Bought these in May, wore them around casually to break them in, but they didn’t need a break in, they were really comfortable out of the box. Very comfortable! So, put them away till a backpacking trip to the WRR in WY in late September. Very first shallow stream crossing noticed one boot was not waterproof. Over the next 7 days hiked through some light snow, frosty vegetation & more shallow creek crossings. During this the leather absorbed a lot of water around the toe box and would not dry out. The inside of the boots would dry out in the afternoon sun, but not the leather. They were still comfy, lightweight, & performed great despite being a little leaky and I figured I could treat the leather later to solve the problem of it absorbing so much water. After the trip I put them away for about a month & then decided to wear them on a hike near home the other day. Discovered that while they were sitting in the closet some sort of material inside the toe box of each boot warped and folded into very hard and sharp folds that dig into the top of my toes rendering them ruined. Tried “unfolding” whatever this stuff is from the inside by pushing on it with my fingers but it won’t budge. Hoping I can return them since I got maybe 2 weeks of total wear time out of them.
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