Origins
By the end of a long day on the trail, my feet are worked: clammy, bruised, and in all likelihood blistered. My socks are downright grody. My shoes morph into objects of loathing. They don't smell too great, either.
In this condition, I set up camp. I cook dinner. All the while, my feet are stewing, nearly screaming at me. I might as well be standing on a bed of hot coals and thumbtacks.
There's a lot to love about backpacking, but the abuse inflicted on one's feet does not make the list.
So, at the end of 2019, when I was gearing up to hike the Appalachian Trail, I started thinking about how to reduce some of that suffering.
Having adventured outdoors for a quarter century, I knew that traveling light was a priority. But traveling stupid-light had less appeal, because it often meant suffering more. I wanted, simply, to maximize my comfort while minimizing the weight on my back.
“After a long journey, nothing beats camp shoes.”
-Odysseus
I cooked up a couple of working models of absurdly lightweight camp shoes, and then Covid forced me to lay aside the backpack I’d so carefully kitted out. This was probably for the best, since, I’ll admit, my prototypes were on the crude side.
In the time since, I’ve become familiar with the intricacies of buckles and cords and very small knots, and figured out how to make my camp shoes lighter, more adjustable, more durable, and better looking. I’ve tested them on local adventures, and refined their design further.
The result is nothing less than game-changer for ultralight backpackers: what was once so weighty that it was writen off as a luxury item is now so lightweight that it’s an essential item.
So while I’m bummed that I didn’t spend 2020 on the trail, I’m grateful that 2021 presented a window (on a different trail), and I am proud to be making the finest camp shoes for ultralight backpackers out there. And I’m psyched that, someday, when I start walking north from Springer Mountain, my feet won’t be in for a world of suffering.
Hope to see you out there,
-Jonny Waldman
