There's a lot to love about backpacking, but the abuse inflicted on one's feet does not make the list. So, at the end of 2019, when Mayfly Jonny was gearing up to hike the Appalachian Trail, he started thinking about how to reduce some of that suffering. Having adventured outdoors for a quarter century, he knew that traveling light was a priority. But traveling stupid-light had less appeal, because it often meant suffering more. Mayfly Jonny wanted, simply, to maximize comfort while minimizing the weight on his back.
He cooked up a couple of working models of absurdly lightweight camp shoes, and then Covid forced him to lay aside the backpack he’d so carefully kitted out. This was probably for the best, since, he’ll admit, the prototypes were on the crude side. In the time since, Mayfly Jonny became familiar with the intricacies of buckles and cords and very small knots, and figured out how to make my camp shoes lighter, more adjustable, more durable, and better looking. He's tested them on local adventures and refined their design further.
The result is nothing less than game-changer for ultralight backpackers: what was once so weighty that it was written off as a luxury item is now so lightweight that it’s an essential item.
Read Mayfly Ultralight Equipment's full story here.
