Welcome to this little series I have decided to call ‘Gearing Up for Shikoku’. In these posts I will write about some of the gear we are testing out in preparation for our trip.
Hiking shoes are a religion. Websites like “Outdoor Gear Lab”, “Gear Junkie”, “Switchback Travel” as well as countless Youtube channels dedicated to the quest of finding The Best Pair will attest to that. As such, finding the right shoes can be a daunting task, (especially if you’ve never tried it before) as no matter your choice, there will always be an online review ready to argue it was wrong. (Though come to think of it, I guess that’s true of most things these days …)
If you buy lightweight, they’ll argue you should have gone for more support, if you choose waterproof you’ll sacrifice breathability, and if you’re not wearing toe shoes are you even serious about protecting your knees?
Consequently, when I chose my first pair of shoes – back in April 2020 – I did so on the basis of a mix of online reviews, blog posts from other hikers and fair amount of good ol’ gut feel.
As such I ended up buying the Altra Lone peaks (V 4.5), and as soon as I snug my feet into them, I knew I had made the right choice. These shoes are like a cathedral for your toes! This is because one of Altras main features is their wide toe box, which I’m quite sure has saved me from a lot of blisters over the last 3 years. The second main feature is that all Altra shoes have “zero-drop” which is a fancy way of saying that the front and back have the same sole-thickness, meaning you’re walking “flat”. This is in contrast to most other shoes, where the heel is slightly higher than the front foot.
Ultimately I chose my shoes based on three parameters that matter most to me – the wide toe box that makes room for my feet, the low weight and breathability. Others might value things such as stability, water proofing or grip higher, but that’s a choice you have to make for yourself based on your temperament and the terrain you’ll be hiking in.
When it came to choosing my new pair this time, I skipped most of the research and simply bought the new version of the Lone Peaks (V6 https://www.roadtrailrun.com/2022/01/altra-lone-peak-6-multi-tester-review.html), which is more lightweight but otherwise feels very similar. I haven’t walked in them too much, but since I know how my feet react in them I felt I would rather “save” them for the trip.
One thing that worries me about the Lone Peaks though is that they don’t seem to last very long according to online reviews (because they are made from such lightweight materials). My old pair has held up pretty good though so I might just bring both pairs and throw out the old ones when they’re worn out…
In other news we’re less than 48 hours from departure! We both had our last work day on Friday and are taking Monday and Tuesday off to pack and get the last things in order. Neither of us can still really understand or believe what is happening, but I guess it’ll start to sink in once we get on the plane?
For now, Jonas has started announcing that it’s Saturday every morning when we wake up 😅 Three months of Saturday ahead, here we come!