Russell's Ramblings: Longevity - Altra Lone Peak 2.5

I've seen several claims of hikers getting huge amounts of miles out of the shoes they wear hiking. Personally, I'd never experienced that, even with the hiking boots I used to wear before switching to trail runners last summer. Most of my walking is on dusty, and rocky desert trails so maybe that has something to do with it. Whatever the case, I decided to see what condition my Altra Lone Peak 2.5 shoes would be in after 500 miles.

I've read of hikers getting well over 500 miles on Lone Peaks. There's a YouTube video where a hiker claims over 900 miles on his Altra Lone Peak 2.0 shoes and compares them to a new pair. I don't doubt these claims but I did replace my first pair of Lone Peak 2.5 shoes after what I'm guessing was around 400 miles, when the insoles developed holes and weren't so comfortable anymore.

When I reached 400 miles with this pair of shoes, I decided to see if they'd make it to 500. The tread on the toes and heels was already pretty much worn off but what the heck, I'd go for it. They're now at about 520 miles. I would have stopped sooner, but didn't want to wear the new shoes until I took some comparison pictures. Today I was debating whether to try for 600 miles (only 80 more) but they aren't that comfortable anymore, mostly due to the worn insoles, so I took the pictures.

I think around 200 miles, the toe of the shoes started to come off the upper. I used some Shoe Goo to repair. The Shoo Goo was old and a bit dry so the repair didn't take too well.

After about 300 miles, the tread at the toes was very worn. At that time, I went on a 45 mile backpacking trip into the Grand Canyon. The first day, on the descent, it was raining and portions of the trail were muddy and slick. I slipped around a lot but thankfully never fell. A friend, who had a new pair of Lone Peaks, had no trouble on the mud. From the wet, I ended up with a lot of sand in the shoes and on the way out of the canyon, the first holes appeared in the right insole along with the hole in the right shoe where my big toe is. During the trip, the Shoo Goo repair failed and the toes were again pulling away from the shoe.

Since the Grand Canyon trip, the insoles have continued to wear and the hole in the one shoe has increased in size. I also didn't bother attempting to re-glue the toes back on the shoes since I threw the old Shoo Goo away.

I'll let you decide if you think these shoes lasted long enough. For me, I am happy I was able to get over 500 miles out of them, especially on the rocky abrasive terrain I normally haunt.

Here are some pictures of the pair of shoes: