John Muir

and his trail.

The first two weeks of September will be spent hiking from Yosemite Valley to Mt. Whitney.  These are the shoes that I am going to wear: Altra Lone Peaks.

I am kind of a sucker for "innovations" and the like in the footwear world. Deep down inside I do not believe that high performance shoes are better or will improve my performance. But on the surface I believe it. I like to think that the large toe box, a term I hear runners and other foot fetishists use, will keep my forefoot happy. There is also a strong plastic plate in the sole to protect my foot from rocks.

 
As you can see in the above photograph, the bottom of this fine shoe has what appears to be a human-like footprint to alert other human-likes (and nonhuman-likes alike) to my presence.

The shoe comes equipped with a velcro tab for lightweight running gaiters. The gaiters come in many colors such as tie-die, skull and cross bone, Wild Thang (leopard print), Ballsey (beach balls), Bowling for Dirt and Topo Map. Basically loud and ugly.

But in reality, $20 Walmart shoes work fine. I know this because a friend, Chuckie V, has hiked the Pacific Crest Trail twice on Walmart shoes. For what it's worth, and apparently it's worth a lot, the Altras are made in the US, without slave labor or anything approaching slave labor.

Other items I will need for my research include a lightweight tent like this one, and a camera. I may use a camera I already have but the only small digital camera I have is my phone. I am even considering using film.