Backpacking/Hiking in sandy, i.e. beach areas

[Michael M]

My Scout Troop is going on an overnight backpacking trip at a beach state park in March.  I am trying to get the Scouts to be thinking about the sand and their feet while hiking.  Having never done this before, I was hoping to find some information from folks who have experience.

The weather will be mid-March in the costal area of Virginia south of Virginia Beach.  The plan is to hike into False Cape State Park at low tide.  That would let us hike on the packed sand, but we have not control over that.  We may be hiking on the looser sand.

Question is, for those who have experience with such, how do you adequately manage the sand getting into your shoes, boots, etc?  Do gaiters work?  I have seen a product call “Sandskins” but they do not seem like they are intended as socks inside of a shoe or boot.  Anyone have any experience with those?

Any ideas, comments, suggestions will be greatly appreciated.

[Terry Sparks]

Michael, Being I’m on the Pacific Coast, not Virginia, I’ll give you my thoughts on walking on the beach and desert sand as I have experienced here in Santa Barbara.  Being this is going to be an overnight, two day hike, you’re probably not needed to worry to much about foot problems with the boys hiking on the sand, the hike will be done before blisters become a problem.  If you have warm weather, I’m sure the scouts would have a kick hiking barefoot in the sand. For shoes, trail runners with gaiters (Dirty Girl work fine) would be a good choice to help keep the sand out of the shoes but just figure everyone will need to stop every so often to dump sand.  For socks, I find 5 toe socks work well in sand conditions as you will get abrasive sand between toes and when also wet, blisters come easy.  I’m not familiar with Sandskins but I did use a thin neoprene “sand sock” once for running on the beach. That turned out to be a waste of money as they fell apart after a week and did nothing for me. I only tried them because I was running on the dry sand 5-6 hours per week for workouts and would need to tape toes for blisters every so often.  If the Sandskins are a simular product, I would’t bother with them.

This trip sounds like its going to be a blast for the scouts to do,  I can imagine a few fishing poles, footballs and frisbee’s will be on the gear list of most everyone.

Hike On!

 

[Jon Fong / Flat Cat Gear]

I find that hiking through sand is probably the most tiring surfaces to walk on.  Particularly hiking through deep, fluffy sand – I get exhausted.  You push off and the sand constantly gives away and you use seemingly odd muscles in your feet.  Near water, i try to hike in wet, hard packed sand as much as possible.  I am a beach volleyball player and at the start of every season, I have to build up those sand muscles.

[Mark]

In my experience nothing keeps sand out of your shoes, so i would save money and not bother with gaiters.

I find if i wear shoes and socks the sand and sweat mix into a paste that tears through my skin.

I would recommend that they take a pair of sandals and wear them on the sand.

Personally i’d probably go barefoot myself, but with kids i wouldn’t want to risk it.

[Billy Ray]

Geez… I haven’t ever notice a problem hiking on the beach. Sand gets every where, but I haven’t notice a particular problem with that… I’ve never had blisters or any kind of foot problem from it hiking 10 or 12 miles a day. I just wear trail runners and my regular socks… it all gets wet and sandy and it’s not a big deal.

billy

[Amy Lauterbach]

I’ve done lots of hiking on beaches and I don’t get sand in my shoes at all.  Oregon Coast Path, Australia’s Great South Coast Walk, Australia’s Cape to Cape.

1. wear gaitors
2. wear trail runners with a tight weave fabric.  Many trail runners have a loose mesh, almost an open weave, and it’s obvious that sand will go through.  On this front you can probably tell just looking at them whether sand will work it’s way through the fabric.
3. the tongue of the shoe must be completely sewn to the body of the shoe.  Some tongues are not sewn at all and obviously won’t work.  More subtle problems are tongues that are sewn along the sides and at the toe end, but the corner between the side and the toe have a gap in the seam — if that is the case sand will pour through that gap.
4. I just wear my standard socks (Darn Tough Merino Ultra-light).  Since they have no loopy thick parts any sand that does get in is easy to shake out.

In summary, choose trail runners to minimize penetration by any kind of dirt/dust.  Sand is the easiest to keep out, since the grains are so large; silt and dirt is a much tougher problem to solve.

[Nick Gatel]

Agree with Amy – tight weave and gaiters.

I own one pair of GTX trail runners. I only wear these when I will be walking in a lot of loose sand, particularly sand dunes. I bought them for this purpose only and they work well.

[Alexander S]

Dirty Girl gators

!

[Rex Sanders]

Based on many multi-day river trips plus day hikes on ocean beaches, the combo of sand and water will tear up feet quickly. You’ll also get tired faster, and have weird aches and pains from hiking on a side slope all day. Your scouts probably can’t afford new $120 GTX shoes and $21 gaiters either.

