Adventure 16 Blog » Zion for your toes

National parks are home to some of the most beautiful landscapes in the world. One of the small negatives with NPs is they attract millions of people a year and sometimes that takes away from the sense of escape.

A small handful of casual park visitors don’t truly appreciate the park. Some litter. Some let their kids play handheld video games. Many of these people are unprepared. On a recent trip to Zion NP in Utah, I encountered dozens of these unprepared hikers.

Many of the heavily trafficked trails in Zion are paved to make uphill hikes easier – a blessing ascending, but pure torture on the way down. Descending the popular Angel’s Landing trail, a 5-mile round trip to an unbelievable lookout point in the canyon, I saw people walking backwards down the hill.

They were complaining about their toes jamming up against the front of their shoes and boots. The good Samaritan I am, I gave them a quick little tip on how to keep their foot securely in their shoe so their toes wouldn’t look like tenderized prunes at the bottom of the hill.

I showed them how to tie a runner’s knot, a shoe lacing technique that keeps the heel of the foot from shifting in the boot. The knot cinches tightly around the ankle and it’s fairly easy to tie.

Here’s how to tie the knot:

Step 1: Lace your shoes normally (in a criss-cross fashion) up until the second-to-last eyelet on your shoe or boot. On the second to last eyelet, feed the shoelace from the inside of the shoe and down the eyelet directly above to make a small loop with your shoelace.

Step 2: Feed the end of each shoelace through the loop on the opposite side of the shoe.

Step 3: Cinch firmly and tie your shoe as you would normally. You know, twist the bunny ears and pull tight.

Your ankle should be secure in the back of the shoe and your toes will be much happier.