HikeArizona.COM

No I don't mean getting to the trailhead,
but rather how many miles are you all typically getting out of a pair of Trail Shoes.

I have a pair of Merrell Moab Ventilators that have been very kind to my feet this year, and fit like a glove, but the bottoms are starting to smooth out a bit after 300+ miles. Is this typical shoe wear that the rest of you have been seeing?

I’ve been primarily using Salomon X Ultra for a few years now. I can usually get 600-800 miles on rough terrain, then they get downgraded to easier hikes for another couple hundred miles or so, which usually means a good 800-1000 miles on a pair of them before they get retired. After that, I either toss them, or use them on the treadmill for a while.

I got the Tevas to try to even out some of the tan lines around my ankles, and ended up liking them a lot for shorter hikes, so I was really disappointed to get barely more than 250 miles.

LindaAnn wrote:to even out some of the tan lines around my ankles

respectable but that would ruin my survival plan to flag down rescue planes with my feet

@joebartels That is a good plan! But since I wear dresses and heels a lot of the time (when I’m not hiking), I prefer not looking like I’ve had a double foot transplant.

Looks like I'll be getting the more typical 500 outta the current pair. They probably wear out quicker in summer heat.

Love my Tevas, just don't trust them for hiking as in the past.

joebartels wrote:Love my Tevas, just don't trust them for hiking as in the past.

Same here... on the first part.
As for the second part... I've lost no trust, I just changed my hiking from ON-trail hikes to mostly OFF-trail.
So... when I got tired of spikes in the feet I switched to low-cut boots. And when they didn't provide enough protection from fox-tails and the like I now swap between mid and upper-ankle height boots.

Even when I DO plan to hike ON-trail I won't wear Teva's because it's inevitable (as Tracey well knows) all it takes is a shiny object (although not always shiny) and I'll stray off to check it out.
Now my Teva's are pretty much relegated to more mundane use, like chores in the yard or around the campsite when car-camping.

LindaAnn wrote:But since I wear dresses and heels a lot of the time (when I’m not hiking),

That's what Joe programs in. Not that there is anything wrong with that.

@The_Eagle Oh my Well, I guess I know who gets first dibs the next time I’m offloading some Calvin, Ralph, or Tommy from my closet.

@LindaAnn @The_Eagle
This is still the website for Hike Arizona, right? Sometimes I end up on some weird, hidden, corner of YouTube and have no idea how I got there. I guess this is like that but without the pimple popping. :-)

@LosDosSloFolks This is still HAZ, but we’re all weird here, and we’ve gotten off topic, because we have gnat sized attention spans. Someone with some level of maturity will steer this thread back in the correct direction. Or not.

@LindaAnn
My post was tongue in cheek, but now I'm concerned over the realization that I know who Calvin, Ralph. and Tommy are.

LosDosSloFolks wrote:I know who Calvin, Ralph. and Tommy are

I just wanna know what those 3 guys are doing in Linda's closet? But I digress.......

I haven't been around much, but I'm happy to see the depth of socially binding conversation hasn't changed.

@The_Eagle Oh, they’re just hanging around in there.

I’ve been in a Kors and Marc mood this summer, but I’ll cycle back around to the ol’ reliables. So many clothes and shoes, so little time...

There are 10 (20, individually) Salomons in the other closet, kind of crowded over there...

LindaAnn wrote: ↑Aug 08 2019 8:34 pm Someone with some level of maturity will steer this thread back in the correct direction. Or not.

I've been using Altra Lone Peaks for the past four years. I have to say that I'm not seeing the mileage with the 4.0s as I did with the 3.0s and 3.5s. My current pair has just over 400 miles and is shot. I didn't keep track of the mileage on my first pair of 4.0s but I was surprised at how soon they needed replacing. My last pair of 3.5s took me from Mt. Hood on the PCT to Canada (550+ miles) plus a couple hundred more back in AZ. I'll probably suffer through another 100 miles with the current pair before changing them out. I hope the next version is better.

The treads on my current pair of Salomon X Ultra Pioneer's were starting to look worn. (Almost smooth at parts of the heels.)


[ image ]

I found a new pair on sale - for less than what I paid last year!

I bought my current pair last year, in February. So about a year and a half of use, worn only when backpacking or on local training hikes. (Mountain View Park.)

HAZ says I've backpacked about 140 miles since Feb, 2023. Add in my training hikes since last fall, I have (updated) at least 200 miles on them. Perhaps almost 300.

That doesn't seem like good longevity. Although from the above posts, might be normal for AZ.

FWIW, I weigh about 162 lbs. My load is typically 33 lbs. Call it 200 lbs with my gun, snacks, cell phone, gaiters, etc.

@TooOld2Hike_EP
Your post says maybe 300 miles on them, but the picture says 200 miles on them? Either way, I’d say that tread has at least 100 miles of life left on them. It looks like you strike pretty hard on your heels when you walk, but most of your traction comes from the tread under the ball of your foot, and that still looks pretty decent.

@LindaAnn
Tnx. I wrote the caption in the photo first as a conservative estimate. Then I worked out the numbers afterward from training hikes since fall.

Whether I strike hard on my heel or whether it's a pressure thing (since the surface area of the heel is smaller than the surface area of the ball), I do not know. But it's probably correct that I'm striking on my heel more than when I walk without a backpack, since I don't have 30 lbs on my back shifting my CG toward my heels. (And I have read that I'm supposed to keep my "ears above my shoulders" when backpacking for good posture. (As opposed to leaning forward.)) I definitely walk "heel/toe." (And the Salomon's have a fairly thick rock plate. Which means that they don't flex much for rolling onto the ball of one's foot.)

As for another 100 miles: That would be fine with me. But I presume that, like car tires, one does not use shoes for backpacking when the tread is too low?

How much is too low? Already mine were starting to become a little "slick" when going downhill. (It will be interesting to see if I notice a difference during my next training hike.)

Not that it matters to me, but to put things in perspective, this means that I would need to replace my shoes at least once, perhaps twice, if I were doing the entire 800 miles of the AZT.

@TooOld2Hike_EP
I usually downgrade my shoes when they are no longer comfortable, or losing too much traction. For me, that’s at least 600 miles from a pair of Salomons, 400 miles from a pair of Saucony or Salewas. I might downgrade a pair of shoes to flatter hikes and get another 50-100 miles out of them, or another couple hundred miles on the treadmill. There’s really no rules, just replace the shoes for hiking when you feel like you need to. A lot of the time, you can use the old shoes for yardwork, easy training hikes, walks, etc.

600 miles is pretty good. I assume that your total weight is less than mine when you hike. (I'm assuming that the more one weighs, the faster the tread wears out.)

And/Or perhaps your gait is more tread-friendly than mine.

I still have my first pair of Salomons, from 2019. They are worn flat, treadwise. But worn in and very comfortable. (And still intact.)

I'm a long time Salomon user, generally get about 450-500 miles of hiking out of my shoes, then 6-12 months of dog walking on a mixture of pavement and dirt after that. Can then stretch their life for another 6 months or so as my yard shoes.

For me 500 miles is about 6 months of hiking in a normal year. I time my shoe purchases around REI's big sales. Biggest score was finding an ugly pair of Salomon's in a funky European color in their clearance section, then had a 20% coupon and the shoes cost me $87.