Belleville hot weather boots update

Update to

I did not get much chance to try these out before it got cold last fall. I started wearing them again around May, IIRC. I find them comfortable, and lightweight, and with at least some ankle support. I have been wearing them daily on my morning 2 mile walks with the dog, and on our hikes that have been typically 3 or 4 miles long, and as far as just under 7 miles. Most of the daily walks have been on hard surfaces, most of the hiking on dirt trails. I often wear them all weekend, and on a few occasions when I have had a sore ankle have worn them to work for the ankle support.

I got a blister on a hike once. Not sure how. Maybe a sock irritated my foot.

The soles show some wear, but not that much despite walking on a lot of gravel the last few months as they work on the road out front. I would estimate I have put about 400 miles on them this season. No sign of any failures at all. Some normal wear, but nothing unusual. It appears I may well get another season of use from them next year.

It has been down as low as the upper 20s lately, and they have been warm enough to walk in, so I am still using them. I expect to shift back to the ICW boots pretty soon though.

I wore them on a fairly short hike we took that was just about vertical it seemed, and the ankle support made a huge difference. They don't have as much ankle support as the ICW boots I wore much of last winter, but a lot more than low quarter shoes, and enough to make a big difference to me.

I have not had occasion to test the drain hole feature as I have not tried to ford any creeks. I probably would wear the ICW boots if I knew there was a creek to ford. Don't like wet feet.

I have walked through a fair amount of mud. They seem to collect mud on the tread more than the ICW boots do, but it is not hard to get it off. Mostly it eventually falls off as I walk down the trail. I did have a piece of gravel get stuck in the tread once, but it came out easily by hand.

All in all, I have to call them a good buy and a good choice for what I am using them for - light hiking and day to day footwear. They will probably get put away soon, as it is getting cool out.

ETA 11/15/11: Something I found was that wearing a thin pair of underliner socks under my regular socks made the books more comfortable on longer walks. Not sure why.