Mud -the good, bad, and the ugly

[Elliott Wolin]

In the Canadian Rockies a few weeks ago we encountered a lot of mud on the trails.  From my years in the ADKs I was less than pleased, but then I realized that the soft, semi-dry mud was a pleasure to walk on.  It was dry enough that you didn’t sink up to your knees, as can be the case in the ADKs, in fact you sank only an inch or less.  It was soft to walk on and it didn’t stick to my shoes.  So I aimed for the mud a lot, it became my favorite mud.  And I urged my wife, who was tiptoeing around it, to “embrace the mud.”

My least favorite mud is in my backyard, basically clay that sticks in enormous heavy globs to your shoes, that is difficult to get off, and feels like you are walking on half of a bowling ball. I understand some trails have this kind of mud.

So what is your favorite and least favorite mud?

[David Thomas]

After a bizarrely dry and fire-prone summer, I’ve got a new appreciation for a  little mud.  It was so very dry for so long that dust was blowing all over in any wind and more so when ATVs or 4Wers went by.

I still prefer moist dirt to standing water, but I’m about to head out on this (finally!) rainy day and will wear nylon pants and good socks and just accept that my bottom half will get wet.

As I’ve gotten older, I’ve noticed too many miles on hard surfaces (concrete sidewalks, doing laps inside Walmart on a -20F day, too long standing doing chores at home) leaves my feet feeling bruised.  Softer surfaces – carpet, dirt trails, the beach – don’t do that to me.

[Chris R]

We were probably there the same time as you. We quickly learned which mud was good for walking (soft but not deep) and which was to be avoided.(boot sucking ooze)

I noticed that the effort taken by hikers to avoid water and mud seemed to in proportion to the weight/robustness of the boots they were wearing. We watched folk with big leather boots take great care to walk around the muddy bits while we and most other hikers in runners would just head right through the wet/mucky stuff.

[Greg F]

Did you just hike Tonquin Valley in Jasper?

The secret to mud is just plow through and ignore it.  Your pace drops of significantly trying to avoid it and you widen the trail making it worse.

When I did the Tonquin Valley this year I did have to stop in the creeks as mud was accumulating in my shoes under my toes and need to be flushed out.

my brother really liked his light weight gortex hightops (one of the solomons) as it kept the mud out better.

[Elliott Wolin]

We didn’t hike in the Tonquin Valley as far as I remember.

Fortunately, most of the mud we came across was not mucky, just soft and squishy, and it didn’t get into my hiking shoes if I avoided the worst spots.  So I just charged through it and felt like I was walking on a cushioned trail.

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