1st obstacle

The heal on one of my 14 year old Raichle boots ripped out during a training hike. Now you'd think that 14 years is too old for boots - but that really isn't so. I took great care of them, particularly because I vowed to never buy another pair of leather anything, and the uppers only have a few deep scratches. Well, glue or rubber does eventually come apart. They can be resoled - but I don't have enough time before the big weekend.

I bought a pair of Garmont Kiowa that were blowout at EMS. These are really nice, quite comfortable, and light-weight as well - unfortunately I have a very odd foot: between a 7 and 7.5 and narrow but shaped like a mini-ski (same width from toe to heel). These are good for short hikes for me - up to 3 hours, but I need less toe-box room. When I buy "narrow" sizing, the arch is much too tight - so on to my next boot to test and brake-in before the big weekend!