I wore out a pair of hiking boots and have to say goodbye to them.  I know I shouldn’t get attached to things, but I keep thinking of all the places they took me.

They were rugged and expensive boots made with Gore-Tex and Vibram.  I never got blisters or twisted my ankle in them.

Dewey point, Yosemite, 2012.  These boots also took me to Mt. Conness in Yosemite,  probably the highest place I’ve walked, about 12,590 ft  (admittedly I didn’t make it to the very top.)

Holland?  No,  Japan. I went to a tulip festival in Akebonoyama park, in Kashiwa, 2009.
I wore them to Japan several times, on many long trails and tall mountains.  I didn’t want to pack an extra pair of shoes, so I wore these heavy hiking boots even in the city, on long walks over asphalt streets and concrete sidewalks, in museums and shopping malls.

Beach in Kamakura, 2013.

The summit of Mount Iwaki, 2008.

Ok, I did take the ropeway going down part way from Mt. Iwaki, but it was getting late and I’d rather not hike in the forest after dark.  This is a 3D stereo image, cross your eyes to see the effect.

This is what happens when you hike in Cherry Blossom season in Japan. Kawaguchi-ko, 2007.

Here’s from when I wore them to the 2005 world’s fair in Aichi, Japan, I’m giving my boots and my feet a much needed respite.  (Fisheye lens, my feet are bigger than that.)
This is the oldest photo I could find of them.  I’m a little embarassed to show how old these shoes are, not so much because I kept wearing them after they wore out, but because I didn’t use them enough to wear them out sooner.

One night after a long day of hiking, I took them off and my feet were filthy.  The leather had cracked and leaked dust into them.  I got a tube of Shoe Goo adhesive and sealant, and applied it to all the cracks, but eventually it started leaking again. Finally the tread wore off and it was leaking through the soles.   I tried Shoe Goo on the soles, but sharp rocks and gravel tore it off.  It’s probably unwise to wear them hiking with smooth soles like this.   I can tell if a coin is heads or tails by stepping on it.  Sorry, no amount of Shoe Goo can save you now, I have to say sayonara.  All things must pass away, as the song goes.
I got a new pair of cheap hiking boots from Costco.  We’ll see if they are good to me, but I want to wear them out more quickly this time, that is, I want to hike more often.