Hiking boot phobia?

[OpenD]

Originally Posted by sinking

My husky is not happy after a little less than a mile in the heat. I won't be taking her on anything significant until it cools down to low 80s or less.

So, no walkies until November, then?

[sinking]

Originally Posted by OpenD

So, no walkies until November, then?

She gets walked twice a day. Early in the morning before work and around sunset or later and walks are kept to a manageable distance for her. Last night when it dropped down to about 75° we went about 3 times the distance as usual and she was doing great. It was a big difference from 90°.

But, yeah. Probably nothing significant like hiking until November. Hell, I don't handle the heat any better than her so I'm not interested in being out there before it cools down. We both are excited for winter.

[austinnerd]

Isn't it the case though that a great many of the folks in flip-flops are destined to hang out on/in the river and so they dressed for the destination, not the journey? Personally I don't think not owning a pair of hiking boots in Austin is that big of a deal simply because the occasional hikes required to get to many of our favorite spots becomes fairly common place. Heck sometimes I see folks walking about in bare feet, seems like insanity to me but they seem to deal with it just fine.

And no, this isn't just a ROT related thing, this is pretty common. Back when I used to ride "the greenbelt" all the time you'd constantly come across folks in flip-flops lugging coolers looking quite unhappy until they either got to their water hole or back to their car.

As far as the doggies, there is walking, and then there is walking. When my kids or folks walk our dog, it's quite a bit of a different experience than when _I_ "walk" the dog. She definitely lasts for far longer with them than me. Just like humans through, there is a bit of an adjustment period WRT getting used to the heat. I'm one of those wacky "ignore but respect the heat" kind of folks and just do whatever whenever. I've noticed that several weeks ago when things really started to warm up that our pooch would definitely be affected by the heat, but now that we both have several weeks under our belts, she handles it much better.

[TabulaRasa]

Originally Posted by TexasHorseLady

Hmmm. I've worn sneakers or walking shoes, whatever worked best for my feet, for hiking at Pedernales Falls for, oh, going back 40 years now, I guess. Made it every single time, though perhaps at some point I shocked someone's delicate sensibilities by not having the "right" shoes or boots. Fortunately, I cared more about whether or not what I was wearing worked than what someone else thought about them. Had nothing to do with a "slacker mentality" and everything to do with just not caring about fashion more than utility.

The dog thing, now, one should definitely take into consideration the dog's ability to withstand the heat or not.

My BF wore athletic shoes the entire time he worked at Big Bend. Although an experienced hiker, he's never been a fan of hiking boots, but always preferred shoes similar to the ones he runs in.