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#260493 - 05/12/13 03:05 AM Spring trek in MN Blufflands = Boot blow-out!
Byrd_Huntr Offline
Old Hand

Registered: 01/28/10
Posts: 1174
Loc: MN, Land O' Lakes & Rivers ...
Beautiful spring day, so I loaded up my pack and went for a dayhike along the North Branch River in southern Minnesota's Blufflands near the burg of Elba.

There is no man-made trail there, so I followed a deer path for a few miles, combing the hillsides for the beautiful spring ephemerals that color the river bottoms and bluffland forests for a day or two each year. Every once in a while I came down off the game trail and explored a gravel bar looking for interesting mineral specimens.

My pack was a little heavy, as it contained all of the 'necessities' and a few extras, including a nice meal of wild rice and salmon just waiting to be cooked on my Trangia stove at one of the sand bars. There would be Constant Comment tea with Kit Organic berry nut bars for dessert.

I'm posting a few pictures that I took with my cell phone. The pictures are not very good, but I keep using the phone as a camera anyway. I figure it is my excuse for being a crappy photographer.

Take a look at the picture of my boots. These are older but high-end Clark Treks. The uppers and insoles were in perfect condition, and the soles have minimal wear.

As I was heading back in and walking along through the forest, I thought I stepped on something. I looked down, and the sole of my right boot had stripped off. I was still a mile out! I had some duct tape in my pack, but elected to just keep walking with one bad boot. A quarter mile later, the other sole stripped off. What are the odds of that happening?

I finished my dayhike with two sole-less boots. Fortunately, I had a spare set of boots in my car.


Attachments
bluff.jpg (229 downloads)
flowers.jpg (228 downloads)
boots.jpg (264 downloads)
river1.jpg (242 downloads)

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#260496 - 05/12/13 12:35 PM Re: Spring trek in MN Blufflands = Boot blow-out! [Re: Byrd_Huntr]
KenK Offline
"Be Prepared"
Pooh-Bah

Registered: 06/26/04
Posts: 2208
Loc: NE Wisconsin
Thank you for sharing. Crappy pictures are sooo much better then no pictures at all!!

Do you recall what brand your boots are (were)?

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#260497 - 05/12/13 01:16 PM Re: Spring trek in MN Blufflands = Boot blow-out! [Re: Byrd_Huntr]
hikermor Offline
Geezer in Chief
Geezer

Registered: 08/26/06
Posts: 7705
Loc: southern Cal
I believe this is reasonably common with the current technology of glued boot construction. It has happened to me as well. Duct tape saved the day (I was about five miles out).

Perhaps you should eat more sole food....
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#260499 - 05/12/13 03:47 PM Re: Spring trek in MN Blufflands = Boot blow-out! [Re: Byrd_Huntr]
ILBob Offline
Old Hand

Registered: 02/05/10
Posts: 776
Loc: Northern IL
I have had this happen with a pair of cheap tennis shoes where both soles came off within a short period of time of each other.

I have found that super glue does a reasonably credible job of gluing the soles back on and has the side benefit of being usable in the wild. However, it took a whole tube to glue on one sole and even then the coverage was limited.

http://ilbob.blogspot.com/2011/09/walmaret-sneaker-fail.html
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Warning - I am not an expert on anything having to do with this forum, but that won't stop me from saying what I think. smile

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#260505 - 05/13/13 06:26 AM Re: Spring trek in MN Blufflands = Boot blow-out! [Re: Byrd_Huntr]
LED Offline
Veteran

Registered: 09/01/05
Posts: 1474
I was hiking in Death Valley and the same thing happened to my friend. BOTH soles came off within 1/2 a mile. Crazy.

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#260557 - 05/14/13 07:42 PM Re: Spring trek in MN Blufflands = Boot blow-out! [Re: Byrd_Huntr]
Andy Offline
Enthusiast

Registered: 09/13/07
Posts: 378
Loc: SE PA
Don't think I'd carry this when hiking but this stuff works really well. I've reglued the soles on some Trask mocassins and they have stayed glued. Also good for repairing thin spots on the soles of shoes. Good stuff.
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In a crisis one does not rise to one's level of expectations but rather falls to one's level of training.

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#260571 - 05/15/13 01:24 PM Re: Spring trek in MN Blufflands = Boot blow-out! [Re: Andy]
RNewcomb Offline
Member

Registered: 04/19/12
Posts: 170
Loc: Iowa
Originally Posted By: Andy
Don't think I'd carry this when hiking but this stuff works really well. I've reglued the soles on some Trask mocassins and they have stayed glued. Also good for repairing thin spots on the soles of shoes. Good stuff.


I've used Shoe Goo on a few pairs of shoes as well, it works very well.

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