Hiking, Traveling New Zealand with KSO Trek FiveFingers (and Sprints)

A photo of Jen K. and her husband in the Christchurch Botanic Gardens on the south island of New Zealand. They are standing in front of a massive Atlas Cedar tree. KSO Treks.

In the mailbag recently we got a story from Jen K. who traveled to New Zealand packing her footwear of choice: KSO Trek FiveFingers (as well as some Sprints). She hiked all around New Zealand in her KSO Treks and had a great overall experience.

Here's Jen in her own words (with additional photos after the jump!)!

Around the clock: a photo of Jen on the beach in Anakiwa on the south island, down the shore from a backpacker resort she stayed at. Sprints; Photos of Jen and her feet against the Franz Josef Glacier on the south island. KSO Treks.

My husband and I had the privilege of taking a vacation to New Zealand this December with another couple for our honeymoon. We got married this past June, and decided to make our trip a memorable one.

I had purchased the KSO Treks earlier this year specifically for the trip - and they are far and away my favorite and most comfortable pair of five fingers. They did wonderfully for all of the hiking we did on various tracks (hiking paths) in New Zealand. They stood up well on the beaches, and were great for the rocky paths that could be found all over the island. It was nice to have a bit of extra thickness on the soles for all the hiking, and the leather stood up well to the water and dried quickly. I had a lot of fun climbing all over boulders along beaches and really appreciated the way the sole on the Treks grabbed the rocks. I think they did better than a smooth soled pair would have in those conditions.

I am so glad I brought them with me. I wore them almost the entire trip (except for a couple of outings in my Sprints [FiveFingers]), and never had any issues with blisters. I find that if I walk too much in my Sprints, I end up with blisters right at the base of my toes. The KSO Treks don't give me that problem. I also find they develop the dreaded 'stink' a little more slowly than the non-leather varieties, but even so, by the end of the trip, they were badly in need of a dip in the washing machine.

[FiveFingers are] packable, versatile, and best of all, a great talking point. I got the chance to share with one of our hostesses about the shoes and why I wore them, and even had the fun of walking down the street in Christchurch and having a teenage boy blurt out, what the- are those...shoes?! I smiled and said 'yup!' and could hear him talking to the man he was sitting next to about them as I continued down the street.

Respectfully submitted by Jen K. — Minnesota

Thanks for sharing, Jen! Glad you had success with your KSO Treks, which in my book, are still my favorite Trek-soled hiking FiveFingers.

That said, I'd not mind seeing a KSO Trek kangaroo leather inspired upper (with some updating) slapped on the Spyridon sole, but that's another story.

Thanks!

About the Author — I founded BirthdayShoes.com in April 2009 on realizing just how much I enjoyed having "free feet" - I mostly wanted to use them for weights, sprints, and plyometrics (I'm not much of a runner!). I'm a Googler by day and minimalist footwear aficionado by night; you can find me 'round Atlanta. If you want to catch up with what I'm doing outside of the site here, follow me on twitter @bdayshoes or @justinno or check out my personal site JustinOwings.com.
Justin Owings+ has written 844 articles and 379 comments.