The Boot that Blew Out

Here we are sitting on the side of Mt Scott.  You can see the lake that our  camp was on the other side of.  This was a solid 3:00pm in the afternoon on Sunday.  the start of the day was rainy, cloudy, and fun.  The day before while hiking back to our vehicles my good old faithful Vasque Skywalk 2 boots had a blow out on the right hand side.  I have been shoe gluing the soles on for the past two years at least and have known that some day I would have an issue like this.  I just didn't know it was going to be on the hardest climbing and rappelling day of my life.

 Lucky for me Paul had some duct tape in his car.  Trust me I know you all are saying to yourselves, "I thought an eagle scout is always prepared."  Yes, I was prepared and would have used my 550 paracord and pocket knife to cut slits and sew the sole back on.  The thing that was eye opening for me was how having this experience showed me the error of my ways and now I see the light.

 The light that went on in my head, is now I am ready to start the search for another pair of boots.  I have loved these boots since I picked them up in 1998 and only wear them in bad weather situations in the city and camping.  The reason for that is if you wear your boots all the time on hard surfaces like asphalt and concrete the soles wear out before the shoe does.

After this past weekends attempt at times to rock climb I realized (OK everyone else pointed out) that alot of my issues are my boots.  My boots have an older less sticky sole that does not grip as good as modern rubber soles do.  Now I just have to go out and try on every pair of hiking boots I can find till my little diabetes toes feel right.  I will have to glue this pair up for the time being but a new chapter of my life begins.