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Field Report:
This report should be read in conjunction with my
Initial Report which provides more specifics on the shoes themselves.
The Kamik Chase shoes have been my primary walking and
geocaching footwear for the test period. Specific bushwalks undertaken with
the shoes was an aborted weekend backpack in Wandoo National Park on August
19, 2006. This trip turned into a very wet all off-track day walk instead,
albeit with a weekend backpack load. My planned backpacking trip in
September had to be cancelled due to personal commitments. I replaced
the September backpack with a day walk in the hills of Perth which was
mainly off-track and about approximately 15 km (9 miles).
Additional usage of the shoes included my regular "John
Howard" [walk] around Lake Herdsman (up to 6 km (4 miles) each day) and regular
geocaching trips (at least two or three a week most weeks) of variable
length and conditions. All this was further supported with day to day
wearing of the shoes around the home, shopping etc.
In terms of weather, Western Australia has
experienced a very dry winter so most of my walking has been in dry
conditions with the exception of the aborted August backpack which was
pouring with rain from whoa to go.
Given this walking experience, how have I found the Kamik
Chase shoes? I have found them to surprising quite good shoes. They have proven to be quite
comfortable for me both with a load (backpack load of about 18 kg (40 lb)
and without. One thing I really like with these shoes and which make
them more comfortable for me is that they are made on a wide last, that is the shoe
is not tight on my feet. I don't have the specifics of the last size so
can't provide more details. I have not found my feet trying at the end of
the day (walk) with these shoes.
So the shoes have been comfortable. How about grip
and dealing with moisture etc? On the later, well they are not waterproof shoes
nor do they claim to have any features related to water-resistant or
waterproofness so my comments should be read within that context.
These shoes take up water quickly and easily from my experience. Just
walking through damp grass will have the shoes wet pretty quickly. On the
August walk in the Wandoo National Park my feet where wet within minutes of
starting out. Did this bother me? No. I find that with good socks this
aspect was not an issue and did not discourage me from wearing the Chase
shoes. All that said I actually found them pretty quick to dry.
Okay, so no water-resistance. How about grip? Not hot on
the grip department from my experience. I have found them poor on pea-gravel
surfaces and on surfaces covered in honky-nuts (gum nuts) and not that great
on granite rock. I had expected that given their relatively soft soles that
I would have an ability to get to get a good grip on loose surfaces and
rock. This has not been the case.
After two months of testing how are the Chase shoes
standing up? Pretty well indeed. I have had no durability issues with the
shoe overall or with the elastic gore tongue. The Kamik Chase shoes do
appear to be standing up quite well to the rigours of my walking and have
handled the off-track walking quite well, suffering no noticeable damage.
I look forward to continuing to test these shoes in the
next two months.
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