I have two pair (having worn out another pair) of Bean boots with the Vibram soles. They're my standard canoe boots. It's a shame they stopped making them, some time in the 1990s probably--those chain-tread soles are pretty useless, and wear out quickly. My first pair, in the late 80s were rebuilds by Bean. The other two pair I bought off a friend for probably $20/pair 12-15 years ago.
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Lightweight Camp Shoes
- Thread starter Black_Fly
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I have two pair (having worn out another pair) of Bean boots with the Vibram soles. They're my standard canoe boots. It's a shame they stopped making them, some time in the 1990s probably--those chain-tread soles are pretty useless, and wear out quickly. My first pair, in the late 80s were rebuilds by Bean. The other two pair I bought off a friend for probably $20/pair 12-15 years ago.
I stick with my boots when it’s really rainy or wet. Just for bedtime and middle of the night tree waterings
Could be the winter snow tire vs summer tire physics thing working... snow tires have the soft rubber compound working to provide more grip on ice and soft-soled boots might be the answer. I have rubber boots with a hard treaded sole and they are terrible on ice, more like skates than rubber boots. The softer ones, much better, although they wear out faster when you do have to walk on bare pavement.
Rubber boots are very easy to slip on and off in camp and if they're soft rubber, comfortable kneeling in the canoe. Neoprene version plus neoprene sock in colder weather.
Hiking boots aren't too bad around camp if loosely laced and those need to stay dry if comfort around the campsite is wanted.. Hard-soled clunky hiking boots aren't my idea of comfortable footwear in a canoe but some can't be bothered changing into them for a long port.
No FT its the chain tread on current Bean Boots that is useless.. I should have worn one of two pair of boots that have Hillsound or Katoola microspikes mounted on them. Today the ice is gone hidden under several inches of fluff..
Beware.
Footwear is one of those things you just can't make blanket statements about. Everyone has something different that works for them. I hate boots as they all give me foot cramps even Chotas kneeling in canoe. And hiking boots are my nemesis on portages. I have tripped and fallen over my feet so many times. I guess I just don't pick my feet up high enough.. Since going to trail sneakers ports are way safer for me.
Beware.
Footwear is one of those things you just can't make blanket statements about. Everyone has something different that works for them. I hate boots as they all give me foot cramps even Chotas kneeling in canoe. And hiking boots are my nemesis on portages. I have tripped and fallen over my feet so many times. I guess I just don't pick my feet up high enough.. Since going to trail sneakers ports are way safer for me.
I think so too. Just like walking, we each have our own particular gait, so why shouldn't we prefer our own particular footwear?
I used to resist the urge to stop and change footwear, seeing it as time wasting. On my quest to slow down in life (and it's been taking a lifetime to do this) I reasoned on our recent trips to apply the same laid back attitude to the moments between paddle and path. I have no problem puttering across the portage and even less issue with lackadaisical lake crossings, it's the inbetween hassle hustle I'm needing to revisit. Anyway, it made all the difference to me to pause to sit, drink in the view, sip some water, and swap water shoes for trail boots. And repeat the forced non-march at the other end of the portage. I was happy. My feet were happy.
For some reason I'm happiest in my bias towards boots on my feet, even when they're impractical. It's when I'm shod in sneakers and sandals that my feet become clumsy. What the ffffeet?! And the slippy soles of water sandals mean they never make the trips anymore. However the full foot coverage of water shoes feels better in and out of the water, and the soles are surprisingly sticky on rock surfaces. I just don't like the lightweight feel of them on rocky rooty trails. I should try to get used to them I suppose. But I love the more solid feel of boots when carrying across portages. But they can't be trusted on wet roots and rocks. Oh the conundrum.
And speaking of footwear bias my older brother practically perpetually dresses like a beachbum. Even on canoe trips, or especially on canoe trips, replete with old cotton t-shirt, silly beachy shorts and flip flops. I have spied canvas Converse amongst his gear too. Groovy man. But I shouldn't judge, because he's happy, and apparently so are his feet. Come to think of it, I bet he could give me lessons on doing the whole slowing down thang. Cool. But keep yer hands off my boots, dude.
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Do you happen to have the pair of hiking boots I left at Shippagew in Algonquin?,.It was 1996 though. Yes I actually used to swap shoes.. boots to portage, sandals camp shoes to paddle in Well one swap I must have been addled. I paddled away with the boots still on the log... Up the Tim River some miles. Next portage to Queer.. no shoes. Not willing to do upstream on that river AGAIN.
I finished the trip somehow in substandard footwear. My exit was at Rain Lake..
All done with that change shoes thing.
