Fw: [pct-l] Seeking Advice on PCT footwear and other stuff

[kdpo@pacbell.net (Ken & Marcia Powers)]

 I remember seeing several hikers in boots with "hamburger feet".
Personally
 I'll go with the lightweight sneakers again, even though I had large
 blisters on the bottoms of my feet. It wasn't all that bad. Just drain the
 blisters and keep them clean.

 We chose to wear the same sneakers all the way. We wanted shoes that dried
 fast in the sierra. Hiking in the melting snow and fording streams all day
 meant our shoes were going to get wet. . We were averaging 8 fords a day
 that were above our knees. (Actual count!) I don't care how good your shoes
 are at repelling water, you will get wet feet and you need them to dry out
 quickly.

 No one has mentioned that you should plan on a larger shoe size. Your feet
 will initially swell and grow larger from use. I increased my shoe size
from
 10 1/2 to 12. I wanted to go another half size bigger, but they didn't make
 a 12 1/2 in my shoe.

Ken

 ----- Original Message -----
 From: <CMountainDave@aol.com>
 To: <sveriksen@yahoo.com>; <rick@rickhubbard.org>;
 <pct-l@mailman.backcountry.net>
 Sent: Sunday, March 04, 2001 5:42 PM
 Subject: Re: [pct-l] Seeking Advice on PCT footwear and other stuff


> If sneakers are so great, then how come 4 out of 5 people using them have
 raw
 > hamburger feet by the time they get to Idyllwild? And in spite of all the
 > advice on what brand to wear, insoles to use, and socks to wear it will
be
 > the same old sad story again this year. Yeah, just go ahead and blame the
 > heat or believe that blisters are just a fact of life. What do I care?
 Better
 > bring all the second skin you can find because it'll all be sold out
along
 > the trail! My feet did just fine  going 2600 miles in hiking boots so
 don't
 > you think it would be rather stupid of me to fix what ain't broken? As
far
 as
 > weight goes, my feet are quite used to boots because I wear them daily
for
 > work. And I'll take hiking boots ANYDAY over sneakers in snow. But go
 ahead
 > and believe that wet feet are inevitable when hiking in the mountains. No
 > skin off my feet! And Jim Bridger and the other mountain men didn't wear
 no
 > stinkin' sneakers or shorts or have soft pink yuppie hands or smell
pretty
 (
 > Okay, so at least thru hikers stink, too)