Can you hike long distances on the AT in amphibious shoes? I’m looking at some Salomon Tech Amphibians, which are more shoe than sandal, but I’m a little worried they might be too flimsy or unstable for my ankles. The advantage would be keeping my feet cool–I sweat a lot. I’d probably wear sock liners with them, but I’m worried about rubbing/blisters too. Advice?
John Galt MEGA '03
i saw a few people hiking in chacos. no problems. i wouldn’t worry about ankles. most hikers wear tennis shoes and they don’t do much for ankles. depends if you are clumpsy.
dirty bird
Just go with a good pair of well vented/mesh trail runners, stay away from Gor-Tex. My brother had a pair of the Salomon Tech Amphibians, while he likes wearing them around town, when he tried running and hiking in them the strap around the back would come loose.
jerm
I had a pair of Teva Water shoes for the last 300 mile of Maine, they were great and held up strong (still own them and use them at the river all the time) I wore them with my SuperFeet and a pair of liners…However I don’t think that I would have liked them in the rocks of P.A. Not because of ankle support but because they didn’t have a lot of support below the foot and my Superfeet and liners could only do so much. I think a couple of days of rocks would have been painful…Now I must go back to drywalling, the fun never stop at my house.
SweetAss03
I’ve worn my Keen water shoes on a few 15-20 mile hikes in the Linville Gorge area with 30lbs. on my back. They’re comfortable no-slip shoes with hard toe shells.
Freeform
John, I’ve worn sandalls as my only footwear on 2 AT & 2 PCT thru-hikes. At least a handful of people have hiked the AT barefoot. Ankle support is an interesting topic b/c most shoes, even lightweight boots cannot withstand a severe roll or twist - its kinda a false sense of security. It seems that when you wear running shoes or sandalls, you naturally tend to place your feet more carefully, which helps reduce the twisting. A light pack helps as well.
In terms of rubbing/blisters, i’ve found that wearing the sadalls very loosely helps - i set the straps on my Teva’s as loose as possible. I’m currently about 850 miles in on a PCT thru-hike and i don’t have any blisters or other problems with my feet so far. (i use neoprene socks in the snow)
Good luck with your Amphibious shoes & Happy Trails!
freebird
I’ve hikes just over 100 miles in my Keens and they are disentegrating. Quite disappointing I must say. Stick with trail runners IMO, I am!
Christopher