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I have hip waders for colder weather paddling. When it is warmer I use runners. I always take a second pair, or sandals in the summer for camp. If the sagamesuk are too hungry I wear socks or spray up a bunch. My worst nemesis are the stable flies ...they love to chow down on my ankles, even through socks.
I am not overly particular about my footwear. Most of it comes from value village ...I go every spring for my new pair of tripping shoes...the ones that get wet. Once I have gotten wet, and am back in the boat with paddle in hand, the shoes come off and I am barefoot. Until the next portage. Yes I portage in my wet shoes. Somtimes I put sharp rocks or a little broken glass in them to keep it interesting. I often discard the wet shoes after a trip as they can be rather odorous.
I have a friend who makes mukluks and moccs for Manitoba Mukluks on consignment. Her stuff is really nice and really pricey. I should get her to make me a pair of heavy duty ones for bush walks.
Christy
I am not overly particular about my footwear. Most of it comes from value village ...I go every spring for my new pair of tripping shoes...the ones that get wet. Once I have gotten wet, and am back in the boat with paddle in hand, the shoes come off and I am barefoot. Until the next portage. Yes I portage in my wet shoes. Somtimes I put sharp rocks or a little broken glass in them to keep it interesting. I often discard the wet shoes after a trip as they can be rather odorous.
I have a friend who makes mukluks and moccs for Manitoba Mukluks on consignment. Her stuff is really nice and really pricey. I should get her to make me a pair of heavy duty ones for bush walks.
Christy
Up until I purchased a pair of Merrell Capra Rapid Sieve water shoes two years ago I used similar footwear. I would bring two pairs of cheap or fairly worn running shoes and try to keep one pair of them dry at a time. I chose the Merrell's for their toe protection (I'm really good at stubbing my toes when hiking) but I find that the instances of sharp rocks has increased exponentially especially on the muddy portages. Haven't tried putting broken glass in there yet. They are lighter than most cheap running shoes and dry much faster. I almost always flip my footwear off while paddling as well. Late last May I wore the water shoes continuously with neoprene socks for 6 hours of paddling with portages and my feet were in agony for days. The cheap, slightly oversized socks formed a fold on the bottom side of one foot and combined with the constant wetness I developed the worst blisters I have ever had which, of course, I did not notice until it was too late. Luckily we were packing out or it would. have. ruined. that. trip.
In the heat of the summer I have tripped with only the water shoes and a pair of flip flops (Floppy sandals are my choice of footwear whenever practical) but most of the time I bring a pair of high-top hikers as well. I try to keep them dry for day-hiking and camp wear but on travel days with big wet portages I will sacrifice them to the wet early on instead of trying to tip-toe through portages with a rock in my shoe and a canoe on my shoulders. I've gotten very good at moving those rocks around to a more comfortable spot without missing too many steps. Last summer I started the last portage of a BWCA trip (Angleworm Trail, ~ 2 miles) in the water shoes expecting to swap them for the hikers at our first pause but I ended up comfortably completing the portage with them on. I have cursed this water shoe many times but after a couple years of hard use I have gotten used to them and they also remain serviceable.
After summertime tripping with quite a few people who brought Chaco sandals as their only footwear I have decided to buy a pair if I ever see them on sale. We will see how my toes fair. Those unmistakable tan lines also bring immense street-cred with the outdoorsy millenial granola community, which, sadly, seems to be my dating pool these days. This same crowd has also fully embraced the pants-tucked-into-wool-socks workaround but I have yet to try it for myself outside of wintertime when an additional layer is involved.
In camp I will wear the floppy sandals most of the time, with or without wool socks but always with high % deet if any bugs are present. Un-laced hikers get the nod if they are dry or during the shoulder seasons when I make sure to keep them dry.
Zac
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I see at least four recommendations for trail runners as camp/general purpose tripping shoes, something I wish I had discovered years ago.
For too many years I bought inexpensive big-box mostly-nylon sneakers. On the plus side they were cheap and light weight. The downsides were that they wore out, sometimes in a single season, the soles were not especially grippy, they were far from waterproof, so my socks were too often too quickly wet and, worst of all, I could not find them in my splay-toed size 12 EEE, so I busted out the cheaply made toe box even before the rest of the shoe fell apart.
The initial $ for Gore-tex lined trail runners has been worth every penny. The pair I have are several years old and show little wear, the soles are still nicely grippy without having a clinging mud magnet tread, they keep my feet dry in rain and damp ground and they actually fit my flipper feet.
Whatever other footwear I may carry, Mukluks or watershoes or moccasins, I bring the trail runners on every trip.
Like some other gear selections shoes are best a brick & mortar try-em-on purchase. The first pair of Gore-tex trail runners I bought were 50% off (plus a coupon code) on the REI outlet site, but they were name brand and available in 12 EEE. How bad could they be?
