The weather has been nice enough the past few weekends to start taking my boots out on break in walks. My husband and I did about six miles together on the mostly flat loop of the nature path near our apartment two weekends ago, and last weekend we both did about five miles, including some elevation gain heading up towards Table Rock.

We stayed together for the first part of that walk, but as soon as we hit the dirt path leading up, I was off. He valiantly stayed behind me, within earshot, for a good three to five minutes, but I continued on without stopping and the sound of his breathing vanished behind me. My goal was to get to the turnaround point without stopping, and I made it, even though I had to pass a couple of people and dogs to do it.

The boots still feel good. They are solid and protected my feet from the roughness of the terrain on the trail section I hiked. They have excellent traction on slanted rock and I didn’t feel insecure going downhill on pebbly inclines. On the way up, I needed to retie my right boot, but I didn’t want to stop. I made do with it being a little loose, coming untied it turned out, because I wanted to make that goal. If it had started flopping I would have stopped, but it was just giving me a little bit of heel slide so I kept going.

These break in hikes are short, and so far without packs, but they excite me anyway. They signal that the start of the backpacking season is about to begin. The air might still have a snow bite to it, but summer is coming, and new adventures with it.

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