Tweener barefoot boot

[elkhunter505]

Hey everybody, I have fallen for the vivo tracker hype and have a pair on the way. For context, the vast majority of my hunting life I wore flexible boots like Danner pronghorns or even some Rocky military boots my brother bought at the thrift store. However, I started doing work in sheep country and fell for the stiff boot hype. Went through a lot of different boots till I settled on Kenetreks due to the durability of the outsole. NM rocks would shred crispis so fast despite me loving my briksdals. Now thinking back on it, I never really had foot issues until I started wearing stiffer boots. This year I did 15 miles on elk opener and really did not have any desire to put my boots on the next day.

Now I am going to work into transitioning back into very flexible boots. However, I am unsure if daily wear with my current job will get me to that point prior to fall season. If that is the case, what tweener boot would you barefooters recommend? I’ve been looking at Zamberlan Salathe Treks, Crispi Lapponia Lites, or even Inov8 Roclites. I did do some hunting in my hey dudes during antelope season which really was a good time so I’m excited to get back to lighter boots. Thanks for any recommendations!

 

[jpmulk]

Went through this last year. My story is the same. Wore flexible boots all my life. Switched to stiff Crispis and developed plantar fasciitis that took me a year to get through.

This year I wore the Lems summit boot for most of the season. Love them. Zero drop but have enough cushion to protect feet in nasty terrain. Highly recommend.

Still looking for a late season boot. I’m considering the insulated rocky SV2.

 

[JMundy84]

I'm in almost the same boat as you and was looking through similar boots. I ended up getting a pair of Merrell wrapt waterproofs and I'm really enjoying them. Had them for a few weeks now, haven't done any real hiking yet just wearing them back and forth to work and walking around the property but so far so good.

 

[SkeeterMcgiblet]

I'd vote Lems Boulders as a transition boot as well, I wore them for a few years as daily drivers while on job sites for construction management and they held up pretty well (but had shit for grip, looks like they addressed that with a new model.

Another angle to look at is weight training barefoot to strengthen your feet as you transition as well, start feeling and adapting to loads and movement without a cushiony shoe for an hour at a time instead of diving feet first into it all day

Also the vivo tracker forest's are the best boot I've owned for a barefoot style. With liner socks and wool socks I was comfortable in 0-20 degree weather for late season CO elk and muley.

 

[Speaks]

Few things worth doing.
1) Even when not wearing your barefoot boots ALWAY wear zero drop, need to stretch the calf muscles. Alta lone peak shoes being a good example.
2) Get a slant board and use it daily
3) I have a pair of the Inov8 roklites and they do fit an inbetween boot fairly well though I dont think they would hold up long to hard use (maybe thats ok in this case as a short term step on the way to ultralight boots) and are slippery on smooth wet surfaces. Likely a problem in mountains. I have heard some other inov8s are much better in terms of traction

 

[jpmulk]

I'd vote Lems Boulders as a transition boot as well, I wore them for a few years as daily drivers while on job sites for construction management and they held up pretty well (but had shit for grip, looks like they addressed that with a new model.

Another angle to look at is weight training barefoot to strengthen your feet as you transition as well, start feeling and adapting to loads and movement without a cushiony shoe for an hour at a time instead of diving feet first into it all day

Also the vivo tracker forest's are the best boot I've owned for a barefoot style. With liner socks and wool socks I was comfortable in 0-20 degree weather for late season CO elk and muley.

Ya the summit boot grip is great.

 

[sndmn11]

Inov8 Roclites.

I wear my V2 345s quite a bit, and haven't seen the durability issues of the v1. I also have a few pairs of Vivos ,but the 345s are a good in between because they aren't exactly full minimalist and have just a few mm of drop.

 

[Formidilosus]

3) I have a pair of the Inov8 roklites and they do fit an inbetween boot fairly well though I dont think they would hold up long to hard use (maybe thats ok in this case as a short term step on the way to ultralight boots) and are slippery on smooth wet surfaces. Likely a problem in mountains. I have heard some other inov8s are much better in terms of traction

Roclites do not maintain waterproofness for long, but are excellent more minimal style of shoe, have the best grip in the mountains and broken terrain of any boot/shoe, and last around 180 days of use +/- depending on the person before getting wear that most people would replace them.

 

[Speaks]

Roclites do not maintain waterproofness for long, but are excellent more minimal style of shoe, have the best grip in the mountains and broken terrain of any boot/shoe, and last around 180 days of use +/- depending on the person before getting wear that most people would replace them.

Interesting, my experience with them is largely in MN and WI and they seemed much less sticky than my vivo trackers and tracker forests esc. I was extrapolating performance on wet or semi icy rocks and logging slash here to performance in the mountains, but if you have actually used them in the mountains I have no reason to doubt your experience.

I might have to take mine down to the river bluffs this weekend and do a little more testing, I had kind of written them off for serious use based on traction concerns, that may have been misguided.

 

[The Ri Guy]

Thanks for any recommendations!

When I went through this process I simply got a pair of Vivo's that I could use for most of my day-to-day walking around. That and squats on a slant board as previously mentioned should get you sufficiently strengthened by summer to start doing weighted training hikes in Vivo's, if that's your thing.

Going from Lowa > Schnee > Vivo I didn't really have to do anything in particular besides walk a lot to get acclimated. Running will absolutely destroy you though.

I still, several years later, use Altra's for running on pavement.