I have been hiking for a long time (and I mean a loooonnng time) but I was very notorious for not wearing proper foot wear. As I said in my previous Chaco post, I used to wear cheap flip flops that you would find in the dollar store. Now that I'm older I think the only reason I got by wearing these on the trails is because I knew the trails so well. Thank God I never ended up with a broken toe or something stuck in my foot, but I quit doing that before my luck ran out.
I didn’t start getting hiking shoes until my trip to the tropical country of Belize. On the packing list it was recommended that I wear hiking shoes for the trip, and so we went to a place that any person that didn’t know a lick about hiking gear would go. Walmart. There I bought a pair of waterproof Nevados because I was a broke college kid, and they seemed like a decent shoe. They were a decent shoe for all of my trip. Then a month later while on the trail at one of my local parks I discovered something. They weren’t waterproof any more. I kept using them without the waterproofing, and trekked on until the seams were starting to fall apart six months later.
My boyfriend and I had just gotten together at the time, and he was introducing me to the camping and hiking gear world. He also introduced me to the magical place of Gabriel Brothers, where name brand clothing and shoes are marked down in price. This is where we found my first pair of Timberland hiking boots. I was graduating college soon and was going to go back to my naturalist position hoping to find another position after that. They were a size seven mens leather hiking shoe that was originally $140 marked down to $40.
I was skeptical of the shoe and how it looked, but my boyfriend swore up and down by the brand and the antifatigue insoles. So we got them for my feet. Do I regret this decision? Never. That pair of hiking boots went through three jobs with me. They went through some hard miles o mud, grass, and concrete. I wore them at my naturalist job off and on, but they really didn’t get used until my fall job that year.
Being at the camp meant sometimes working 12 hours with kids outside nonstop. I felt like I lived in my hiking shoes that fall. I went up and down hills, through a lot of mud, and played with kids all while being in these shoes. Not only that, but they went with me to Tennessee that year, while we hiked mountains. My feet were saved by these shoes though some nights my feet still hurt, but there was only so much antifatigue soles could do.
After three months of no work I was hired on by an outdoor school, and it was once again time to live in my Timberland hiking boots. Eight hour days of nothing, but hiking in them with kids. Rain and snow didn’t bother me in these shoes still. I never once treated these shoes until the summer of 2018. Over a year after I bought them. That was when I started to notice it.
My tread was starting to go on these shoes. The leather was starting to crack, but I still trekked on. It wasn’t until that august after summer camp that I decided maybe it was time to get a new pair. I wanted to go with the Timberland brand again after putting so many miles on my last pair and them surviving all of it. I checked out the women’s pair of Timberland boots that were waterproof. I ordered a pair offline, and noticed something different.
These pair of boots were not a wide, but my feet were. My feet had gotten wider from using the old pair of boots, and being on my feet all day. I thought I could stretch the new ones, and took the old ones on one last spin around Tennessee until then. I worked and worked with my new Timberland boots hoping for them to give, but they just wouldn’t give all the way.
After working my last day with the camps in May I decided it was time to give up on the dream of being able to stretch my new Timberland boots out. I was hurting after being in them for seven hours, which was unusual with having the antifatigue insoles. I called my boyfriend that night and said I guess it’s time to give up on the Timbys.
The beautiful thing about giving up on them was that I was able to give them to someone that needs them. My best friend is getting into hiking with her dog, and does not have a good pair of hiking boots. I asked if she would want to take that pair in for all the muddy hikes she will get into. She told me she would try them on so I took them up with me when I visited. Since she’s the same shoe size as me, but not as wide of feet so they fit her perfectly. She almost didn’t even want to take them off she loved them so much. She said they were so comfortable, and is excited to try them out.
Even though I’m not wearing Timberland hiking boots now, and they don’t make women’s waterproof boots in a wide, I still enjoy the Timberland brand. I have shirts of theirs that I wear on the trails, and a pair of Timberland pants that I wear whenever I’m helping my mom split wood or when I’m on the trail. I will never forget the times that my Timberland boots saved the soles of my feet, and I will continue to support them. You never I might still get my old pair out for old time sake.
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