Footwear for coastal backpacking with heavy loads….

Hi, Mark.

You might take a look at Five Ten Canyoneer2 shoes. I plan to wear a pair of them on Vancouver Island’s West Coast Trail (WCT) this coming summer. They have high-friction rubber soles, so they are good on slippery surfaces. They drain well, too.

One of the main reasons I chose this model (there are other Five Ten shoes that are more lightweight), is the buckle-closure system (rather than shoe laces). I’ve read WCT trip reports of shoes coming untied and getting lost in deep mud; the buckles on these shoes should prevent that from happening. The model-2 shoes are reported to be more flexible than the first Canyoneer shoes were, and I’ve been happy with mine so far.

I haven’t used them on a long trek yet, but I’ve been testing mine on short trips–going through streams and hiking on very wet/muddy trails (in conditions where my feet have stayed wet throughout the hikes). My feet stay pretty warm, but not dry, with neoprene socks on.

Canyoneer

Another Five Ten shoe (a lighter weight amphibious shoe with the same high-friction rubber sole) is the Savant.

Savant

I would wear a all synthetic constructed boot or shoe that dry fast Montrail use to make one for vegans. I think is going to depends on what time your walking on the beach at Low tide a boot or shoe would be fine because your on hard pack sand in less you have to do some tide pool hopping. Then a wetsuit bootie with a split toe with a hard sole would be better to keep the sand out and your feet warm in the ocean of Washington state.

Where I live in Encinitas, California the beaches are up against 30 foot cliffs so I just take my shoe off and walk so the sand does not thrash my feet. Because I have found through the years surf shoes and sport sandals just don't drain all the sand out and it gets between your feet and shoe and grinds when walking mileage.

With sea water you need to wash your shoes or anything that comes in contact with salt water off every night with fresh water or the salt water will wreck havoc on the them. Most of us surfers wash are wetsuits after using them in freshwater to prolong the life of the wetsuit.

Back about 15 years ago we had the great pebble migration as I called it. The pebbles would cover the whole beach with no sand visible. Oceanside had the pebbles first all the pebbles migrate south 15 miles slowly over a 8 year period . Pebbles are hell to walk on in any kind of shoe. You might also have tied pool hopping up there walking on the beach,

Luckily your not hiking in 80 degree hugh salinity oceans tropical beach like I did in okinawa the coral reef hopping tears up you shoes really fast at low tide.
Have fun,
Terry

Those 5.10 shoes do look interesting. The other models by that company that I've tried on don't fit my feet (to wide).

Good points about sand getting in between your feet and the sole of a sandal, I've certainly had that happen before. And good point about needing to rinse in fresh water often. Fortunately there are many creeks out there.

I expect that on that portion of beach there will be many stretches of sand, pebbles, and rocks up to melon-size. Those bigger rocks can leave you with tired feet, especially with a big pack I'd imagine.

…

> Some of the hiking is on beaches, other on trails that are sometimes very muddy and
> sometimes very rocky and probably steep in spots going over headlands. Daily mileage
> is supposed to be small, say 3-5 miles a day.

Light low-cut joggers with wide soles go well on beaches. been there, done that.
Leather boots – you would regret those very quickly!

Cheers

What about something like this?

New Balance SM921

Midsole and outsole seem like a jogger, upper is all watershoe.

Many of the beaches on our northern coast are more cobblestone than sand. Think clambering through a talus field, with the rocks having more rounded tops due to the wave action. If you are comfortable with sandals in that terrain, cool, but just keep in mind you might need a little protection for banging the toes. Also, the headlands are pretty rugged in spots, and wet and slippery. It's been a long time since I've looked at Chacos, so I don't remember how much up front protection they have. Could probably get away with Keens just fine, although I'd want socks. The neoprene socks sound like a good idea—cool misty weather a lot of the time. The wind might blow hard enough to dry stuff out, but don't count on many thermal units from the sun! The stores on the southern coast stock sweatshirts, windbreakers, ponchos and hats for the tourists that come from the inland for a "sunny day at the beach", and don't realize that our temps may be 10-20 degrees cooler, and cloudy to boot.

Hi, Mike.

Thanks for posting the photos of your trail runners and of your companion's hiking boots at the same rest stop. That was very enlightening.

I appreciate your perspective since you are a resident of the island, and you have accumulated a lot of "local knowledge."

My thoughts on footwear (that would work well for the WCT) were mostly a result of reading trip reports on the WCT that were written by individuals (not guided trips). Some of those mentioned "torrential" rain that lasted for a week at a time; and some voiced the opinion that mud holes can't be avoided when rain goes on for that long. I did read more than one report of shoes coming off in calf-deep mudholes, which is why I thought the buckles on the Canyoneer2 shoes would be a good idea. What make and model were your trail runners?

Thanks

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I've done a lot of backpacking along the beach of the Olympics.

One thing is, when you go around heads, you have to do it at low tide, and then you're walking on rocks that were just covered by ocean and they can be very slippery with kelp and stuff.

I've seen a number of young adult groups that sucessfuly negotiated it.

Probably need lug soles for a good grip, but it's still slippery.

Maybe some sort of traction device would be good???

The trail to Toliak Point is very muddy. I was going down this slope that looked to be fairly dry, but it turned into a mud pit and my boot came off. I was lucky to find it. I've never lost a boot like that before.

Also, the trail to Shishi beach is pretty muddy.

If you're going from Ozette to Rialto it's not so muddy.

In those muddy places, maybe you need boots rather than sandals, so they stay on and they don't fill with mud.

A lot of the walking is on beach. You could go barefoot, but I've noticed my feet get sore and the sand is abrasive after a while.