How to choose backpacking footwear so you can keep hiking until you die

Thanks so much for the practical advice. At almost 60, I agree 100% on sizing up a bit and having a bit more stiffness for long days. Sometimes all you need for that is a good rockplate (like in the Altra King MT). I have also found that zero or low drop, once you’re used to it, really helps in recovery from very long days.

After limping ten miles with severe knee pain back to the car on the second day of what was supposed to be a 3-day backpack trip, I took my aging and painful knees to the doctor who sent me to Joe, a wonderful physical therapist.  I brought in my 3 different brands of hiking shoes and my pack, and he had me walk in the various shoes while wearing the pack.  He also had me walk in sock feet.  He said due to my years of hiking my walk was now terrible without shoes and with most of the brands of shoes I had.  In addition to giving me some exercises, he molded custom orthotics for my feet and told me to get a separate pair of shoes to wear in the house and never go barefoot again.  The cure was instant.  In my particular situation, the 70-year-old knees needed the orthotics and work best with one particular brand of shoes.  My knees haven’t hurt since in the 2 years I’ve been wearing the custom orthotics and Salomon Ellipse hiking shoes.  Bottom line, sometimes a checkup with the doc and PT would be a good additional step in choosing footwear.

As someone of a “certain age” who has walked a few thousand miles in minimalist shoes I would agree with your main points, with a couple of reservations.

First, I’m not sure that you give enough emphasis to the importance of low-to-zero drop. Significant heels throw our whole gait out of whack, and this surely can’t be a healthy thing long-term. Research has highlighted the damage that high heels are causing to womens’ spinal health, so why would we use heels to walk for long distances?

Second, my own approach is to use the most minimal practical shoe on short training walks where there will be time for feet to recover. It’s surely the way we evolved to walk, and it strengthens the feet. I also find that the sensory experience adds significantly to my enjoyment.

But through trial and error I’ve come to agree with your view that we need to be pragmatic about longer projects and add a bit more padding. Banging out big miles day after day with a pack on our back is not something we evolved to do, and we need to give our feet a little help to keep them healthy.

So my suggestion is that we should train in minimal shoes, and section hike or thru-hike in zero-drop, spacious but reasonably padded and protective shoes. And as you say, be pragmatic if our route includes technical scrambling or icy snow.

I recently had some interaction with Lee Saxby, the doyen of “barefoot running” in the UK, and he has come to similar conclusions – you need some protection for your feet on long and/or gnarly trails.

As for the choice of shoes, my personal beef is with the built-in midsole. As other have said, the midsole will often give out long before the upper and outsole, but people keep using the shoe because of the cost. I’d like to see more modular systems with a removable insole. That way you could have a quiver of midsoles and rock plates to tune the shoe to the conditions, and simply replace any insole that wears out.

Roger – yes, I meant that the shoe is a basic shell with outsole, upper and the most minimal midsole possible. But designed with enough volume that you can use your own selection of insoles and/or rock-plates to act as the midsole and tune the shoe to the conditions underfoot.

I don’t know much about the constraints of modern shoe production, but the VivoBarefoot trail shoes have no midsole padding at all and hold together quite well, so I think it’s doable. You can just about use them as a modular shoe system but a bit more volume would be more flexible – with my foot I only get 3 or 4 mm to play with which is marginal for a longer trail.

Another option is the Joe Nimble trail, designed in partnership with Lee Saxby. It’s specifically intended to be modular and they offer a range of insoles and rock plates. Though again, you only get 3-4 mm of volume to play with., even with a thin sock It seems to fit most stand-alone insole options too. It’s a robust shoe that I like very much, but for some reason they’ve gone for a Vibram outsole with a minimal tread-depth and it doesn’t work at all well for wet grass or mud, so it’s restricted to good summer conditions. Good as a training shoe, but not flexible enough for a long hike.They use a traditional last and hand-sewing which accounts for the price, but it does mean that it’s repairable.

Merrell made some trail runners that had a very thick removable insole which included the rock plate, the All Out Terra.  It was a weird shoe with a semi-gaiter sock opening.  It never took off but it’s the only shoe I’ve seen with a significant amount of replaceable padding.

Based on the advice in the article, I have been rotating my shoes in daily life instead of just wearing the same pair until it falls apart. (I know the article was about hiking footwear, but by necessity, most of my walking is in town.) It really seems to be paying off. Maybe it’s just my tendonitis finally resolving, but I can now jog in the evening and walk down the stairs without pain in the following morning. That hasn’t happened in a couple of years.

I would suggest stretching to maintain a fully functioning body is better than elevating the heel to accommodate tight hamstrings.  Just saying ….

