Reviews > Footwear > Boots > Dunham Waffle Stomper Terrastryder-Mid > Thomas Vickers > Long Term Report

Men's Waffle Stomper Terrastryder-Mid Fast Packing Trail Boot - Long Term Report

September 6, 2005

Thomas Vickers
37 years old
Male
5 ft 11 in tall (1.8 m)
175 lb  (79 kg)
redroach@pobox.com
Southeast Texas, Houston Area

Tester Background:
I grew up in the piney woods of southeast Texas. Camping was a quick trip into the mosquito-infested woods behind the house. My style has evolved and over the last 4 or 5 years, I have begun to take a lighter weight approach to hiking gear (I still use sleeping bags and tents, just lighter versions). While I have flirted with lightweight hiking, I feel that I am more of a mid-weight hiker now. My philosophy is one of comfort, while carrying the lightest load possible

Manufacturer Information:
Manufacturer: Dunham Bootmakers
Website: http://www.dunhambootmakers.com/
Weight:  NA
Sizes available: Men's 8-15
Widths available: B-4E
MSRP: NA
Other product attributes:

Information from Tester:
Left shoe weight: 20.50 oz (581 g)
Right shoe weight: 19.90 oz (564 g)
Total weight: 2 lb 8.40 oz (1.15 kg)
Size: Men's 11.5
Width: D (medium)
Normal shoe size of tester: 10.5

Testing Location:
·         Southeast Texas
·         California

Testing Activities:
·        Training Hikes
·        Day Hiking
·        Weekend Hiking/Camping Trips
·        Work
·        Extended Hiking Trip (6 days)

Testing Conditions:
So far these boots have seen everything from standing water and muddy to dry and dusty.

Testing Locations:
California, Inyo National Forest.
Altitudes from 9,600 feet to 10,600 feet (3,000 m to 3,200 m). Nighttime temperatures from 26 F to 35 F (-3 C to 2 C).

South East Texas.
Altitudes from sea level to approximately 250 feet (76 m).  Nighttime temperatures from 76 F to 84 F (24 C to 30 C). 

Stomping the Waffles Part 2:
I can realistically say that I have just about done everything possible in these boots.   Just when I thought I couldn't do anything I hadn't done with them before, my trip to California came along.  I spent a week in the Sierras taking these boots to task and I have a lot to report.  The terrain of this trip was more varied than I had anticipated. I spent time on hard packed trail, mud, snow, rocks, and sand.  I even got a chance to wear them in fairly cold temperatures, which is much different from the Texas heat that I wore them in most of the time.

So, where to start? I think snow and wet are the best place to kick off this report.   In my earlier report I noted that the Terrastryder-Mids were able to keep my feet dry despite standing in water.  During my trip to California, this was no longer the case, but I think I have a theory on why. I spent a hard day scrambling over rocks and boulders that led to a lot of smashing on this boot.  The boots were smashed, rubbed, and generally abraded in this little endeavor, not to mention the abuse my feet took.   The soft sides of the Terrastryder-Mids allowed my feet to take much more abuse than I am used to and it appears that this abuse was not just rough on my feet, but also on the boots.  The next day was spent in snow and for the first time my feet got wet.   I was either walking in snow or punching my feet through the snow (and hitting rocks) almost all day.  At the end of the day my feet, socks, and the boots were all soaked.  This didn't seem like much of an issue because I figured that the snow had gotten in the boots since I hadn't worn gaiters of any sort.  The good news was that despite boots being soaked, they dried over night and were ready to wear the next morning.  

Much to my surprise my toes got wet when I stepped into a stream the next day after my snow adventures.  This was a move that I have done literally hundreds of times in these boots. I step toe first into the water, hold my heel up and tiptoe toe on through. Its a habit I have to keep from exposing too much of any footwear to the water.  The only difference this time was that I quickly noticed that my socks were damp in the toe box of the Terrastryder-Mids.  Okay, I was wondering about this and the way my feet got soaked the day before when I was forced to step flat footed into some water and had to stop for a moment or two.  By the time I could move out of the water, both of my feet were feeling very wet on the inside of the boots.  This had me confused. The Terrastryder-Mids had kept my feet dry through plenty of soakings worse than I had just been subjected to.  Over the course of my trip in California I kept my feet out of the snow and water as much as I could. It was impossible to avoid it all together, and when I couldn't, my socks got wet. 

As for the rest of the trip, I really liked these boots.  They were comfortable after a day of climbing from 9,600 feet (3,000 m) to 10,600 feet (3,200 m) while carrying a 30-pound (14 kg) pack.  The Terrastryder-Mids supported my feet and were easy to get on and off during the entire trip. I have worn much less comfortable boots in my days and at this point the Terrastryder-Mids still rank as one of the most comfortable pairs I have worn.  The wetting of my feet was a major concern to me, but once I got back home and did some testing, I came up with a theory that might explain it. 

Back Home to Texas:
After getting home from my California trip I still had plenty of day-hiking and geocaching to do and the Terrastryder-Mids were the footwear of choice.  Several times I had to travel through water and my feet again got wet.  This was really starting to bother me since I had tested for this feature earlier and found it worked very well.  

I finally sat down and started doing a very close inspection of the boots themselves.   Despite the harsh conditions in California, the soles had held up very well.   In fact, the soles on the Terrastryder-Mids held up much better than the boots I wore on the exact same trip three years earlier.  The rock and boulder hopping had not done any extraordinary damage to them at all.  This was a great sign.  What I did discover is that the material of the boot near a couple of seams in the toe box seemed a bit frayed.  Both boots showed wear in this area.

The picture shows the area I am talking about on the Terrastryder-Mids (yellow lines point to frayed areas).   The wear/fraying doesn't seem that bad, but it does seem to be in the area where my feet get wet first, toward the toes.  I have also made it a point to stand in water on my toes, covering this seam, and as expected, my toes got wet. I do want to point out that my testing and conclusions are not that scientific, but I think this is the reason for the leaks.  I also feel that the amount of abuse that I put the Terrastryder-Mids through on the rocks and boulders may have been a bit more than they can handle.   They are describing as fast packing boots and I feel that they are great for staying on the beaten path.  I also think that they will hold up well in most other questionable situations, but when it comes to scraping them repeatedly against large rocks and boulders something has to give and it is probably going to be the boots. 

I would also like to have gotten a chance to try them on snow before I had hit the boulders that I think did the damage. If they had been as water resistant/proof as when I started this test, the snow would not have been an issue at all. 

Final Thoughts:
I liked the Terrastryder-Mids a whole lot. They were great boots for the hot and often wet conditions that I used them in here in Texas.  They held up very well to a great many conditions, fit well, and were comfortable to wear.  I wore these boots daily for a while and they never developed a lasting, nasty odor of any kind. This speaks volumes considering that I am nearly legendary for the odor that my feet can put out.  I am also really happy that the soles held up so well over the testing period. I wore them on every kind of surface imaginable and I am tickled to report they still look good.  I know good looking soles don't make a boot, but for me this means that they have stood up to a lot of abuse and have a lot more abuse left in them.  The fact that the boots dried quickly in one night after they were soaked is also another good point for them.  Despite the fact that they did leak after awhile is not something that I feel is a flaw in the boot.  I really feel that I put them to a bit more abuse than they were designed for.  In the end, I still have a boot that I am going to enjoy for a long time.  I may not be standing around in streams much, but then again I don't do that in any other pair of boots either. If someone were looking for a comfortable, light wieght boot to wear on the trail, I would have no problem recommending the Dunham Waffle Stomper Terrastryder-Mids.

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