How to persuade a guy from using army boots?

I think all we can do is suggest. From that point, it's up to the other guy.

An interesting problem. You want to persuade someone to do something but lack reasons why they should.

I can see why you are having trouble…

Ask him to run 1 km first in boots, then in trainers. If he asks for waterproofness, suggest waterproof socks, they work better anyway.

When I was a kid one of the worst insults you could give someone was "Your mother wears army boots". Tell him he is just a step above that!- LOL
I would try and get him out of a boot all together. A running shoe is all I wear(and I hike is the Cascades- very wet), except in deep snow.
I hear that the army does over 20 mile hikes in those boots. Other then looking funny- whats the big deal. If his feet can take it and he doesn't want to go to running shoes, get a good chuckle and hike on.

I wouldn't bother unless he's whining. I went on a dayhike with a group and there was a guy struggling to keep up, but he wouldn't hear suggestions of wearing anything else. I think he saw abandoning the boots as putting his hippie cred at stake (though why hippies wear army boots for hiking completely baffles me) and thought I was attacking his character. Seriously.

I even mentioned that my mother, when she was a grunt in the army, said that nobody wore the boots once they saved enough money to replace them with something more comfortable.

Hey if your friend is comfortable wearing the army boots and doesn’t have any problems with them then leave him be.

Now if he has issues with the army boots and wants alternatives feel free to give some suggestions.

Brett,

If the wt difference between his boots and the ones you want him to get is significant then that might be a reason to switch. If his boots weigh 2 lbs. each and yours are 1 lb each then he is lifting twice as much wt. with every step. Put another way- every 1000 steps he as lifted an extra ton of wt that he didn't have too.

Happy Trails,
-Mark

There is no reason to try and persuade him to do something that is neither harming him or anyone else. In some ways, if he wants to wear those boots until the soles fall off, he is doing the environment a favour, and maybe we could all learn from him!

As for hippies, maybe the same applies. I once got up the courage to ask a Hare Krishna devotee why he was wearing leather shoes even though his religion forbid the harming of animals. His response was that the animal was already harmed, and that it would be even worse if the cows death was in vain by squandering the shoes. In other words, he'd aready bought the shoes (before he became a Krishna), so he had to use them until they wore out. And he really looked after the shoes well too, for the same reasons.

Well, I got the guy to try on some trail runners and he really liked them. So much so he is going to buy a pair and start wearing them when he goes camping or walking around town. As for the boots, that is all he has worn the last 10 years, for everything, all day, every day.

Trail runners are great if you have a 15 pound pack or less (including food). Maybe 20 lbs. max.

But ya… if he's happy with the boots… why bother? It'll just cause an argument.

As for the whole waterproof thing… I think waterproofness is overrated. I personally don't think it matters if your footwear is waterproof. But it all depends on what you're doing. In 3 seasons… with a light pack… and trail runners… I personally never get blisters or foot problems from wet feet. And trail runners dry out in no time anyway.

Last fall I hiked a 60K trail with LOTS of water crossings and no bridges (and a 30 min. side hike right up a creek without any trail at all… sometimes almost knee deep in water). I just walked right in the water… shoes, socks and all. No problem.

But in boots with a heavy pack… you might have foot problems from wet feet… and if boots get wet… they're wet for the rest of the trip… unless you can dry them out by a fire.

I'm a recent convert to no water proof myself and now the only thing I really think goretex etc if good for is extra warmth in the winter.

> Trail runners are great if you have a 15 pound pack or less (including food). Maybe 20 lbs. max.

I find light joggers even better when the pack is even heavier: at least I don't have excess weight at both ends.

Cheers

That's cool. I'm just always a little wary of recommending runners to anyone carrying a traditional 30 to 40+ pound load. If it works for you personally, great… but in general I don't recommend it. I don't want to be the one getting blamed for a turned ankle when my friend goes out with 40 pounds on his back and sneakers :-)

> I'm just always a little wary of recommending runners to anyone carrying a traditional 30 to 40+ pound load.

that's different from your previous statement. Just saying something can't be done is quite a guarantee of finding somebody who did it but in this case it's quite a common thing.

Then, I guess it's different to wear runners with a 40+ pound load because you're on a long section and need to carry lots of food (but you're already used to the runners and the lightweight approach) than wearing them if that's the only light thing in your kit, ever.

Anyway, recommending is not preaching. You can always present the facts: it can be done, many people do it; it may not be for you but you won't know until you try and see for yourself.

If he's comfortable doing it, and you've made the suggestion already, leave it alone and HYOH. But if he's looking to lighten up his load that's the most effective/fastest place to do so.

FWIW, I hike in big-ole heavy full-grain Dunham Wafflestompers. And though I would like to upgrade/change to trail runners I feel like I need to get full use of the boots to justify the expense I already paid.