Hiked in Sandals?

[Barney]

Ever hiked in a pair of sandals before? I never did it myself because terrain that we have here usually wouldn't allow it. How about you?

[Lamebeaver]

Nope, me neither

[bsmit212]

I have hiked in Keens before. There are a couple of trails in the Cohutta wilderness, sure other areas as well, where you are doing a river crossing ever 1/4 to 1/2 mile, sometimes less, where changing in and out of crossing shoes is just not practical. Better to just hike in something like Keens or Chacos so you can just cross and keep going.

Examples of the numbers on two of the trials: Conasauga River Trail has 38 crossing on a 12 mile trail and the Jack river trail has 43 crossing in 26 miles. It is just easier to hike in river shoes. haha.

[Grandpa]

I've packed wearing crocs before. Some of those high meadows in the Uintas and Yellowstone can be wet all the way across. Also, early mornings the dew is so heavy, it's easier to just wear the crocs and wool socks until the sun burns the dew off. And like Bsmit said, repeated river crossings dictate hiking the short distances in the water shoes.

[campclose]

Agreed, hiked in sandals (water shoes) through cricks and wet lands. Hike only in sneakers or boots anywhere else. You never know what you are going to come across (snakes). Rather step on one with sneakers or boots over sandals.

[carmen]

Yes and it was a horrible experience. I would rather have to deal with wearing nice low cut boots and thick socks if needed than have sandals on again. It is just not worth it and few places actually design a good sandal (at least for women) that work with a hike.

[hikeorbike]

Definitely not. Talk about uncomfortable, not to mention all of the dangers you would be exposing your feet to! You're more likely to twist your ankle and more by not wearing sturdy sneakers.

[ChadTower]

A very large segment of the world's population wears sandals all the time. Places there are few cars. Sandals can't be all that bad. Sure, there are environments were they are not best, but there are also environments where boots are awful.

[IndianaHiker]

I have backpacked in Sandals, Five Fingers, hiking shoes, and boots. No buts. Been in some pretty rough areas with all and no problems. You do have to pay attention to picking your feet up as you could break a toe on rocks or tree roots. However most places I hike being in the midwest that is the worse of the things to worry about. My current favorite foot wear is the Five Fingers by Vibram.

[Marshmallow]

We've done hikes at the beach where we wore Crocs, and I loved having them on. We didn't have to worry about getting them wet, but we were almost always in sandy shoals when we were out shelling. That's about it.