My Favorite Boots
If you are a Geocacher or know anything about Geocaching, you will most likely have heard about the legendary Project A.P.E. caches.
From the A.P.E. Cache web page:
“For those that don’t know, Project A.P.E. was a promotional tie-in with 20th Century Fox, to publicize their remake of the movie Planet of the Apes back in 2001. A total of 14 caches were set up around the world, stocked with promotional items from the movie.”
My good friends, ATMouse and Hoppingcrow, who are both avid hikers, decided that we should meet in Washington State, and seek out the last remaining A.P.E. Cache in the US.
The reason its official name is “Mission 9: Tunnel of Light” is that there is a 2.5 mile long tunnel that one must walk through to get to the other side where the cache is hidden. This translates into a minimum hike of 5 miles, plus the extra distance required on both ends to get to and from the parking lot and to and from the actual hiding spot.
As I said, my friends are avid hikers and have all the appropriate equipment including proper hiking boots. They are both used to lengthy hikes of many miles. Hoppingcrow lives near the entrance of Mt. Rainier National Park and is a volunteer ranger there. She routinely hikes the trails there and a hike of 7 to 10 miles is not unusual for her.
And my friend, ATMouse, picked her Geocaching name because she and her husband are Appalachian Trail thru-hikers. They walked the entire AT in 5 ½ months, from Georgia to Maine.
For me, a walk of 3 to 5 miles would be an epoch journey! My typical footwear is sneakers, and one pair of rough tread cross-trainers that Reebok said are suitable for long hikes on rough terrain. I showed them to my friends to see if they agreed that they’d be OK for our 7 – 10 mile long hike through the tunnel and back, and they just laughed.
I got a lesson on hiking shoes and how to buy the right pair, including how to use the incline ramp at Kittery Trading Post to see if you’re feet are going to stay put in your shoes on the way down, or if you are going to end up cramming your toes into the toe of your boots on the way down.
I went to two or there different hiking shoe places, but couldn’t find anything that I thought was comfortable and that they would approve of. The last thing I needed to be doing on our trip is nursing blisters from poorly fitted shoes! Then, I went to a Kittery Trading Post and found the boots in my photo.
I put them on in the store and was thrilled that they fit perfectly. I tried them on the incline ramp, up and down and they still felt fine. So I bought them, and brought them home, and spent a little time every day, prior to our trip, walking around in the house in them to make sure I would be used to them.
The trip was a success. We all had a blast, even though it seemed like it took forever to walk through that tunnel. The proverbial “light at the end of the tunnel” stayed a tiny pinprick of light for what seemed like an eternity.
But approximately 10 hiking miles later, we were back in the parking lot, celebrating our find with a group of other Washington State Geocachers who came out to hike the tunnel with us!
I have worn these boots many times since, and every time I pull them out of my closet, the wonderful memories of our tunnel adventure come back to me!
For this reason alone, these boots are, without a doubt, my favorite boots!
ANSH134: 17. Boots
~ wildcard ~
My Favorite Boots
If you are a Geocacher or know anything about Geocaching, you will most likely have heard about the legendary Project A.P.E. caches.
From the A.P.E. Cache web page:
“For those that don’t know, Project A.P.E. was a promotional tie-in with 20th Century Fox, to publicize their remake of the movie Planet of the Apes back in 2001. A total of 14 caches were set up around the world, stocked with promotional items from the movie.”
My good friends, ATMouse and Hoppingcrow, who are both avid hikers, decided that we should meet in Washington State, and seek out the last remaining A.P.E. Cache in the US.
The reason its official name is “Mission 9: Tunnel of Light” is that there is a 2.5 mile long tunnel that one must walk through to get to the other side where the cache is hidden. This translates into a minimum hike of 5 miles, plus the extra distance required on both ends to get to and from the parking lot and to and from the actual hiding spot.
As I said, my friends are avid hikers and have all the appropriate equipment including proper hiking boots. They are both used to lengthy hikes of many miles. Hoppingcrow lives near the entrance of Mt. Rainier National Park and is a volunteer ranger there. She routinely hikes the trails there and a hike of 7 to 10 miles is not unusual for her.
And my friend, ATMouse, picked her Geocaching name because she and her husband are Appalachian Trail thru-hikers. They walked the entire AT in 5 ½ months, from Georgia to Maine.
For me, a walk of 3 to 5 miles would be an epoch journey! My typical footwear is sneakers, and one pair of rough tread cross-trainers that Reebok said are suitable for long hikes on rough terrain. I showed them to my friends to see if they agreed that they’d be OK for our 7 – 10 mile long hike through the tunnel and back, and they just laughed.
I got a lesson on hiking shoes and how to buy the right pair, including how to use the incline ramp at Kittery Trading Post to see if you’re feet are going to stay put in your shoes on the way down, or if you are going to end up cramming your toes into the toe of your boots on the way down.
I went to two or there different hiking shoe places, but couldn’t find anything that I thought was comfortable and that they would approve of. The last thing I needed to be doing on our trip is nursing blisters from poorly fitted shoes! Then, I went to a Kittery Trading Post and found the boots in my photo.
I put them on in the store and was thrilled that they fit perfectly. I tried them on the incline ramp, up and down and they still felt fine. So I bought them, and brought them home, and spent a little time every day, prior to our trip, walking around in the house in them to make sure I would be used to them.
The trip was a success. We all had a blast, even though it seemed like it took forever to walk through that tunnel. The proverbial “light at the end of the tunnel” stayed a tiny pinprick of light for what seemed like an eternity.
But approximately 10 hiking miles later, we were back in the parking lot, celebrating our find with a group of other Washington State Geocachers who came out to hike the tunnel with us!
I have worn these boots many times since, and every time I pull them out of my closet, the wonderful memories of our tunnel adventure come back to me!
For this reason alone, these boots are, without a doubt, my favorite boots!
ANSH134: 17. Boots
~ wildcard ~