04.16.10 New Hiking Shoes

Juan and I are head to Utah for vacation in a couple of weeks to spend 6 days hiking the Moab and Arches National Parks.  Neither of us has good hiking shoes, so we headed to REI to download all the scoop on what we need.  I ended up with a pair of non-waterproof Merrell's ($110) and Juan ended up with a pair of waterproof Oboz's ($145).  We each got liners and wool socks.  We also got Juan a new backpack.  He wanted something larger and ended up with a full backpacking type with rigid supports and everything.  It is way more then we need for day hiking, but he is planning on carrying everything we need for both of us, including all water and my camera bag, so I wanted him to have which ever type he wanted.  If we get stranded, we'll be set!  Now watch, I'll end up so sore the second day I won't be able to hike anywhere.