I Bought What? Hiking Shoes
Jan. 12th, 2025 08:43 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
canyonwalkerA few months ago... or maybe it was a year+ at this point, I'm not sure... Hawk and I were straightening the pile of shoes in our hall closet, and I found a pair of footwear I didn't even remember buying.
They're hiking shoes. Not hiking boots, but hiking shoes. When did I buy these? I wondered. I couldn't remember! So I stuffed them back in the closet— except in a more orderly fashion than the pile of shoes that was in there, because that's what we were cleaning up— and promptly forgot about them again. 🤣 Until today.
Today, for whatever reason, I remembered these shoes were in the hall closet, sitting there almost certainly never used for who-knows-how-many years. So when Hawk was feeling well enough to want to do a light hike today (she's still not fully over traveler's diarrhea after two weeks!) I figured it would be a great opportunity to try out these hiking shoes. That's because while the trail we picked, at Bxybee Park on the bay in Palo Alto, is too easy to want to wear hiking boots, the gravel paths made me want to wear something a bit more protective than my Keen sport sandals. Even with their toe cap the sandals still pick up small rocks on gravelly trails.
"I don't even remember when I bought these," I mused out loud as I laced them up in the hallway. "Maybe a few years ago at REI when I saw them on a clearance sale and figured, 'Why not try them?'"
"I think you bought them fifteen years ago, at Footwear Etc.," Hawk countered, name-checking a store that used to be around the corner from us but closed up years ago.
Well, regardless of when or where I bought them I could easily surmise why I'd bought them. While I've never bought hiking shoes before, always preferring either the sturdiness of hiking boots or the light weight and breathability of hiking sandals, for the right price I would've taken a chance on trying hiking shoes. And today, finally, is the time to try them!
Update: By the second time I'd worn them they fell apart! 😡
They're hiking shoes. Not hiking boots, but hiking shoes. When did I buy these? I wondered. I couldn't remember! So I stuffed them back in the closet— except in a more orderly fashion than the pile of shoes that was in there, because that's what we were cleaning up— and promptly forgot about them again. 🤣 Until today.
Today, for whatever reason, I remembered these shoes were in the hall closet, sitting there almost certainly never used for who-knows-how-many years. So when Hawk was feeling well enough to want to do a light hike today (she's still not fully over traveler's diarrhea after two weeks!) I figured it would be a great opportunity to try out these hiking shoes. That's because while the trail we picked, at Bxybee Park on the bay in Palo Alto, is too easy to want to wear hiking boots, the gravel paths made me want to wear something a bit more protective than my Keen sport sandals. Even with their toe cap the sandals still pick up small rocks on gravelly trails.
"I don't even remember when I bought these," I mused out loud as I laced them up in the hallway. "Maybe a few years ago at REI when I saw them on a clearance sale and figured, 'Why not try them?'"
"I think you bought them fifteen years ago, at Footwear Etc.," Hawk countered, name-checking a store that used to be around the corner from us but closed up years ago.
Well, regardless of when or where I bought them I could easily surmise why I'd bought them. While I've never bought hiking shoes before, always preferring either the sturdiness of hiking boots or the light weight and breathability of hiking sandals, for the right price I would've taken a chance on trying hiking shoes. And today, finally, is the time to try them!
Update: By the second time I'd worn them they fell apart! 😡
no subject
Date: 2025-01-13 03:46 pm (UTC)OK, that's amazing.
I still have boxes in the basement from moving in 2007. But I don't think I've bought a pair of shoes and simply forgot they existed.
(Shirts, yes - I found a white dress shirt still in its wrapper in my closet the other month, and I have no idea when that came into the house!)
no subject
Date: 2025-01-13 05:18 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2025-01-13 05:36 pm (UTC)I ordered shoes sight-unseen from Zappos the other month. This has worked fine for me in the past, I had no compunction doing that. I felt so fine about it that I recycled the box that very day!
And then I tried them on. I don't know how, but these were the worst. They made my feet hurt in places I didn't know could hurt.
Fortunately, Zappos/Amazon took them back even sans shoebox, and I went to DSW in person to try again.