Footwear is an individual choice and the bottom line is to buy the footwear that fits. At a couple hundred a pair boots can be an expensive experiment.

The full grain leather boots have probably convinced you never to own full grain leather boots again. That's probably a good choice as they not only need to be broken in, but if they aren't worn for awhile, they become stiff and need to be broken in again.

What has been off people's radar is the progress in military boots. Soldiers have more flexibility in buying non-issue combat boots than they used to. Companies are rushing to get their boots approved for use. The combat boot of today is only a cousin to old boots in the sense they are both worn on the feet.

I took a chance three years ago and bought these boots from Danner. Over 2,800 measured miles later I'm still wearing them. I do keep the soles covered with Gorilla tape so the soles don't wear out.

They are comfortable right out of the box. They are completely waterproof. Cool in the summer and warm in the winter.

People will say a pound on the foot equals six pounds on the back. The experiment that "proved" this nonsense was done with six volunteer college students wearing five pound boots and carrying 80 pound packs on a treadmill set at a 15 degree climb.

Jardine calculated the energy cost of lifting excess weight over thousands of feet while failing to calculate the more significant cost of maintaining balance on a relatively unstable platform the shoe gives relative to a boot.

If you elect to try the Danner boots, I recommend thick socks. Order a half size longer and a size wider than the size measured with the old fashioned ruler thing. They should have plenty of room to wiggle your toes in all directions and about a half to 3/4 inch of room in front of your toes.

PS: Mine is a minority opinion.