Been meaning to post this for a while. 2-ish month update on the Houston Green ARs. One round of Obenauf's LP to seal them up.
These have hiked through snow, a small creek, mud, sand, rocky terrain, cinders, and grassland.
I love these shoes. The traction is surprisingly good as long as your feet are mostly perpendicular to the slop of your terrain, i.e. if you're going uphill, you need your feet pointing up or down hill for good grip. Slipped a few times in wet snow and sloppy mud, but not too bad. Honestly, that it doesn't have little places to capture dirt meant that particularly clay-heavy mud was easier to walk through, because it didn't gunk up in the treat like it would on my other trail shoes.
Still experimenting with insoles. I currently have superfeet cushioned hikers in there, but had to take out the forefoot pad due to weird pressure points.
Otherwise, these are ridiculously comfortable shoes and I love putting them on.
I didn't do this, but I think its a good idea to actually get the shoes totally wet out the gate and let them dry so you can clean up the weird salt that creeps out from the tanning process.
The Obenauf's eventually wore off around the sides, which is fine, but definitely then had to deal with salt stains.
These look fantastic. My ability to resist is fading. Got hiking trips in July and August coming up, and no \*great\* footwear choices for them currently.
Do it. I got the Vellies first and really wanted the ARs. The Houston Greens finally did it for me.
These are super comfortable and are holding up very well after their break in period (some minor ankle pain/pressure that went away after a few days). I basically bought these, put a few miles on them, then jumped straight into a few 5-8 mile hikes. I've got about 250-ish miles on them so far and they are very comfortable.
I will say, coming from the world of trail running shoes, these badboys are pretty hot on the feet. I don't even have particularly sweaty feet, but find them pretty soaked if its hot out. On the other hand, they are far more rugged than my trail shoes and being able to cinch them down to keep rocks and dirt out is really nice.
Hell yeah, AR’s look good with some scuffs.
That’s an interesting lacing you use but i could see it being nice as I notice the laces on my metatarsals when I over-tighten them.
So do you color-coordinate your green shoes with your outfits or does it just go with everything? I’m not one to think of such things until my wife makes me aware I am wrong.
Thanks!
I was having rubbing on the top of my foot and it felt too tight.
Pretty common to change lace patterns on running shoes for more or less tension, so just did the same here.
The greens really do go well with most colors. Maybe not super bright colors or pastels, but khakis, jeans, and darker chinos all work well, imo.
Been meaning to post this for a while. 2-ish month update on the Houston Green ARs. One round of Obenauf's LP to seal them up. These have hiked through snow, a small creek, mud, sand, rocky terrain, cinders, and grassland. I love these shoes. The traction is surprisingly good as long as your feet are mostly perpendicular to the slop of your terrain, i.e. if you're going uphill, you need your feet pointing up or down hill for good grip. Slipped a few times in wet snow and sloppy mud, but not too bad. Honestly, that it doesn't have little places to capture dirt meant that particularly clay-heavy mud was easier to walk through, because it didn't gunk up in the treat like it would on my other trail shoes. Still experimenting with insoles. I currently have superfeet cushioned hikers in there, but had to take out the forefoot pad due to weird pressure points. Otherwise, these are ridiculously comfortable shoes and I love putting them on. I didn't do this, but I think its a good idea to actually get the shoes totally wet out the gate and let them dry so you can clean up the weird salt that creeps out from the tanning process. The Obenauf's eventually wore off around the sides, which is fine, but definitely then had to deal with salt stains.
These look fantastic. My ability to resist is fading. Got hiking trips in July and August coming up, and no \*great\* footwear choices for them currently.
Do it. I got the Vellies first and really wanted the ARs. The Houston Greens finally did it for me. These are super comfortable and are holding up very well after their break in period (some minor ankle pain/pressure that went away after a few days). I basically bought these, put a few miles on them, then jumped straight into a few 5-8 mile hikes. I've got about 250-ish miles on them so far and they are very comfortable. I will say, coming from the world of trail running shoes, these badboys are pretty hot on the feet. I don't even have particularly sweaty feet, but find them pretty soaked if its hot out. On the other hand, they are far more rugged than my trail shoes and being able to cinch them down to keep rocks and dirt out is really nice.
Hell yeah, AR’s look good with some scuffs. That’s an interesting lacing you use but i could see it being nice as I notice the laces on my metatarsals when I over-tighten them. So do you color-coordinate your green shoes with your outfits or does it just go with everything? I’m not one to think of such things until my wife makes me aware I am wrong.
Thanks! I was having rubbing on the top of my foot and it felt too tight. Pretty common to change lace patterns on running shoes for more or less tension, so just did the same here. The greens really do go well with most colors. Maybe not super bright colors or pastels, but khakis, jeans, and darker chinos all work well, imo.
Thank for posting. I’ve been wondering how the Houston Green aged. Looking forward to future updates?
Definitely will. The obenaufs really darkened them up, so the green is much richer as a result