Boot Buying, Desert Style

My trusty low-top hiking boots gave up on a gravely patch of South Mountain downhill: soles peeling, ankle support a distant memory and comfort long gone. So, time for one of only two types of shopping I enjoy – outdoor gear and geek toys.

But buying boots for roaming Arizona smacked me with a simple reality: the rest of the country loves, and likely needs, boots lined with waterproof Gortex.

In the Arizona desert, though, Gortex just adds another heat-trapping layer. While Gortex is considered a breathable fabric, anything keeping a hiker’s feet from fresh air when temperatures nudge triple digits is, well, unwelcome.

And does anyone really need a pair of waterproof boots in a state where just a cloud sighting, much less actual rain, gets TV news attention?

Complicating things is Arizona’s geography. Hikes above the Mogollon Rim – the edge of the Colorado Plateau – bring cooler temperatures, the potential for soaking summer rains and snow during the winter. So, Gortex lined boots sound pretty good.

But most folks live below the rim, in the Sonoran Desert cities of Phoenix and Tucson. I’m one of those, and I do plenty of hikes in the high-heat Superstition Mountains.

With boot prices ranging from $120 to $200 and more, the whole thing deserved careful consideration.
The choice seems natural. Find a solid pair of boots, sans Gortex. The trouble is that boot makers design for the majority, which means Gortex and limited unlined options. Throw in personal quirks such as wide, flat or otherwise personalized feet, buying unlined boots becomes harder.

So, my search began with a quick trip to REI. While I’d worn low-cut boots for some time, I was tired of pebbles sneaking over the ankles and into the boot. While salespeople swear ankle support depends more on the rigidity of a boot’s foot bed rather than the height of the boot, I wanted a “real” hiking boot topping out over the ankle.

I turned up a few options. REI offers an unlined, house brand boot. With the Monarch IV, the price is right: $89. These boots, which come in a Gortex version, can swallow a foot, so the narrow footed might have trouble. The construction seemed ok, but the sales person considered these entry-level boots, not a multi-year, break-‘em-in-and-love-‘em investment.

Merrell makes the Ventilator, which comes in both high-cut and low-rise models. Mostly made of mesh material, these hit high on the breathability meter, but I questioned if they could survive the scraping and rock-rubbing common on so many of the state’s trails. For casual desert walkers, a pair of Ventilators offers a good solution, and the price isn’t bad: about $90.

A quick perusal online brought a few more options. Army surplus stores sell the same boots the troops wear in the big sandbox, but they seem a bit overkill for casual hiking. Companies such as Limmer Boot make custom all-leather boots, which are long-term investments.

But, I just needed a pair of unlined hiking boots.

I finally paid a visit to the Arizona Hiking Shack in Phoenix. Nice people and a gear nut’s fantasy. They recommended the Vasque Breeze, which they keep in stock. Lots of mesh. but. unlike the Ventilators, the Breeze retains a bootish stiffness and enough protective material to blunt sharp rocks. The price was about $120.

I was sold, and I’m happy. It’s a specialty boot and definitely not for hiking in the wet. So, next winter I’m going to pop for a pair of lined boots for wear in the high country. As it turns out, Arizona is a two-pair-of-boots kinda state.