Shoe companies and shoes that get it

The black outline is what my right foot looks like when bearing weight and in a sock. The yellow is what the toe of most shoes looks like. I'm sure you can see the problem. My foot shape is, for all intents and purposes, what a typical foot would look like. Some are narrower, some wider, but the basic shape is the same.

Unfortunately, the majority of shoe companies don't seem to get this. I honestly have no idea where they get their lasts from. My only guess is that they're from someone who has worn pointed shoes all of their life and has a misshaped foot as a result. I like my toes to have breathing room so I search out shoes with a toe box correctly shaped to match a fairly normal foot. These shoes are far and few between so I thought I would highlight what I've found thus far.

Patagonia:

Toast and Jam (discontinued)
Rum and Cola (discontinued)
Larry
Pau
Maui Moc
Maui Air
Maui Mid
Maui Dew
Loulu (maybe a bit narrow)

Terra Plana:

most anything in the Vivo Barefoot line

Soft Star Shoes:

your choice (they have kids shoes as well)

Sanuk:

variety in the Sidewalk Surfers line

Keen:

models vary


Unfortunately, that's pretty much all I'm aware of. Please comment if you know of other companies or shoes with a toe box designed for a foot.

Dealing with loss

Early Saturday morning I said goodbye to my loving companion of around 15 years, Samson. I adopted Samson from the local Gwinnett Humane Society shortly after my parent's divorce. I went in looking for a small puppy and Samson was a full grown (around 40-50 lbs) Chow/Golden Retriever mix. Initially, I passed right by him. After browsing a bit I was told that Samson would likely be put down if someone didn't adopt him that day as they had already extended their termination policy several times at the request of some volunteers. That was all it really took for me and I took him home.

It seems like I was always too busy to give him the love he truly deserved. For the first few years we were together, I was busy doing the school thing. Then came the work thing. During a lot of this time my physical activity level severely dwindled and I grew more and more out of shape. By the time I got my own fitness back on track, Samson was too old to accompany me on my hiking and backpacking trips. I couldn't even really take him on long walks or jogs.

About a year and a half ago, Samson was diagnosed with Heartworm disease. There is a surgical procedure for this but the risk of death is pretty high and given Samson's age, I elected not to put him through it. It took a while for the effects to build up but Samson got slower and slower and would quickly start panting on short walks. He was already deaf in both ears and I noticed Saturday that he had cataracts in both eyes. He also limped a bit and would lose his balance and fall coming up stairs or even just walking sometimes. It got to the point to where he mostly laid around other than when he got walked. Despite all of this, every time I would go to walk him he'd get very excited, jumping around and wagging his tail, just like the first day I brought him home.

Late last week, Samson seemed to be getting worse so I called the vet about my options. I didn't want him to suffer and experience the heart attack that would eventually take him so first thing Saturday morning I took him to the vet. I walked him so he could go to the bathroom and made sure he had food and water before loading him in to my car. When we got to the vet I opened up my hatch and Samson jumped out taking a spill on the concrete. We walked around a bit before I took him in. The tech took us back and explained how everything would work and I paid so we could leave without having to deal with anything after. Eventually they gave Samson a sedative which took effect extremely fast. He actually started snoring. The vet came in and gave him his final shot and verified it had its intended effect before leaving us with him to say our last goodbyes.

This was the hardest decision I've ever had to make and one of the toughest losses I've personally experienced. I'm still questioning how much more I could have done with him during those initial years when I was "too busy". Eventually I suppose the guilt will go, but my memories never will.

To those helping me and with me until the end, thanks for your support.

