As I’ve said before, I’m  fairly new to hiking, so I was looking for a good ‘all-around’ shoe. Since I’m not exactly sure what I like, and wanted a shoe that would be suited for most things. One of the best sources in my opinion that I’ve found for researching gear is Backpacker Magazine. Conveniently enough, the La Sportiva Exum Pro was rated best all-around shoe.

The Exum Pro is light & comfortable, which helps you stay on the trail longer. My previous boots were fairly heavy and caused my legs to get tired much quicker than the Exum Pro shoe. Since it is a meld between a running shoe and a climbing approach shoe, the traction is awesome. I was able to climb a short, steep incline of clay and gravel on mainly my toes, without feeling like I’d loose my footing at all. One draw back I noticed though is that since the treads aren’t very deep, traction can be affected when out in wet conditions, specifically in mud. I almost slipped and fell the other weekend, when it was wet out, I stepped on a rock after walking in the dirt, partially because my treads were full of mud, and partially because I was being clumsy.

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Saturday, October 3rd was the Ny-Nj Trail Conference’s 2nd Annual People for Trails Hike-a-Thon, which Liz & I participated in. It was at Bear Mountian State Park, NY, which is quite a nice park that we will be returning to in spring (unless we get a few nice days before winter). The weather left a bit to be desired, but after our week in Maine, we don’t let weather get us down, and had a good time. Liz & I didn’t arrive until 9:30, and the official start was at 7:30, so we found ourselves a bit lost. I felt things could have been organized a little better, but the rain may have caused issues for the organizers as well. It was not clear what we were supposed to do when we arrived, so we wandered over to what we hoped was the registration tent, and the people – although a bit flustered were friendly and helpful and got us registered and going quickly. When we made it back from the hike around 2pm, It seemed they were cleaning up and getting ready to leave. Maybe a more definite schedule would have been helpful.

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