I tried them on briefly when they arrived and they fit comfortably. I took them on a trip and they fit comfortably. But, first step from camp the right sole made a rubber ducky squeeeeak every time my foot hit the ground. The step-squeak-step-squeak was annoying as heck, and I thought the noise would eventually go away. Maddeningly it did not.
Fortunately I had moccasins as well, and the squeak steppers saw little action. They were still in very good (near unused) condition, so I gave them to a brother-in-law with similar sized feet. He wore them to work for the first time and his colleagues immediately insisted that he never wear them again.
He is a librarian.
For too many years I bought inexpensive big-box mostly-nylon sneakers. On the plus side they were cheap and light weight. The downsides were that they wore out, sometimes in a single season, the soles were not especially grippy, they were far from waterproof, so my socks were too often too quickly wet and, worst of all, I could not find them in my splay-toed size 12 EEE, so I busted out the cheaply made toe box even before the rest of the shoe fell apart.
The initial $ for Gore-tex lined trail runners has been worth every penny. The pair I have are several years old and show little wear, the soles are still nicely grippy without having a clinging mud magnet tread, they keep my feet dry in rain and damp ground and they actually fit my flipper feet.
Whatever other footwear I may carry, Mukluks or watershoes or moccasins, I bring the trail runners on every trip.
Like some other gear selections shoes are best a brick & mortar try-em-on purchase. The first pair of Gore-tex trail runners I bought were 50% off (plus a coupon code) on the REI outlet site, but they were name brand and available in 12 EEE. How bad could they be?
I tried them on briefly when they arrived and they fit comfortably. I took them on a trip and they fit comfortably. But, first step from camp the right sole made a rubber ducky squeeeeak every time my foot hit the ground. The step-squeak-step-squeak was annoying as heck, and I thought the noise would eventually go away. Maddeningly it did not.
Fortunately I had moccasins as well, and the squeak steppers saw little action. They were still in very good (near unused) condition, so I gave them to a brother-in-law with similar sized feet. He wore them to work for the first time and his colleagues immediately insisted that he never wear them again.
He is a librarian.
I like to think there's a point to all this, but some days I'll be danged if I can make sense of the world. But maybe that is the point of all this.
Take funerals for instance. When you're standing amongst the other celebrants remembering a well loved life you can take whatever the weather throws at you and reason it away with "She loved this sunny summer heat. She would've loved this day", or "All this grey drizzly drab day is just how I feel. Let's pass around a flask and make a toast." No matter the conditions you can force fit it into your own narrative and make it feel appropriate, but weddings...they're another thing altogether. If there's not a bluebird sky then you're verging on disaster. Ask most people after a wedding do and they'll say either it was perfect (it was perfect!) or there wasn't enough booze (it was bad!). Whatever. Some of us, meaning me, show up for the party. All the frilly churchy parts are rather nice but once the stressed and happy couple have plighted their troth we can dispense with the regularities and get on with the irregular stuff. Hurry up with the speeches please and keep 'em short.
Such was the summer wedding of '16. And in the spirit of derring do we all pitched in for the family wedding in and around the barn. Formalities out front. Informality fun out back. Mind the pond, there is a deep end. The only hitch to this hitching was the rain. It had been a steady 40 days 40 nights kinda thing that year. My brother's place, where this whole shindig was taking place, was practically under water leading up to the big day. To borrow and brutalize Joni Mitchell, it was The Pissing Of Summer Lawns.(Sorry Joni). I helped my brother lay down boardwalks between house and barn, and in any other practical direction too. Thank heavens the really important places were high and dry, like the house, barn, food buffet, and porta potties. I'd brought along my canoe as a kind of wet bar for ice, beer and wine. (Thanks for that idea memequay.) We nearly needed to use it to ferry stuff from house to barn. Instead intrepid volunteers walked the plank and got it all done in fashionly time. To prep for all this anticipated watery wedding I popped out to the local town to buy suitable footwear. My shiny black leather dancing shoes wouldn't manage the soggy conditions so well. It was there I picked up my cheap neoprene/rubber boots. And they were suitably black. In my effort to cover for any fashion faux pas I also bought a pair of Olukai Nohea Moku shoes. They're a water friendly shoe somewhere between slipper and shoe. I wound up wearing the boots for the water slogging work, and the shoes for the special day itself. But to be honest it all came off (I'm just talking footwear, we don't have that much fun at weddings). Way into the early hours there were piles of shoes, sandals and boots heaped against the barn walls with tables pushed back for the smooth and foot friendly dance floor (an expansive remnant of vinyl bought just for this). Dresses and slacks hiked up for the fun slosh through waterlogged lawn for splashing and dashing under the stars. Oh yeah, and by a miracle the rains stopped the day before the wedding and didn't return till two days later after we'd all cleaned up. And the wedding water footwear now goes canoe tripping. Funny how some things work out. Maybe I shouldn't try too hard to make sense of how this world works. What's the point?
