What's in your sole?

I spent last fall becoming intimate with my new Kenetrek Mountain Boots.  These are some great hiking and hunting boots.  You can read all about them on their website.  As great as they are though they do require some break in time.  Kenetrek says you should expect to wear out about 50 miles of boot leather before you see a good break in.  I'm not sure if I've put that many miles on them yet, but there is definitely a difference since when I first started wearing them.  I'm on my second coat of boot wax as well, and that makes a remarkable difference in their comfort factor.

This post isn't about my review of the boots though, but about their insoles.  The out of the box standard insoles that come with the boot are less then impressive.  It's hard to believe how many miles I put on these boots with such flimsy silly soles in them.  As you can see there is no support whatsoever.  I'm hoping they put these in to give the consumer free choice in many of the aftermarket soles out there.

I've done a lot of investigating and research into which soles would be the best fit for my boots.  There is no "perfect" sole for everyone of course because everyone's feet are different.  Some of the finalists though were Lanthrop & Sons High Country Synergy Footbed; Sole Signature EV Ultra; and Superfeet Green.  There may of course be others, but in most of my research these are the ones that came up the most.  The later two are found at REI.  After a trip to the store and getting my hands on them, or should I say my feet on them, I decided to go with the Sole insole.  For my feet, this is what felt the most comfortable.

These insoles are pretty cool as they mold to your feet.  I spent last week wearing my boots to work and had them on all day long, every day.  I can without reservation say this is another tremendous improvement in the comfort level of these boots.  Below are a few pictures I took just taking some comparison shots of the difference between the stock insoles and the Sole insoles.  

It's easy to see why hands down it's worth paying for some aftermarket insoles.  You spend most if not all your time on your feet while your out hiking, hunting, or fishing.  Don't sell yourself short, or have to cut your trip time because of injured and uncomfortable feet. I've also learned another valuable lesson.  Get yourself a pair of boots a season before you will actually want to use them at their full potential, and spend that year breaking them in.  Don't make the mistake of waiting till your in the field to realize they don't fit right (heal slip, hot spots, arch incompatibility).  For those of us that don't get as much time in the field as we would like to, we certainly don't want to waste it fighting our gear.