a full backpack.

I’m not trying to start shït back up here but it does bear repeating that she’s doing things the vast majority of folks here would basically say was impossible, and she’s doing it in lightweight trail runner type shoes. I encourage folks to reconsider their notions of what’s possible, and of course, what constitutes proper footwear for banging huge miles day after day after week after month in all manner of terrain. A reminder: it ain’t “boots”.

I’m holding down the fort back home to enable this to happen and yes it kinda sux to be me. I bought a dirt bike (CRF450 for those who know/care) in revenge and have been enjoying reconnecting with my youthful motorcycle stupidity.

I drew my favorite high-desert (up to 10k or so) mule deer tag this year, which I will be backpack-hunting in extremely rugged, steep, rocky, off-trail terrain. I’ll be wearing my low Solomon’s.