Take funerals for instance. When you're standing amongst the other celebrants remembering a well loved life you can take whatever the weather throws at you and reason it away with "She loved this sunny summer heat. She would've loved this day", or "All this grey drizzly drab day is just how I feel. Let's pass around a flask and make a toast." No matter the conditions you can force fit it into your own narrative and make it feel appropriate, but weddings...they're another thing altogether. If there's not a bluebird sky then you're verging on disaster. Ask most people after a wedding do and they'll say either it was perfect (it was perfect!) or there wasn't enough booze (it was bad!). Whatever. Some of us, meaning me, show up for the party. All the frilly churchy parts are rather nice but once the stressed and happy couple have plighted their troth we can dispense with the regularities and get on with the irregular stuff. Hurry up with the speeches please and keep 'em short.
Such was the summer wedding of '16. And in the spirit of derring do we all pitched in for the family wedding in and around the barn. Formalities out front. Informality fun out back. Mind the pond, there is a deep end. The only hitch to this hitching was the rain. It had been a steady 40 days 40 nights kinda thing that year. My brother's place, where this whole shindig was taking place, was practically under water leading up to the big day. To borrow and brutalize Joni Mitchell, it was The Pissing Of Summer Lawns.(Sorry Joni). I helped my brother lay down boardwalks between house and barn, and in any other practical direction too. Thank heavens the really important places were high and dry, like the house, barn, food buffet, and porta potties. I'd brought along my canoe as a kind of wet bar for ice, beer and wine. (Thanks for that idea memequay.) We nearly needed to use it to ferry stuff from house to barn. Instead intrepid volunteers walked the plank and got it all done in fashionly time. To prep for all this anticipated watery wedding I popped out to the local town to buy suitable footwear. My shiny black leather dancing shoes wouldn't manage the soggy conditions so well. It was there I picked up my cheap neoprene/rubber boots. And they were suitably black. In my effort to cover for any fashion faux pas I also bought a pair of Olukai Nohea Moku shoes. They're a water friendly shoe somewhere between slipper and shoe. I wound up wearing the boots for the water slogging work, and the shoes for the special day itself. But to be honest it all came off (I'm just talking footwear, we don't have that much fun at weddings). Way into the early hours there were piles of shoes, sandals and boots heaped against the barn walls with tables pushed back for the smooth and foot friendly dance floor (an expansive remnant of vinyl bought just for this). Dresses and slacks hiked up for the fun slosh through waterlogged lawn for splashing and dashing under the stars. Oh yeah, and by a miracle the rains stopped the day before the wedding and didn't return till two days later after we'd all cleaned up. And the wedding water footwear now goes canoe tripping. Funny how some things work out. Maybe I shouldn't try too hard to make sense of how this world works. What's the point?
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Has anyone here experience with Footskins moccasins?
Goretex trail runners seem to be a potential camp shoe. Add some elastc laces and they're quck on and off for late night excursions. Heck of a lot of reading to get there, but it was enjoyable. Thanks canoe dudes.
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Canoeing I ware Maine Hunting boots from LL Bean I use Bama "socks" inside them and never had wet feet, I have 2 pairs of Bama and 2 pairs of maine hunting boots, a 10 or 12" pair that are the first pair I bought they are awesome so I bought an other pair, the 16" one and they are not as good in term of waterproofness but that's ok cause I bought a pair of knee high 3mm welded neoprene socks so it makes them warm and waterproof!! I find the sole tone great on most surfaces and an awesome boot for lining, tracking and hiking in! but for around camp, so far I use a pair of trail runner, I just got a pair of GTX runners for next season... But I would like to try a pair of moccasin, I will make a pair in the spring to see if I like them!
I use crocs in the summer, but I was looking for something to use in camp for both for spring/fall backpacking and canoe camping. I wanted something with some ankle support, but also lightweight, so I am going to give these Lems Boulder Boots a try: https://www.backcountrygear.com/lems-boulder-boot.html. Here's one of the reviews I watched: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6RVqkd_i3n0. They are "minimalist" shoes, which I think will work for me in camp, but not necessarily on the trail. I have been wearing Salomon Quest 4D GTX boots https://www.moosejaw.com/product/sal...-boot_10366924 on the trail and really like them. On canoe trips without long, rough carries, I wear the NRS Boundary Shoe: https://www.nrs.com/product/2308/nrs-boundary-shoe. The Lems boots are a bit more than I planned to spend, but with a 20% discount coupon, free shipping and how I plan to use them, I figure I can get many years out of them.
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