I went through a lot of my best hiking gear in New Zealand. My expensive Patagonia jacket stopped trying to keep the rain out. (Patagonia supposedly has an iron-clad guarantee, but I carted it around for months and when I finally took it in they were no help at all. I ended up giving it away.) My best pair of hiking pants died from overuse. And, most sad of all, my hiking boots ripped and split (on the same wet hike that I realized my jacket was good for nothing.)
Luckily, New Zealand has some great outdoors stores. Equally if not more luckily, there were major xmas sales going on. I got a new jacket and new boots for hundreds of dollars less than they were marked.
Nonetheless, it was sad to say goodbye to my boots. I’d had them since 2009, and had hiked Korea, Nepal, Oregon, Thailand, and Cambodia with them. I did a lot of urban exploring in them too; altogether, they carried me more than 1400 miles. Nonetheless, I changed into the new boots there in the store and then gave them a burial at sea.
Fare thee well, broken boots!
Currently in India It's hot and crazy and crazy hot!
I’ve been there – throwing away a pair of loyal, hard working and hard worn boots can feel a bit wrong. I guess it has to be done though and there is always the fun of having new hiking kit. Best wishes.
It did feel wrong, like a betrayal of some sort. My new ones are pretty broken in now though so I guess I have to start looking to the future.