Ever since I laid my eyes on the Salomon ACS PRO shoes in black, I’ve wanted to own a pair (they’re like gorpcore but Wakandan??). But they never go on sale!

At one point there was this big sale on the Salomon site, and while I was hoping this time the ACS PROs would be included, unsurprisingly they weren’t. I’d been thinking about these shoes for a while at this point, so in a fit of rage I revenge-bought a different pair of black Salomon shoes that were on sale – the XA Forces GORE-TEX – in an attempt to feel better. They’re admittedly less cool, but I’d needed a pair of black shoes anyway, and as a bonus these ones are waterproof to help me take on those occasional-but-always-annoying rainy days in SF. They also happened to be hiking shoes.

These shoes ended up changing my life, because my opinion on hiking has since changed after acquiring them.

From:

your 20s are for realizing that nice views do nothing for you and hiking is not going to be your thing

— billy (@billyisyoung) December 20, 2021

To:

update: actually the optimal amount of hiking for me is non-zero https://t.co/4xQ39PQXL3

— billy (@billyisyoung) August 14, 2024

Because it turns out when you own hiking shoes, and opportunities to hike come up, you might actually start to consider them (even if you don’t really like hiking). I had these shoes with me when I was in Marseille and happened to run into a college friend there who recommended I visit the nearby Calanques National Park for a hike. And somehow, just by having these hiking shoes on hand, it made the hike seem approachable and even a little bit appealing. Versus if I didn’t have these shoes with me I would’ve disregarded the idea instantly. But I did have my hiking shoes with me. And so I went, and a great time was had!

Or like this past weekend, when I was in Guatemala and my friends wanted to do the Acatenango volcano hike. I signed up because it seemed like a fun group activity, but I was only comfortable signing up, again, because I had my hiking shoes. I also added on the optional Fuego volcano hike as part of this excursion, which ended up being maybe the hardest physical activity I’ve done in my entire life. In a good way… mostly. And again, I never would’ve had this experience if I didn’t already have these shoes, all because of that one impulsive revenge-purchase decision I made years ago.

…

I’d love to end this post with some snappy-yet-profound conclusion, a clear moral for the story, but I don’t really have one. Maybe just: go out there and continue to try new things. Or try old things again just to see how you feel about them now, after time has acted on the both of you. Or finally pull the trigger on getting that piece of equipment you’ve been eyeing, as it might unlock some new opportunities.

Also I did eventually buy the ACS PROs, at the Kith store in Paris where I was able to functionally get a discount on them via the VAT refund 🙂