June 26-27, 2010 FootHills/Fork Mountain Loop

Robin and I did the FootHills/Fork Mountain loop again over this past weekend. This is a short post since the trip was pretty uneventful. Overall, it was a fun trip. We tried out a Bear Paw Tents Canopy Tent 2 and Net Tent 2 for shelter which worked pretty well. We also took chocolate pudding instead of chocolate bars in the wonderful SE heat. As part of making the pudding we left the bags in the river to keep it cold. After dinner when I retrieved the pudding I found the crawfish had nipped the corners on one bag and pudding came rushing out. Fortunately, I caught it quickly and we only lost a little of our desert. If you check out the pictures, noticed the difference in our backcountry site and a site closer to the parking area along the Chattooga River.

Note: I forgot the memory card for my camera so I was only able to take a few photos on the internal memory.


Photos: http://www.flickr.com/photos/uallas/sets/72157624246382325/

Backpacking Light Wilderness Trekking School - BSA Trek Leader Training

Just after 6 AM on Thursday, May 20 I boarded a plane bound for Bozeman, MT. After touching down at Gallatin Field and getting my pack, Ryan Jordan of Backpacking Light phoned me and told me he would be there shortly to pick me up. We drove back to the Backpacking Light office where we spent a few minutes, before loading up the rental pickup with gear. Ryan Jordan, Sam Haraldson, Ryan Connelly, and I then departed for the Boone and Crockett Club's Elmer Rasmuson Wildlife Conservation Center just outside Dupuyer, MT. Once at the ERWCC, we were joined by Mike Martin and Doug Prosser. The six of us would serve as the instructors for a course run in partnership with Backpacking Light's Wilderness Trekking School and the Montana Council of the Boy Scouts of America. The course was designed to train BSA trek leaders on ultralight gear and techniques so that they could, in turn, train their Scouts and lighten their loads.


We spent Thursday night and the first half of Friday on classroom instruction and planning. Ryan Jordan and Doug Prosser both emptied the contents of their packs onto a table and discussed every item they carry as well as the reasoning behind it. We also discussed plans, maps, bear spray usage, nutrition, and a few other things. After a scrumptious lunch, we split in to our respective groups of 6 students and 3 instructors and headed for the surrounding mountains. My group chose to head right for the Bob Marshall Wilderness where we spent Friday night just above the North Dupuyer Creek. We got snow. In May. Welcome to Spring in Montana. On Saturday, we left the Bob and spent most of the day walking the lands. Saturday evening provided us with the moos of cattle, the hoot of an owl, and the yipping of a coyote pack. We had only a single formal class on the PCT method of bear bagging. The rest of the weekend was primarily informal with a lot of interaction between the students and instructors. We returned to the EWRCC on Sunday for a snack and debrief.


The BSA Patrol Method was the focus of both gear usage and travel techniques. The patrol gear used by the students included 10x12 flat tarps, 11x11 pyramid tarps, 4 L cook pots used over an open fire, Caldera Keg systems with solid fuel tabs, Platypus Clean Stream, and Aqua Mira water treatment systems. We had half of each group use one of each shelter, cook system, and treatment system the first night and then swap the second night. This was designed to give the students practice with items available to their Scouts at reasonable prices and with good durability. Provided meals were of the dehydrated variety and prepared by the Scouts of Montana Troop 676. This included breakfasts, dinners, and deserts. The students provided their own lunches based on suggested guidelines concerning weight and caloric content.

I believe everyone had an enjoyable experience and learned quite a lot. That includes myself and the other instructors.

Photos: http://www.flickr.com/photos/uallas/sets/72157624012567387/

Sam's post: Backpacking Light - Wilderness Trekking School - WS2-BSA 2010

Ultralight Backpacking for Scouts

Ultralight Backpacking for Scout Leaders

The Montana Council, B.S.A., in partnership with Backpacking Light (http://www.backpackinglight.com/), will host the nation's premiere program in ultralight backpacking skills and safety training for Scout Leaders and High Adventure Crew staff at the Theodore Roosevelt Memorial Ranch in the foothills of the Bob Marshall Wilderness near Dupuyer, Montana on May 21-23, 2010.