I suggest hourly rest stops of 5-10 minutes. At each stop, sit down, take off shoes, dump the sand, clean & dry the feet (synthetic packtowels work well), and swap to cleaner/drier socks. Inspect for hot spots, raw patches, and blisters, and take care of any. Shake out the old socks, and hang them on the pack to dry alongside the towel. A few leg/ankle stretches might help, too.

Counterintuitively, under these conditions the skin on feet might dry, crack, and bleed, with painful results. A little Superglue (carefully applied by an adult) works wonders to close up the cracks, but probably violates 18 different scout regulations. At night, put vaseline or another goopy moisturizer on feet for the night, inside cotton sleeping socks to keep from mucking up your sleeping bag. All this might not be an issue for an overnight trip, typically takes a few days to appear.

Besides feet, sand works it’s way into lots of painful nooks and crannies you probably don’t want to deal with as a scout leader. Emphasize cleanliness!

Hope this helps.

— Rex

[Jerry Adams]

I’ve done a lot of beach walking.  I wear gaiters on almost all hikes including beach.  It mostly keeps out sand, dirt, rocks, most of the rain.

 

[Justin Baker]

Goretex shoes sounds like a bad solution compared to tight weave nylon or leather hiking shoes. Both of which are going to be cooler in hot weather and dry faster.

Anybody try sandals and socks for sand hiking? How did that work out?

[Judith Humbert]

Hi Michael I’m in New Zealand. Te Araroa has lots of beach walks, most notably 90-Mile Beach on the North Island. I’ve hiked 90 Mile twice. What I’ve learned walking on beaches is similar to other comments here. I like a shoe that lets my foot swell and wear trail runners with diy gaitors. Gaitors really help keep the sand out. Also emptying my shoe during the day. I try to time the day’s hike so most of the walking is on or near low tide, walking in the compact sand (looks like you’ve got that covered). This helps eliminate some of the fatigue and potential injury walking in the deeper sand higher on the beach. I’ve found it really important to be fastidious with washing my feet at the end of the day to keep the micro grit factor down. And if it’s really hot I’ll take my shoes off during breaks and let the breeze cool my feet down.  Foot strategy is really not all that different from walking in loose dirt. I did see hikers this year with no gaitors and they seemed to be doing just fine.

Good luck with your hike – hope you have a fab time!

[Nick Gatel]

I wasn’t suggesting the Boy Scouts buy Gore-Tex shoes, just an observation that in deserts it does keep out the fine sand that works its way through mesh shoes.

Tight woven trail runners combined with gaiters work best.

Leather boots do keep out sand, but they are heavy and as mentioned earlier, walking in lots of sand is mucho work, so not a viable solution.

The absolute best solution? Tough feet. I rarely wear shoes at home and my feet are like leather, so I rarely have foot problems. Walking barefooted at home is free too.

Rex’s suggestion is good — frequent stops to clean off the sand. Sand can be very abrasive.

[Diane “Piper” Soini]

All my life when I go to the beach, if the beach is nice, I take off my shoes. It’s the delight of the beach. I’ll wear shoes or sandals if the sand is hot or after my wimpy feet have become abraded after several miles or if the beach is rocky or full of sharp shells or other things you don’t want to step in.

You can hike in sand and not get sand in your shoes, even wearing low-cut sneakers without gaiters. I don’t expect clumsy boys to learn how to do it though. You basically have to walk on top of the sand, not through it.

[Nick Gatel]

Sand gets hot if the feet aren’t toughened up. Too hot for many people to walk on.

[Barry P]

A lot of different hiking styles out there :)

“Anybody try sandals and socks for sand hiking? How did that work out?”

Of course I do. One step forward; a half step back. It’s quite a workout. We have some neat sandy parks in UT (like Arches and Capitol Reef); all styles of sand from fine dust to large grit. Moist sand is great to walk on but I would plan on the worst. In sand, I have to wear 2 pairs of socks with tight weave and cinch the sandal tight (not too tight). My Terra Fi’s have a little lip that slows down sand entry.

I like the idea of getting your bare feet toughened up.

My son, who’s in the Navy, does a lot of Seal beach exercises. I asked him what he wears and he says he never got sand in these Nike-produced Navy boots. Here’s the common-folk version: http://store.nike.com/us/en_us/pd/sfb-field-6-boot/pid-855030/pgid-10349227 (actually there are several styles).

I looked at them and they are surprisingly light (I’m going to guess 12oz). He swims in the ocean with them on. When he comes out, he claims they drain pretty fast through two mesh holes. He’s never had to stop and empty his boot of sand.

More info for the stew,

-Barry

-The mountains were made for Tevas

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