Slacker

Yesterday I got my hikers!!!! My friend, Slacker, came with me and provided the moral support that I needed to make a decision and hand over my wad of cash to the stranger across the counter. 

It was a 2 ½ hour process. “You’re going to hate me by the end of this” I told Kareem (the very laid back and informative sales guy), “because I want to try on this, this, this and this…but I promise you” I reassured, “I am going home with something today!”

It did not take much to convert me back to Gortex. This is pretty much how the conversation went down:

“I’m doing a thru-hike”

“As a southbounder?”

“Yea.”

“You’re going to want a high, heavy-duty boot.”

“I’m not used to hiking in ankle boots, I was thinking more along the lines of trail-runners.”

“Here bend this shoe (very flexible trail-runner)…here now bend this one (very stiff backpacking boot)…see the difference, trail runners are going to burn out fast.”

“Hmmmmmmm.”

“You’re going to want gortex”

“Eh, I’m not really a fan. If it’s 80 degrees outside it will be 90 inside my shoe.”

“Yea but, you’re hiking in a month and it’s going to be wet, snowy and cold. Plus you’re hiking the roughest terrain on the trail first. You’re going to want you feet to stay as dry as possible, and you’ll probably want to invest in gators. When you pass Vermont, you could switch to a lightweight trail runner.”

****************************************

“…..Alright, I want to try on your tallest, stiffest, gortex-boot.”

I looked over at my friend, “it’s a big deal committing to a shoe, you’re feet affect everything!” “It’s ok Jill, you can always bring them back if you don’t like them.”

Long story short, I got Asolo gortex backpacking boots. They were originally $210, but with both my student discount and the 20% new arrivals discount, I got them for $142.80.

Kareem than coaxed me into getting “superfeet” shoe inserts because, “the ones that come with the shoe give you no support, and superfeet help to realign and strengthen your foot,” according to the professional. “Oh, and you’re going to want to waterproof your boots every so often,” he said as he handed over a bottle of waterproofing spray. I gave in to all of it, mostly because it is my feet we are talking about and I want them to have the best experience they can have.