Poll- Chairs & Camp Shoes…Luxury or Recovery?

[John Vance]

No chair but I do take a cut up piece of foam pad for a sit pad.  It’s maybe 12”x16”.  It’s also nice for standing on in the snow as well.  I do take a pair of Dawg foam shoes.  8.6 oz in large and used in camp, some water crossings, and swimming.  I have a habit of stubbing toes when barefoot and camp shoes come with me on all trips unless there is nothing but snow.

[H W]

Hike 20 miles in a day, yes, camp shoes and a chair — Xero shoes, Helinox Zero chair. Worth the extra weight IMO and not much extra it is.

[bradmacmt]

OK, the Torotto Water Shoes showed from Amazon. The size 9-1/2-10’s (42/43) with insoles are 6.70 oz’s for the pair. I’d run them at 6.24 oz’s with insoles removed. Nice thing they pack small and flat! Really great for stream crossings and around camp. I’ll definitely give them a whirl this summer.

 

[Brad W]

If I was going to carry a pair it would have to be sandal/open type to let my feet breath.

[Dustin V]

I gave in and ordered a chair kit for my inflatable pad. It should arrive today.

I hope it’s as life-changing as I want it to be.

[JCH]

So these just arrived. In Men’s 12.5-13 (45-46) they weigh 6.39 oz. I think they will work well but are definitely only suitable for schlepping around a fairly smooth camp…pretty sure they would be quickly destroyed if you tried to put any miles on them or do anything strenuous.  Would probably work well for water crossings if the stream were fairly shallow/slow moving and the stream bed was small stones.  Not sure I’d trust them if the stream was swift, rocky or remotely technical.  These appear to be nearly identical to those posted by @bradmacmt.  In fact, searching Amazon for “aqua sock” will reveal a plethora of identical or near identical product listings.  I’d be very surprised if they all did not originate from the same factory.

My previous “camp/stream crossing shoes”, which I very much like, are about 12 oz, however they are most assuredly hike-worthy with robust soles and uppers.  I’d trust them in all the conditions above for which the first pair are unsuitable.

 

[Chris L]

@pastyj-2-2 What are the uppers made of? Hard to tell from the photo.

[JCH]

A thin soft stretchy fabric.

[Mina Loomis]

Roger Caffin:  All this talk about extra shoes for this and for that, and camp chairs … This is BackpackingLIGHT, not glamping.

Well, by the common definition, a base weight under 20 lbs. is “light.”  So a small chair and a pair of pool shoes might be included in “light” depending on what else you bring.

Many gear lists that get shared on BPL, either in articles or in the forums, seem to come in under 10 lbs.  Especially the lists of people with a lot of experience.  These lists don’t normally have a chair or camp shoes.  And then every now and then we end up in discussions of things like chairs or camp shoes or other things like stacking closed-cell and comfy inflatable pads.

As someone in the middle–I have never been able to break that 10 lb. threshold, coming in at more like 12 lbs. unless I need a bear canister–but also never taking things like a chair, extra shoes, extra pads, I have to wonder….

Is there no overlap between the posting-as-sub-10 group and the chair/camp shoes group?  Or are the sub-10 group people sometimes not counting items they *could* leave behind?  Does anyone else feel a little cognitive dissonance?

[Roger Caffin]

Is there no overlap between the posting-as-sub-10 group and the chair/camp shoes group?
There can be no reconciliation between the true believers and the unbelievers…

(Troll warning: Oz humour.)

Cheers

[David Gardner]

@elmvine: Well, actually, when not in bear country and not trying to average over 15 miles per day, I have this sub-10 lb gear list with both camp sandals and a chair.

[Steve H]

Seem to recall the founder of this forum doing a nice comparison of the Helinox & REI “chairs”. ;)

And indeed < 20 lbs is by definition “light”.

My base weight w bear canister is ~ 16 lbs w/o chair & 17 w/ chair.  And I suspect it’s not uncommon to have a fast & light kit that’s 10ish lbs & a couple of “in-camp” lux items in a 15ish lb kit.

[JCH]

@gearmaker – I’ll be darned if I can find a “chair” in that gear list. Am I blind?

oh, and you are WAY lighter with that than I am interested in going. :)

[J-L]

Ryan Jordan already answered this question:

From: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mKJStXLZ3d0&t=32s

I pack a chair about 75% of the time for short trips and 100% of the time for long trips. For short trips, I sometimes spend very little time at camp – just show up, eat, and go to bed – so I don’t miss my chair. For longer trips, I usually have a more relaxed pace, so the chair is nice.

