{"id":5054,"date":"2011-03-10T10:07:24","date_gmt":"2011-03-10T15:07:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.tommangan.net\/twoheeldrive\/?p=5054"},"modified":"2011-06-08T21:53:24","modified_gmt":"2011-06-09T02:53:24","slug":"high-top-hiking-boots-better-than-low-rise-shoes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tommangan.net\/twoheeldrive\/index.php\/2011\/03\/10\/high-top-hiking-boots-better-than-low-rise-shoes\/","title":{"rendered":"High-top hiking boots: better than low-rise shoes?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Hiking
\nKeen Voyageur Mid<\/a>, left, and Keen Voyageur<\/a><\/small><\/p>\n

This one bedevils a lot of hikers: do I really need hiking boots that go over the heel? <\/p>\n

You might, but probably not for the reasons you think.<\/p>\n

Back when I was a Boy Scout in the 1970s, we had two choices: heavy-duty clodhoppers or whatever sneakers we had lying around. When I got back into hiking in 2004, I was gladdened to see boot companies had gotten smart and introduced “trail shoes,” which have the beefy soles of a boot but stop below the ankle, saving weight and adding comfort on long treks. <\/p>\n

Trail shoes are a great innovation, but rookies might wonder: don’t hikers need ankle support? <\/p>\n

They do, but here’s what I think: ankle “support” provided by high-top boots is largely an illusion. As I’ve noted here before<\/a>, if your ankle zigs when your leg zags, that little swath of leather is not going to prevent a sprain or a break. My reasoning: if high-top footwear provided meaningful support, why do all those football and basketball players religiously tape their ankles? <\/p>\n

Actually the best argument for high-top boots is that they protect the bony protrusion of your ankle — it does just stick out there on both sides and will seem magnetically attracted to sundry rocks and roots along the trail. <\/p>\n

However: I’ve bought a few boots that rubbed me the wrong way on that very same ankle bone location, causing aggravating pain that would not go away (only consolation was REI’s<\/a> wonderful return policies.) <\/p>\n

Next best reason for over-the-heel boots: they keep out a lot more crud than low-risers. I used to feel like I had to wear gaiters to thwart the rocks, pebbles and burrs, but I figured out over time that wearing long pants and boots pretty much wipes out those annoyances. <\/p>\n

Finally, I prefer over-the-heel for the same reasons I like to carry a day pack stuffed with survival supplies I never use: I just feel like I’m hiking when I’ve got my boots and my gear (and the extra weight is good exercise).<\/p>\n

\"Montrail-Badrock\"<\/a>Montrail Badrock<\/a><\/small><\/div>\n

When I’ve gone with low-rise shoes, I’ve had the best luck with trail runners — which are deliberately lightened for joggers but usually have beefed-up padding under the ankle bone that offers surprisingly good support on wacky terrain. That way you get the lightest weight in a shoe built for trail use. <\/p>\n

In any case, shoe choice always boils down to fit: if your ankle bones don’t like being swaddled in leather, you can still get all the heft of a boot if, like Keen, above, the brand offers low- and high-rise versions of the same shoe. Just bear in mind you’ll be putting up with a lot more gunk creeping in. \"Hiking<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Keen Voyageur Mid, left, and Keen Voyageur This one bedevils a lot of hikers: do I really need hiking boots that go over the heel? You might, but probably not for the reasons you think. Back when I was a…<\/p>\n

Read the whole thing<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":5055,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0},"categories":[431,418,433],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tommangan.net\/twoheeldrive\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5054"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tommangan.net\/twoheeldrive\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tommangan.net\/twoheeldrive\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tommangan.net\/twoheeldrive\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tommangan.net\/twoheeldrive\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5054"}],"version-history":[{"count":22,"href":"https:\/\/www.tommangan.net\/twoheeldrive\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5054\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5846,"href":"https:\/\/www.tommangan.net\/twoheeldrive\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5054\/revisions\/5846"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tommangan.net\/twoheeldrive\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5055"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tommangan.net\/twoheeldrive\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5054"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tommangan.net\/twoheeldrive\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5054"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tommangan.net\/twoheeldrive\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5054"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}