Even a pair of Italian fine-leather loafers (coated inside with cyanide) would “keep you hiking until you die”.

Actually I’ve found tremendous relief from the sock version of the aforementioned boot. It has relieved my symptoms effectively and is less weird when sleeping. I try to be diligent about stretching… I agree that is the root cause.

I’ve been backpacking for over 50 years without a single serious foot injury. Plus I have run thousands of miles in my lifetime without significant injury.

One thing Ryan didn’t mention in the article is the vast majority of Americans are overweight or obese. Why worry about a different pair of shoes for a “heavier” backpack when one’s extra body weight exceeds that heavy pack? We may want to consider that foot problems might have a cause related to body weight.

http://www.healthdata.org/news-release/vast-majority-american-adults-are-overweight-or-obese-and-weight-growing-problem-among

Another thing Ryan didn’t mention is footwear for everyday use… work, around town etc.  All my life I have gone barefooted or worn flip-flops at home and around town. This is the best way to get your feet into shape. I do a lot of day hikes in flip-flops.

On most of my backpacking trips the last 10+ years I have been wearing less than minimalist shoes, which are cross country racing flats. However I have had a few minor impact injuries with these shoes over the years, when I should have worn a little more robust shoe for the terrain or pack load.  But I never had an injury that forced me to cut a trip short. I don’t recommend racing flats for most people.  With a heavier load or rough terrain I have been wearing one model shoe for over a decade — Salomon XA Pro 3D. I’ve worn out several pairs and fortunately they haven’t been discontinued by Salomon — I bought another pair last year, at least my 6th pair. They fit me perfectly, which is why I keep buying them.

But herein is the problem. In the past 10 years I have worn out a couple dozen of “backpacking” shoes. 24 pairs of shoes into landfills in 10 years! I think that is insane. Unlike most people I haven’t bought shoes that “didn’t” work out.

Prior to my change to trail runners in 2008, I had been wearing two different pairs of boots for 30+ years. A pair of Pivetta DMCs I bought in the early ‘70s and a heavier boot, a pair of Danner Mountain Lights I bought in the ‘80s. Last year I had to retire the Pivettas because they could not take another resoling. I don’t know how many times I’ve put new soles on my Danners — quite a few. In the late ‘90s or so, Danner completely rebuilt these boots for me. They are still in excellent shape. Same goes for work wear. I buy expensive leather shoes with a proper fit. The last pair I bought was in 1998 and I have some shoes that are over 40 years old. All of them have been repaired many times — although a good shoemaker is difficult to find these days.

So many BPLers espouse a minimalist life style and demand we reduce our impact on the environment, but seem to take a pass on our conspicuous foot fetish consumption. Why is that? Same goes for most backpacking gear. I guess if we backpack we are special people, which makes it is okay to buy so much disposable or fragile gear? I don’t claim to be a minimalist or staunch environmentalist, but one who would rather save and invest my disposable income — I’m cheap.

This year I will wear out my last two pairs of cross country flats, leaving me with one pair of Salomon XA Pro 3D. So I am re-evaluating footwear. I don’t want to go back to heavy boots, trailer runners and cross country flats have had such a positive outcome in my ‘60s. But as I approach my ‘70s I am thinking it is better to invest in shoes that can be repaired and last for many years.

Something else to note, not sure if mentioned in article, is being mindful of Posture while hiking or performing any task that involves repetitive motions and impacts… no shoes will help you if you’re all hunched over like Quasimodo :) I’ve had to become over-mindful a bit due to 4 separate back injuries, that’s what led me to UL in the first place

@nick – I’ve also been won over by the Salomon Xa pro 3D. It’s the only shoe I’ve trekked in for about 6 years now. In deep winter I use the Goretex version under 40below Light Energy overboots.  When I was a little younger and a little sillier I hiked Katahdin in a pair of chacos. My friend Bear was barefoot. It was a blast because of the high wind warnings on Knifes Edge! Good luck on your search for another great, repairable shoe. It is really such a personal endeavor…

I run my own Residential construction and remodeling business and my feet(and other parts) take a beating.  l have 3 different pair of work boots and one work shoe that I alternate throughout the week. It seems to help compared to same boot day in day out like I used to.

definitely spending as much time barefoot on the earth as possible, free foot massage on all those rocks, and it just feels good… that said nowadays I don’t usually go barefoot when hiking or in camp to lessen the possibility of accidental lacerations while deep in the backcountry… if my shoes are off in camp it usually means I’m lying on my back with my feet up on a tree trying to drain all that lactic acid!