Guest Post: Stocking Up on Shoes and Boots for Survival

The Most Important Survival Item – by Crazy Joe
The big three survivalist items are food, water, gold / silver coins and guns. Which do you think is the most important of these three? Would you pick something other than these? For the social chaos or after the nukes fall survivalists these are most important. For your average natural disaster or end times survivalist they are list toppers also.

A survivalist owns these three plus “ALL” the goodies you see on the internet survival sites such as this one. This survivalist also owns two Schutzhund trained Level III German Shepherds. His home is his bunker.

He lives beyond the Boy Scout motto of “Be Prepared” since it is better to have it and not need it than to need it and not have it. One day the TV and radio announces the warning he has prepared for. His semi rural home site is at least 38 miles from any suburban or urban area. He is prepared.

After 5 days hunkering down and surviving there comes a knock on his door. A neighbor who did not prepare as he did? A neighbor who scoffed and made fun of him for his whacked out warnings of what might come? Well this survivalist is pretty well trained so he answers his door with his favorite 357 magnum in hand.

No it is not a whining neighbor but instead a mob of 400 urbanites who have walked for 5 days in search of food and plunder. Many of them are armed. Survivalists must not be attached to a bunker or material things in such a way they wont leave it all behind.

So now for the real number one most important survival item . It is a quality pair of hiking boots, not the 40 or 50 dollar look a likes. Not the low cut day hikers or ankle high full of fluff hikers. You want the real leather hiking boots . You want 8 to 10 inches high. You want at least 200 grams of thinsulate. You will need Vibram Soles for traction. You want a great brand such as Wolverine, Timberland, Red Wing, Chippewa, or military issue surplus.

You want to spend at least 95 dollars and up to 150 dollars. You will want superior ankle protection. You can search U.S. Cavalry or Bass Pro Shops. You may need to walk ahead of those 400 urbanites who would do you harm. You may need to walk 140 miles in 8 or 9 days.

Your feet should always be considered your 1st mode of transportation . A jeep or SUV full of supplies is a luxury and blessing. If this is what you are counting on then enjoy the mob . Count on your feet, which need protection, to carry you and some goods a long way. Your feet can and will take you to food, water, shelter, guns and friends if they are well protected.

It is imperative to understand that 5 or 10 or 25 yrs of stocking up might have to be left behind in one minutes notice . Yes the gas generator gets left behind.

By age 18 the Boy Scouts taught my feet to carry me up and down the Appalachian Trail, the Sierra Madre Mountain Range, across swamps and through cities across America. The 3 years that followed in the US Army was almost a picnic compared to the Boy Scouts.

For 5 years, after the Army, I went back to the Appalachian Trail and other mountain ranges out west . After a 15 mile hike with 45 pounds of gear in the pack – reaching a campsite and the food and shelter are great but it is always the feet that get us there. You must invest in your feet first.