Searching for the perfect shoe

February 2nd, 2024

Background

Living in the Arizona, it has always been clear to me that waterproof boots are overkill and finally it seems most hikers are catching on. I have been using low-cut, breathable shoes for hiking, running, scrambling, biking and watersports for my entire life. I believe that shoes in this category are the most comfortable versatile footwear one can have. They are light, less sweaty, dry quickly, and can provide adequate protection and traction. In my experience, the biggest challenge is durability.

Fit

Obviously different people need shoes to fit differently. My goal in writing this is not to convince people to buy the same shoes as me. My goal is to ramble about some things I've learned about shoe fit and other shoe characteristics. I do, however, believe that there are characterisitics of shoe fit worth talking about, besides the common "yes, it fits" or "no, it does not".

Personally, I have come to understand that I generally have low-volume feet, but have a wide forefoot, especially on my right foot. This is because in 2019 I severely broke my right foot and had hardware installed in multiple places. As a result, I have a bone spur at the base of my big toe that appears similar to a bunion and makes my foot wider. I had the screws removed from this spot in 2022 in hopes that it would remove this spur, but it didn't really help.

Socks