Boots
Over the past few years, I’ve amassed a lot of crap, which on the contrary I have the overwhelming urge to eliminate most of that crap. The vast majority of it is outdoor gear, specifically search and rescue gear, that I just HAVE to buy the newest thing or gain another item to solve a minor problem I encounter on a “once in a mission” experience. They say hikers pack their fears… apparently mine is being unable to see at night and crapping my pants because that’s most of what my excess gear ends up being. I hate it though… and I’ll go through bouts of purging all my gear for something else.
I’ve gone through at least 4-5 backpack configurations in the past four years, when my original pack finally got holes in it from the 7 prior years.
But the one thing I can’t seem to give up are my boots. True, I have a shoe obsession in general, but my boots have amassed a life of their own in my hallway. There’s my OG Under Armor boots that were so comfy… I bought those because all the maintenance folks at Virgin were swearing by them. They got dunked in a river repeatedly during Swiftwater Training. Then it was my green hiking boots I took everywhere during my existential crisis of 2021. Then my 5.11 duty boots I got here in Texas… then my tactical vans… and my Salomons… now these La Sportiva “sexy” mountaineering boots. Then we can’t discount my Swiftwater Rescue/dive boots.
Point is, I have too many boots but not enough purpose for them… but I can’t get rid of them.
They’re worn and muddy and stiff. The lugs are sluffing off my 5.11’s, which are no longer shiny from the miles and miles I’ve put on them through mud and hurricane waters. No amount of wax will ever polish them.
These boots have carried me through rough times… my green ones have taken me to Mexico where I found joy again after heart break, then up and all over Yosemite where I got to show the people I love dearly my beautiful state… poetic in that I walked in them when my heart was empty and their journey took me to where my heart was so full of joy.
These new, fancy La Sportivas have taken me up scrambling rocks, up mountains, and over stagnate pools of water during an incredibly trying time in my life where I struggle to make sense of the world around me and my life is in limbo. Somehow, I know they’ll see me through too.
These boots have experienced lost children who wandered away, critically wounded people who needed my help, slogged through mud and yuck to retrieve the deceased. So many line searches and trails… so many disasters… so many times climbing in and out of quads, UTV’s, vehicles, etc. They’ve been in multiple countries and multiple states. They’re my trusted companions… and I struggle to get rid of them… I’m not entirely sure why.
They let me know that I’ve lived a good life full of adventures and good deeds… and there’s so many more miles for them to tack on.
