Had to bail on the Superior Trail halfway through day 3

I was hiking the northern section near Lutsen and my right boot sole just peeled off completely, like a flip flop. I had spare cordage but no real repair kit, so I tried wrapping it for about 2 miles and it kept flapping. Finally I just used my pack straps to lash the sole back on and limped to the nearest road, then hitched into Grand Marais for a cheap pair of sneakers. That cut the trip short, but honestly it taught me to check boot glue before every multi-day route now. Has anyone else had a shoe fail mid-hike and how did you handle the rest of your planned miles?

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harper_murphy1d ago

Aw man, that sucks about the boots. But I gotta say, checking boot glue before a trip is not really the fix here. The sole peeling off like that is usually a sign the boots are just old or the midsole foam has broken down, and no amount of pre-trip glue inspection will catch that. What you want to do is look at the midsole for cracks or crumbling, and also check the tread wear. If a boot is more than a few years old and has a lot of miles on it, the glue bond is not the main thing to worry about. I have had a sole start to separate on a long trip and what saved me was a small tube of shoe goo plus a few zip ties. Wrap the whole boot with the ties to hold the sole down and it works way better than cord or pack straps. Sorry the trip got cut short, that hike into Grand Marais must have been rough.

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