I’m not the biggest fan of fireworks. There are various reasons for this, but the primary one is the simple fact that my dog, Katla, is terrified of them, and I hate to see her shake with that explosive-induced fear.
As such, every Fourth of July I escape the city with Katla in tow and head for the hills, far from the madding, mortar shooting crowds, to a place where, with a bit of hiking, scrambling and river-crossing, Katla and I can enjoy the nation’s birthday in peace and tranquility. It’s a tradition I started several years ago and one I look forward to each summer.
The trickiest part of a backpacking/fishing trip is deciding what to bring. Hiking a few miles into the backcountry for a night or two typically precludes the complete array of gear one might normally bring to the river for an afternoon or day of fishing. In place of the vest or hip-pack, I bring a single fly box, a pair of hemos, some floatant and a few spools of tippet. I leave the rod tube behind and, if I’m really trimming ounces, sometimes even the reel cover. Waders, of course, are out of the question, but in summer are unnecessary anyway.
Which brings us to footwear. Wading boots are great for wading, but let’s face facts: they don’t make for great hiking boots. They’re heavy even when dry, typically require at least some neoprene socks to fit properly, and can feel a bit clunky when you’re following a single track through the woods. I’ve attempted to remedy this in the past by strapping them to my pack and doing my hiking in something more appropriate, but this entails added weight that, if a bit of a nuisance when dry, is diabolical when wet.
For this summer’s iteration of me and Katla’s July escape, I had the chance to switch things up a bit. The folks at Astral footwear asked if I’d like to give a pair of their multi-sport shoes a try, and I figured summer wet-wading would be the perfect testing lab. Astral’s Pusha boot arrived in the mail, and Katla and I set off for the trailhead.
Astral markets the shoe as an “expedition-grade amphibious boot,” which is apt. From what I can tell, it’s geared toward river kayakers and the like, though elsewhere I’ve seen bicyclists and hikers listed as potential users. As a hiking boot, it did the trick. I weighed mine on my kitchen scale, and the pair came in under 2 pounds dry, as opposed to nearly 3 pounds for various wading boots I’ve acquired over the past few years.
The real revelation came once we got to the river. The rubber was surprisingly sticky in the water, which made sense. They’re made for portages and river entries and exits. The boots were comfortable all day long, lightweight even when wet, with a durable and secure feeling canvas upper.
I don’t think I’d ever wear them with waders (and in any case, I got a true size to wear with comfortable socks), and for a summer day tromping around my local freestone, I’d turn to neoprene socks and wading boots. The Pushas can’t beat them for instream stability and ankle support.
But the Pushas have some advantages, not only on the trail but in a few other cases. They’re great for fishing from a SUP (which I tried), or a canoe or kayak, when wading boots are too clunky and sandals or flips don’t quite cut it. And for the trips that require a bit more hiking, they’ll be at the top of my list. For the hike out on July 5th, I wore them for the brushier part of the trip before switching out to sandals once we hit the two track. By the time I’d made the switch, the Pushas had dried considerably and were a barely noticeable addition to the weight of my pack.
At the end of the day, Astral’s Pusha amphibious boot won’t replace your traditional wading boots. But if you like getting off the beaten path or need footwear that’s equally comfortable inside the canoe as out, the Pusha seems to me like a good bet. I’m pretty sure Katla and I have another trip or two into the woods ahead of us this fall, and I’ll be lacing up the Pushas to get me where I need to go.