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07-12-2007, 08:45 AM
by JEFFREY P. MAYOR; The News Tribune
In a report he wrote last week, Mount Rainier National Park volunteer George Coulbourn expressed concern that he was seeing lots of hikers clad in tennis shoes. Coulbourn works in the Carbon River backcountry.
In the tennis shoes-versus-trails debate, both sides lose, Coulbourn said.
“First, it’s risky for the hiker. Tennis shoes offer no support for the ankle and no protection for the sides of the foot and the ankle against stones and sharp objects. Most tennis shoes afford little traction on soft snow and even less on ice. This time of year, there is snow and ice on many trails, and rocks always are present.
“Also important is the fact that early season trails are often wet, sometimes with flowing water from snow melt. And, trails are always potentially muddy. So a hiker wearing tennis shoes will inevitably commit the sin of hiking outside the trail, usually right on the margin where the most damage can be done.
“If you’re going to put forth the effort to go hiking, do the right thing both for yourself and the environment: Wear a good pair of boots, and use hiking poles. You’ll have more fun, and you’ll look like you know what you’re doing.”
source: http://www.thenewstribune.com/soundlife/story/108330.html
In a report he wrote last week, Mount Rainier National Park volunteer George Coulbourn expressed concern that he was seeing lots of hikers clad in tennis shoes. Coulbourn works in the Carbon River backcountry.
In the tennis shoes-versus-trails debate, both sides lose, Coulbourn said.
“First, it’s risky for the hiker. Tennis shoes offer no support for the ankle and no protection for the sides of the foot and the ankle against stones and sharp objects. Most tennis shoes afford little traction on soft snow and even less on ice. This time of year, there is snow and ice on many trails, and rocks always are present.
“Also important is the fact that early season trails are often wet, sometimes with flowing water from snow melt. And, trails are always potentially muddy. So a hiker wearing tennis shoes will inevitably commit the sin of hiking outside the trail, usually right on the margin where the most damage can be done.
“If you’re going to put forth the effort to go hiking, do the right thing both for yourself and the environment: Wear a good pair of boots, and use hiking poles. You’ll have more fun, and you’ll look like you know what you’re doing.”
source: http://www.thenewstribune.com/soundlife/story/108330.html