Tomboy

I'm planning a fall camping trip to Yosemite in a few weeks, with S. I'm an avid camper and hiker, but HE is a HARDCORE backpacker, so I've got some expectations to live up to. And that means being prepared.

I spent my lunch hour at REI today, completing what has been a several-months-long process of selecting new hiking boots. My trusty decade-old pair had been sequestered into long-term storage during the move to California, and with all the technological wonders in the current offerings, I just couldn't resist upgrading to a new pair.

Now, I'm girl who does my research. I have checked the specifications, read consumer reviews, and had my mind made up down to three options when I walked into the retail outlet, my no-nonsense attitude apparently written all over me.

She's already honed in on the top two, says one of the salesguys, I think she knows what she's doing.

She's got SmartWool socks in the basket, says his compadre, she doesn't even need us.

I grin at the innocuously flirtatious manner of these guys, and request to try my three choices. Over the next 20 minutes we talk polyurethane shank, newbuck uppers, Gore-Tex liners and my avowed loyalty to the Vibram sole. The Vibram, it turns out, is the deciding factor between two fine specimen of hard-duty hiking boots, and they fit me for insoles to offset my slight pronation, and let me test-drive them while I impulse shop through the rest of the joint.

While testing the fit scrambling up the faux-boulder feature, we share stories of great hikes through the Pacific Northwest, of fabulous vistas off Hurricane Ridge in Washington and Mt. Hood in Oregon. Of cavern crawls through the lava tube caves surrounding Mt. St. Helens. I earn their respect recounting a tale of trekking across an icepack spanning a spring stream on Mt. Hood, and snowshoeing to Alpine Lake in the HammaHamma wilderness. I leave them nodding wistfully, reflecting back on their own Into Thin Air episodes, while I pick out snazzy red laces to accessorize my new purchase.

I head to the check-out stand with the boots still on (breaking in begins immediately) and for a second, realize I must look a fool - stylish business suit over hefty newbuck hikers - then realize that in THAT environment, I was a backpacker's dream: a tomboy chick in lipgloss, trading her Franco Sarto heels for hiking boots.