A Commonly Overlooked Way to Reduce Your Pack Weight
Reducing pack weight starts with minimizing gear and replacing heavier gear with lighter materials. Ultralight backpackers know all the different methods to reduce excess weight to achieve a lighter pack. But backpackers often narrow their focus to reducing only carrying weight, and what you carry on your torso is not the only thing that matters.
The weight of your feet, particularly your shoes, significantly impacts your energy expenditure and sense of load. The U.S. Army has research to support this fact:
The weight on the feet is disproportionately more exhausting than the weight carried on the torso.[1]
The rule of thumb is that one pound on your feet equals five pounds on your back.
The extra energy requirements of heavy footwear may stem from the stiffer construction of boots versus a lighter and more flexible shoe. While no scientific research supports the exact 1 to 5 ratio, various studies have reached similar conclusions.[2]
No doubt, slogging down the trail in heavy shoes, such as hiking boots or shoes caked in mud, will undoubtedly drag you down.
So an easy way to reduce pack weight is to wear lighter shoes. Presumably, that lighter load also means fewer calories burned, which also saves on food costs—double win.
Trail running shoes are a common choice for lightweight backpacking.
Pitching the Hiking Boots
The main argument for wearing traditional backpacking boots, even though they are heavier, is that they offer better ankle support in rough terrain. While your ankles may be better supported, the stiff and thick sole keeps the foot rigid and less able to flex. This can interfere with the natural biomechanics of walking – a significant drawback to boots. You are more likely to fall when you walk over a slippery rock if you can’t feel your feet grip through the sole. Still not convinced? Take a look at this article for more information on changing out your footwear.
S. J. LEGG Army Personnel Research Establishment, Farnborough, Hants, England &A. MAHANTY Pages 433-438 | Received 15 Feb 1985, Accepted 21 May 1985, Published online: 07 Jun 2007 “Energy cost of backpacking in heavy boots.” Tandfonline.com. Retrieved 30 January 2019, from https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00140138608968276
Johansson, J. (2018). Weight on your feet. Fjaderlatt.se. Retrieved 30 January 2019, from http://www.fjaderlatt.se/2009/11/weight-on-your-feet.html
Garden, H., Activities, O., & Camping, H. (2012). Does one pound off your feet really equal five pounds off your back?. HowStuffWorks. Retrieved 30 January 2019, from https://adventure.howstuffworks.com/outdoor-activities/hiking/one-pound-off-feet-five-pounds-off-back.htm
Jones, Bruce H.; Toner, Michael M.; Daniels, William L. and Knapik, Joseph J. “The energy cost and heart-rate response of trained and untrained subjects walking and running in shoes and boots (abstract).” US Army Research Institute of Environmental Medicine via Defense Technical Information Center. 1983. (July 6, 2012) http://oai.dtic.mil/oai/oai?verb=getRecord&metadataPrefix=html&identifier=ADA131420
“Ultralight Makeover – Give Your Feet A Break – The Best Backpacking Shoes And Boots — Backpacking North.” 2019. Backpacking North. Accessed January 30, 2019. https://www.backpackingnorth.com/ultralight-makeover-give-your-feet-a-break.
My hiking boots are lightweight, waterproof, and high enough that they don’t get filled with grass seeds with every strep of nature. Articles like this are more like “buy our stuff instead”. Done many backpacking trips in my boots and perfectly happy with them. To each their own, now actually decreasing my lack weight, because too much weight hurts my jacked up shoulders, that’s a whole different topic.
I think it’s important to keep in mind the kind of hiking a person engages in. Trail shoes are great for most hiking applications, but, I would find it very dangerous to be hiking in mere trail shoes if I had a day of granite slab and rock scrambling, as can often occur in places like Desolation Wilderness. But I love trail shoes for general applications.
View Comments
My hiking boots are lightweight, waterproof, and high enough that they don’t get filled with grass seeds with every strep of nature. Articles like this are more like “buy our stuff instead”. Done many backpacking trips in my boots and perfectly happy with them. To each their own, now actually decreasing my lack weight, because too much weight hurts my jacked up shoulders, that’s a whole different topic.
I think it’s important to keep in mind the kind of hiking a person engages in. Trail shoes are great for most hiking applications, but, I would find it very dangerous to be hiking in mere trail shoes if I had a day of granite slab and rock scrambling, as can often occur in places like Desolation Wilderness. But I love trail shoes for general applications.