40 year old boot style

[Isobeljc]

How times and gear has changed.
A friend hiked in these boots in Nepal in the 1970’s.
Leather and really really heavy.
I’m glad I wasn’t wearing them.
Our friend can’t bear to throw them out.
Just between us I don’t think they have seen many trails in the past 40 years.
Does anyone else have a favourite piece of gear they can’t part with.

 

[Bradypus]

I still wear boots quite similar to that I usually buy steel toecap builder's boots and replace the insoles with gel ones. Works for me.

My own "can't throw out" piece of gear is my dearly loved Berghaus Cyclops Ghost rucksack. Bought in Glasgow about 1984 and used for almost all of my travelling until about 6 years ago. Including my first two Caminos, six months in India and Nepal, and so many hillwalking and backpacking trips that I lost count many years ago. Sadly I eventually had to admit that like its owner it had become sadly dilapidated and shapeless and unfit for purpose after many years and many thousands of km of wear and tear. But after so much time with it I cannot bring myself to part with it and so it now stores some of my walking gear and it does get the occasional short shopping trip or brief stroll now and again for old times sake.

 

[henrythedog]

I have been using the same model of boot for over 20 years. I’m happy with that as I’ve been using the same model of feet for over 50 years.

I have a Patagonia mid-weight fleece top with poppers at the neck and a small chest-pocket. It is over 25 years old.

It has been thrown out (and retrieved) twice; used as a cat-bed for several years; been consigned to my car-boot (trunk) emergency bag for another couple of years. It has survived all that and is still my first-choice winter warm layer.

They don’t make stuff like that these days.

 

[KinkyOne]

Pair of my first and second Caminos boots. Just can't throw them away
But they did a lot of Alps before that.

 

[jmcarp]

How times and gear has changed.
A friend hiked in these boots in Nepal in the 1970’s.
Leather and really really heavy.
I’m glad I wasn’t wearing them.
Our friend can’t bear to throw them out.
Just between us I don’t think they have seen many trails in the past 40 years.
Does anyone else have a favourite piece of gear they can’t part with.


View attachment 62366

I had a pair of Vasques back in the 1980s that looked like that. They were state-of-the-art for the time--"lightweight" and waterproof. I also had a manual typewriter, a telephone with a dial and a long cord attached to the wall, and a black-and-white TV that I had to get up and walk across the room to change the channels.

 

[Camino Chrissy]

Pair of my first and second Caminos boots. Just can't throw them away
But they did a lot of Alps before that.

They still look great...except for the bottoms!

 

[Jeff Crawley]

How times and gear has changed.
A friend hiked in these boots in Nepal in the 1970’s.
Leather and really really heavy.
I’m glad I wasn’t wearing them.
Our friend can’t bear to throw them out.
Just between us I don’t think they have seen many trails in the past 40 years.
Does anyone else have a favourite piece of gear they can’t part with.


View attachment 62366

Barely worn in! Make great flowerpots!

 

[Camino Chrissy]

Barely worn in! Make great flowerpots!

Yes, leather boots weather nicely outdoors as planters and develop a great "patina".

 

[jmcarp]

Barely worn in! Make great flowerpots!

...and birdhouses if hung with toes pointed down and some drainage holes punched in the toes (but in your back yard, not along the Camino).

 

[Jeff Crawley]

...and birdhouses if hung with toes pointed down and some drainage holes punched in the toes (but in your back yard, not along the Camino).

So that's what the little loop on the heel is for!

I hate seeing trashed boots dumped along the Camino, it's like Napoleon's Grand Army jettisoning kit on the retreat from Moscow!

 

[Jeff Crawley]

Pair of my first and second Caminos boots. Just can't throw them away
But they did a lot of Alps before that.

A good cobbler and they'd be right as rain

 

[KinkyOne]

A good cobbler and they'd be right as rain

Never more, never more

 

[JillGat]

I saw this one outside of Zubiri somewhere a couple of years ago.

 

[JillGat]

Back in the day (just after the ice age), I wore out a couple of pairs of "Hiker II"s. Full-grain, double stitched leather and Vibram soles. Part of the deal was that you had to "break them in" which meant torture for about three weeks.

 

[Lance Chambers]

View attachment 62367

Love the pack. Reminds me of me today edging on 70 years of age. A bit tattered, scuffed, and dilapidated but still fit for purpose if required.

 

[Icacos]

I no longer have the boots I bought in REI, Seattle back in 1976, but I still have the box they came in. Reluctantly, I had to part with the boots some years ago; they were very heavy and I never did manage to break them in despite several great hikes in the Rockies.

 

[susanawee]

Yes, I definitely have my first pair of hiking/walking/everything boots and, aside from some slight cracking of the leather uppers along the crease lines, they are still perfectly wearable and I love them dearly. They are a brand of boots here in Australia - Rossi Bush Boots - sorry, I don't have a photo just at the moment, but, they do still have pride of place in my wardrobe....I would not part with them for anything. They came into my life in the early 1970's and took me to many places in the Australian Bush, before heading over to Britain and Ireland and then onto Europe in 1998 where they again walked many ks with me. Very special friends to me. Susanawee.

 

[andrienettefourie]

I saw this one outside of Zubiri somewhere a couple of years ago.


View attachment 62398

also has a pic of this one - but not as much moss then - special memories!

 

[cbacino]

How times and gear has changed.
A friend hiked in these boots in Nepal in the 1970’s.
Leather and really really heavy.
I’m glad I wasn’t wearing them.
Our friend can’t bear to throw them out.
Just between us I don’t think they have seen many trails in the past 40 years.
Does anyone else have a favourite piece of gear they can’t part with.


View attachment 62366

No. Not much sense holding on to stuff that will never be used again.