Vegan Hiking

What's vegan hiking, I hear you ask? Well, it's not really a thing. But I'm vegan, and I'm going hiking & I needed some hiking gear. Unfortunately the key component to hiking - the shoes - are mostly not vegan, either being constructed of leather, or having some leather parts.

I visited pretty much every adventure store in Melbourne, receiving very little help anywhere* & was starting to despair before I finally found Ziggy at Mountain Designs. He was awesome. He didn't blink an eye when I said 'I need a pair of vegan hiking shoes' & showed me about 5 pairs straight up.

I went through a few before I found the perfect pair - the Montrail Mountain Masochist. These are actually a trail runner, rather than a strict hiking shoe, but I adore them. They're lightweight, provide all the support & grip I need for hiking &, best of all, I can wear them for my morning run as well - which means I've got one less pair of shoes to carry around! The only drawback is that they aren't waterproof, but they are quick-drying, so if I do get caught during the day, I'll be able to dry them overnight.

And look how pretty they are! I call this the Shelagh-shot:

I love them so much I think I'll get a second pair in blue.

I'm a total convert to Montrails now - they're so versatile, I just wish I had known about them years ago.

Guess what happened about a month after I spent days searching for my new shoes? This article - Top Vegan Hiking Boot Styles got published. I could have save so much time! Ah well...

* With the exception of Kathmandu in Bourke St - the sales assistant there went to the trouble of getting out the entire stocklist & checking the materials for every women's shoe. They didn't have anything for me, but I was impressed by the customer service.