A pound on your feet saves five pounds on your back or so goes the old backpack saying. As I get older saving weight on my feet and in the backpack sounds really good. For the longest time we picked Asolo 520 boots: instant break in, water proof, great support. They handled everything we threw at them from the desert to the arctic. The only problem: they are heavy which brings me back to the first sentence. My boots were starting to show their age (and use) so off to REI we went. Keeping old saying in mind I decided to try on lighter boots which led to 2 issues: 1) nothing I tried was comfortable 2) Leann reminded me of our first trip to the Sierra’s when I was wearing a “lighter” pair of boots.
Day 2 of a 7 day trip, the bottom of the boot came loose, duct tape to the rescue.
OK so duct tape does not hold up to 10 mile days over rocks. Day 3 on to the rope. I had to tie this every morning but it did get me through the rest of the trip and even over Mt Whitney.
I listened to my wife and left REI with another pair of Asolo’s. Now, how do I save 5 pounds in my pack? New tent & sleeping bag?
https://www.asolo.com/en/products/backpacking/triple-power-structure/tps-520-gv-evo-chestnut.html