Cheaha Mountain
Alabama
November 2013
Hiking boots are an incredible invention. The amount of pounding and impact that you put on your feet while hiking is hard to fathom. What the heck, let’s try. The average hiker, whatever that is, puts about eight psi, or pounds per square inch of pressure on the boots with every step.
Two things. First, I hope to be above average, but let’s pretend.
Second, take a hike for a few miles and the pressure adds up. As I say, hiking boots are amazing; they allow us to take tens of thousands of eight-pounds-per-square-inch steps without discomfort.
Just for the fun of it, let’s look at what it would be like to hike in high heels, which is stupid. And let’s see what hiking would be like if you are an elephant, which, if you are reading this account, is unlikely. A stiletto heel (worn by the average human) generates 471 pounds per square inch. An elephant, with its wider foot, and with at least two feet on the ground at all times, generates about 35 psi. What does this tell us?
| human person | 8 psi |
| elephant | 35 psi |
| human person in stiletto heels | 471 psi |
This tells us that if you are hiking, try to be a human rather than an elephant and whatever you do, don’t wear stilettos.
I love my boots. I mean, not like I love my cat or my girlfriend. What I mean is that these boots are the perfect fit for me. How do you know when your boots are the right ones? It feels great to put ‘em on and it feels great to take ‘em off.
I don’t like hiking on hard surfaces, like a road or sidewalk. The wilderness footpath is so much more forgiving that there’s no comparison. I love my boots better on soft ground.
To hike to the summit of Cheaha, the tallest mountain in Alabama, we hike up the Lake Trail, steeply inclined but the usual dirt and rock footpath. This wilderness trail deposits us at a driveway that leads to the main road encircling the park. The only way to get to the summit from here is to walk the paved road, which is what we are doing.
Ten minutes in, at a break in the woods to our right, we see a wide swath giving an unobstructed view up a power line. There at the top of the hill is the summit! Big old radio antenna and a building with a red roof.
Suddenly we have options. Hike around all the way on the hard road, or just bushwhack up the power line, where we can tread on softer soil. We don’t have to walk this asphalt road after all. Not being elephants, this is a simple decision for us. Off the road we go, pushing our way through the weeds. Can’t be more than a quarter mile. The feet are happy. We are in love.