Earlier when we went hiking, we knew where we were.
We bought the canvas shoes and off we went! Today, there are so many variates for hiking, for you to get puzzled is not very difficult.
There are so many choices to make.
You have hiking shoes for walking in the forest, you have shoes for walking in temperate weather, you have shoes for walking up snow clad hills and mountains, and you have shoes for walking in swamps and so the list goes on and on.
Shopping for the right shoe is itself daunting! And much more than the hike you were planning.
Today there are dozens of hiking shoes, some looking sophisticated that you wonder who buys them? Anyway, that is not subject.
When you your hiking, you know exactly where you are going, what kind of soil it has, whether it includes steep gradients, and of course the weather and climate.
Based on these principles of your hiking, you can choose your shoes.
If your hike involves loose terrain, then you certainly need precision footwear.
Your choice should be shoes that have climbing shoe style lacing.
This hiking shoes helps you to have better control while hiking in the loose terrain by tightening or loosening the two laces that come with this shoe.
When you are looking at some terrain that may have some wet ground, then you need a shoe that has built in studs, which help you get a good grip on wet roots, mud, shallow water, etc.
The studs helps getting a good grip on this terrain, and when you hit a hard surface, the shoes retract the studs.
One more choice for travelling over rough spots, is trying a shoe which has straps in the shoes sides.
You can thus use these side straps to tighten or loosen them, depending at level of this interlacing strap give you the stability you need.
Newer shoes have been designed to reduce shock on your heel.
The heel design is such that it contains rubber "springs" separated from the front half of the shoe.
This helps protect your sole when you put down your foot hard.
To protect grit entering into your shoe, yet another design provides a ankle collar.
Another has gaskets made up of nylon loops.
Using these loops you can protect your foot from grits.
In warmer terrain, you need to let your legs breathe.
There are shoes with some form of netting which takes in air, and ejects the sweat! Keeps your feet cool! So go ahead, demystify the hiking shoes, and take one which suits the best.
And don't forget the safety gear.
We hope that our snapshot has given you some idea of the kind of hiking shoes that are now available, and that we have been able to take of the mystery out hiking footwear.
Try them out.
You would be perhaps higher using one of them; otherwise as they say, what I have the best for me.
Happy hiking!