Notes From The Appalachian Trail Part 2...It Sounded Like A Good Idea...

My brother Paul has over 700 miles on the Appalachian Trail and this trip he wanted to add a new wrinkle. He had tried using his sandals for hiking before and really liked it, but could he get by using only sandals for the whole time? If you ever put on a pair of good hiking boots, you could easily understand why someone might want to use sandals instead. I was new, had no idea of what I was getting into, so I brought a good pair of hiking shoes and a pair of Croc Swiftwaters that I love walking around in at home.

Paul's son Chase, was along and decided to wear a cheap pair of hiking shoes that he used for work...basically so we could all complain about our feet at night. Paul's sandals went about half the first day before the straps started cutting into the side of his foot and by dinner time he was limping badly. I was going to offer him the use of my emergency duct tape, but he had made fun of me earlier for bringing it, so I forgot to offer it....I believe that the first evening was the beginning stages of what they refer to as "Trail Crazy". Mainly, you laugh at other people's misfortunes, and then your own...laughing about people caught in the rain, running out of toilet paper, just about anything that isn't really that funny.

So, while Paul was looking like death warmed over, sitting at the campsite, Chase and I were laughing. I was still laughing while my feet informed me that they were never going back in those shoes again. Thus, I spent the rest of the trip in sandals. I loved it! Until my heels got rubbed raw, as did Paul's.  Paul described the feeling "as if somebody stuck pieces of glass in my heel".  My heel felt the same way, so I wasn't laughing quite as much as Chase. I will use the Crocs again on my next trip. One thing I found to be totally awesome, was wearing toe socks, with synthetic wool socks over them in my Crocs....I didn't do too well with the ladies, but my feet were happy. The video below shows how excited we were about a stream crossing where we didn't have to worry about getting our feet wet. Paul just did not quite count on how cold that water was going to be....