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Boundary Waters Quetico Forum :: Gear Forum :: Asheville, Biltmore house and Fitkicks
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| mastertangler |
About two miles outside of town is the Biltmore house which seems straight out of a castle you would see in Europe. Privately owned home, but now open to the public, is simply amazing. Built by the Vanderbilts (yes those Vanderbilts), it is breathtaking in scope and substance. Historically amazing, visually stunning.....well worth at least a day. Which leads us to our piece of gear. There are numerous gift shops (of course there are) and one of the gift shops is an "Outfitters shop". The grounds are immense, I saw two turkeys, several deer etc.). Naturally, I decided to go in. For the most part it was a bit laughable focusing on high end clothing, but as soon as I saw the Fitkicks, I knew I would be getting a pair. These shoes will have a very specific role in my tripping ventures. A very small role, but an important one. I detest getting my camp shoes wet so, when swimming, I must bring some sort of sandal. I have tried several kinds. All sort of suck IMO. Keens do not dry quickly and so I tried the water variety which were still unstisfactory and not especially compact. Enter in Fitkicks........basically a rubber sole with light fabric and some elastic to keep it on. Lighter than a sandal and certainly far more compact. Drying time would be negligible. They might not be for everyone, and I wouldn't use them as a camp shoe, but for some protection while swimming / wading they seem perfect. Fitkicks review |
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| boonie |
Why don't you just wear your wetfoot boots while you skinny dip? :) |
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| SinglePortage |
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| BnD |
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| mastertangler |
BnD: "They’re compact and light alright but, I’ll stay with my crocks for camp shoes. Much sturdier, zero water retention, cheap, durable, crazy light and much better toe and foot protection. Just my 0.02." I love ya BnD but you can take your Crocs and.......well, never mind. Not my camp shoe BTW.......just what I will use for getting in the water and cleaning up. I hate getting my camp shoes wet. Crocs are terrific, for walking out to my hot tub and back. Your foot slides around and is not particularly mated to your feet very well. Get them a bit wet and it's even worse. I wore a pair offshore once and while fighting a fish ended up twisting my knee out of socket wearing those hideous things as my foot failed to find secure footing.......so I have an evil eye towards all things Crocs. But, they are very light, and more or less indestructible.......but they do take up a bunch of space if packed internally. If a fellow is built very sturdily (think Cro magnum types > short, squat with long arms and knuckles dragging on the ground, they probably would be perfect ;-) |
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| mastertangler |
boonie: "Asheville is definitely on the list of places we'd like to visit. One of these days. Yup check it out. Fun place, bring a mountain bike as well. I don't mind wet footing when the waters warm but I loathe putting those boots back on to wade and get cleaned up. Besides, they are already 1/2 way dried. Pansy? Well yea, I guess ;-) My first Isle Royale backpack trip I neglected any type of camp shoe. It was terrible being camp while wearing big heavy hiking boots. And if that wasn't bad enough the shorelines were so bad I had to wade to fish. Wet boots the entire time even while in camp (Ewwwwww!) Eventually the sole delaminated on one of the boots and I had to hold it together with paracord and cable ties. What a trip! It was great! (seriously ;-) |
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| Blatz |
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| DeuceCoop |
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| smoke11 |
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| 3Ball |
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