Some Things to Consider When Buying Hiking Boots
While hiking does not necessarily require a lot of equipment one item which is extremely important to your enjoyment is a good pair of hiking boots. The correct pair of hiking boots will give you comfortable support and have the traction which you require for the trickiest of surfaces. A bad pair of boots however can make a day’s hiking absolute misery.
Hiking for any distance will put considerable stress on your feet and ankles, which is then transmitted to your legs and into your back and your whole body. Although most people think in terms of blisters from bad boots, the true problem is not the possibility of suffering from blisters but is in fact a lack of solid support.
The right hiking boots will provide the springiness and stiffness which your feet and ankles require. You have to be able to push against the ground, regardless of the surface conditions, with assurance knowing that your boots are going to give you support. In the absence of this support, sore feet and ankles, or even twisted ankles, are more or less a certainty.
A lot of boots now are made from a variety of specialized materials but, surprisingly, leather remains a large component of the best hiking boots. It’s no accident that leather has been used for hundreds of years in the manufacture of boots and is still in use today because it is robust, water-resistant, has the correct stiffness and outstanding moisture and thermal properties.
Whenever we talk about comfort it’s all too easy to substitute the word luxury these days but, in the case of hiking boots, comfort is clearly a necessity instead of a luxury. You must be able to walk for long distances without getting blisters or experiencing chafing and you must be able to keep your boots on for long periods of time without moisture building-up or excessive heat or cold becoming a problem.
Get a pair of hiking boots which feel right on your feet which means more than simply purchasing a pair of boots which are the correct size. Get boots which feel good the moment you put them on and do not be fooled by the old adage that ‘they are going to feel a little uncomfortable until you have broken them in’. A new pair of boots will naturally wear in, but if they don’t feel right from the start then they will rarely feel right later on.
Remember too that hiking boots are not shoes. They should feel stiff and provide little give on the outer sole and around the ankle if they are going to do the job which they are supposed to do.
You’ll be scrambling over wet rocks, slippery gravel, muddy trails and flaking hills and, despite the fact that no boot can cope perfectly with every eventuality, a good pair of hiking boots, such as modern Asolo, Timberland or Vasque hiking boots, will come very close.
Modern well-designed hiking boots utilize various materials and geometries to minimize slippage on wet rocks and to maximize traction on flaking hill grades and Vibram lugs with some form of tread should be a minimum requirement. These boots look a little bit like car tires, although with a little more plastic and a little less rubber.
There are of course other things which you need to look for, like gusseted tongues which will keep out stones and gravel, but the main features covered here, and that you will find on many discount hiking boots today, will provide you with a very good starting point. The really serious hiker will probably possess several pairs of boots designed to cope with various different types of hiking but for the beginner one good sound pair of boots will do for starters and, if you buy the right boots, they will last for many years.
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