For more information, and to register online, please visit the following link:
http://www.backpackinglight.com/cgi-bin/backpackinglight/wilderness_skills_ii_bsa.html

This course is aimed at Camp Directors, High Adventure Trek Directors, High Adventure Crew Staff, Scoutmasters, and Assistant Scoutmasters interested in implementing their own high adventure trekking and backcountry programs that are safer, more comfortable, and more fun for their Scouts.

The course director and senior instructor for this program is Ryan Jordan, the Montana Council BSA High Adventure Committee Chair, Trek Director for the Montana Council BSA High Adventure Program in Ultralight Backpacking, Assistant Scoutmaster, Philmont Graduate, Eagle Scout, and former High Adventure Director for Chief Seattle Council BSA. Dr. Jordan is the founder of Backpacking Light and has spent the past several years developing implementing ultralight backpacking programs for Scouting organizations across the U.S. Dr. Jordan will be joined by four other instructors with deep expertise in ultralight backpacking, offering participants a wealth of combined experience and perspective not commonly found in a single high adventure training experience.

Space is extremely limited (max enrollment is 24 participants and 5 instructors) for this program and it usually sells out early - act fast to take advantage of this very unique opportunity.

1/1/2010 - 1/2/2010 Newton Bald Loop

On New Year's Day Jim Bailey, Robin, and I took off for the Southeastern corner of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park just outside Bryson City, NC to do a 23 mile loop around Newton Bald. The logistics of the trip have it planned for 3 days and we were expecting lows of around 8 degrees F at Newton Bald on Saturday night based on the last forecast checked before we hit the road.

Friday was a short day at 6.3 miles and we got to camp with plenty of light to setup and work on building a fire. We gave up on the fire after about 5 minutes and opted to spend the evening around a stove inside Jim's Hex 3. We huddled around the stove as Jim made us all drinks and we ate dinner. Eventually Robin and I headed over to our Scarp 2 to turn in for the night. I left a thermometer attached to the peak of our shelter and we observed temps around 18 degrees F over night.

Saturday morning we packed up as quickly as possible in an effort to get warm via movement. We broke camp around 10:15 AM and made our way up the mountainside to Newton Bald. This was supposed to be an 8 mile day with camp at Newton Bald. As we made our way up we found several inches of frozen snow/ice and a lot of blow down blocking the trail. We arrived at Newton Bald around 1:00 PM and found a very bad site to spend the night. The ground was covered with probably 4-6 inches of frozen snow/ice. With it being early in the afternoon, the difficulties presented by the site itself, expected temps, and knowledge that the site experiences high winds in Winter we opted to make towards the finish. We agreed that we would look for a stealth site at lower elevations but if we didn't see a suitable one we would push on to the car and head to town for pizza. Having done this loop before, albeit in much better conditions, Robin and I knew there was little chance of finding a stealth site.

We arrived at the car around 5:15 PM completing the loop and a 16.8 mile day. We were all fairly impressed with ourselves considering the trail conditions and the pace we were able to maintain. We quickly loaded up the car and headed towards Cherokee, NC where we started looking up pizza joints on my GPS. Eventually we landed in Franklin, NC and stopped off at a small pizza place. Fortunately for us they were running a BOGO special and we put down a large Hawaiian and large Philly cheese steak. I also rechecked the weather for the night here. Bryson City was expecting temps of 10 F with 20-30 mph winds and up to 40 mph gusts. Wind chill was expected to be 0 F to -10 F. Knowing that Newton Bald is at 5000 ft and what the site looked like we figured it would probably be 0 F or negative temps there with wind chills closer to -15 F to -20 F. With our gear and knowledge we would've survived the night but it would've been pretty uncomfortable. We were all very glad we made the decision to complete the loop rather than camp.


Loop Details: http://www.gorp.com/parks-guide/travel-ta-great-smoky-mountain-national-park-hiking-gatlinburg-tennessee-sidwcmdev_056143.html

Photos: http://www.flickr.com/photos/uallas/sets/72157623132110824/