I rarely bring camp shoes. In colder weather, I’ll bring goretex socks sometimes (get to camp, dry feet, put on warm socks and goretex socks, put feet into wet shoes). On some warmer trips where I’m hiking through water much of the day and otherwise not carrying much weight, camp shoes can be convenient to dry out my feet.

[David Gardner]

WT… I think Steve H saw the list when it had the 16 oz Helinox listed, but it dropped off. Putting it back on now!

That decision chart is hilarious, esp. about whether one posts their gear list online :-)

[J-L]

I still think there’s room to lighten up the Helinox Chair Zero.

Helinox also makes aluminum trekking poles, and I’ve always wondered why they haven’t worked out a way for their trekking poles to be disassembled in camp and used in the chair frame. Might not work for the lower legs, but shouldn’t be too hard to do for the upper supports. That and a lighter fabric (like the REI Fllexlite) and I think a chair could weigh as little as 10-12oz while being even more compact.

[John L]

This post has been reviewed by our moderators and has been removed. – BPL

[Dan]

I’ve never considered packing a chair, but I bring a small piece of CCF that doubles as a sit pad and a sleeping pad for my dog.

Camp shoes … no. Remove the insoles and loosen the laces.

[Sam Farrington]

Despite the added weight of 21 oz, would never be without my chair:  https://backpackinglight.com/forums/topic/81152/

It tips both backwards and sideways for comfort and reach and works well in a variety of tents in wet and windy weather.  It allows top access when strapped to the pack, and has a small ledge projecting from the bottom that stabilizes a rolled up sleeping pad with carbon tent poles folded inside for protection.

Footwear is a different story.  Rather than try to carry two sets of hiking shoes, with one as a back-up, prefer a slightly heavier shoe that will not fall apart or get soaked inside.  If the trip is heavy with water crossings, low WPB gaiters help to keep feet dry.  If water crossings are not a major issue,  the feet stay comfortably dry.  Were I a multi-state trekker, might take a look at light back-up shoes, or even a water shoe, even if it were not suited for hiking.

Also use light soled Dive Sox over hiking socks in camp.

[Erik G]

“…and I’ve always wondered why they haven’t worked out a way for their trekking poles to be disassembled in camp and used in the chair frame.”

@johnnyh88 Ask and you shall receive:

I don’t see why you couldn’t MYOG this with an existing Helinox or other chair frame. Just pop the back “legs” off and shove your trekking poles in there. May need a bushing, or to fill the female receptacle with something to take up any slack in the joint, but then again maybe not. Seems pretty feasible. Somebody send me a chair and I’ll give it a go. :)

[JCH]

@fox212 – URL?

I did find this…

Hmmm…”Ultra Lightweight at only 1.5 lbs”, which I assume does not include the pole weight. That’s not a weight saving over the Chair Zero!

[Erik G]

^ That’s the one. Not as light as the Chair Zero, correct, but it serves as a proof of concept if nothing else. I’d love to see somebody modify a chair zero to accept trekking poles like the Get Out Gear chair.

[HkNewman]

Spoke with a soon to be (hopefully) Triple Crowner and his parting advice was wear camp shoes for recovery.  Could be the bigger hikes though.

Weekend type overnight hikes or even weeklong affairs could just require putting up with it to save the weight ….  as there’ll be plenty of time to put on the slippers back home.

Chairs are quite a bit rarer in long distance hiking communities, but not totally unheard of either.

[J-L]

@fox212: I saw that chair a couple days after I posted. So yes, something similar to the Get Out Gear chair, but done using lighter materials and more efficient trekking pole usage. It is a good proof of concept though and will hopefully inspire Helinox or REI. I could also see Nemo getting into the light chair market.

Why camp shoes for recovery? I don’t think most people walk around camp enough for that to matter. I’ve read arguments for alternating between 2 different trail runners on a long hike to reduce foot and lower leg muscle fatigue, and while even heavier than camp shoes, I think it would be a better use of weight.

[JCH]

My problem with the “poles as a chair” concept is that my poles are already doing double duty.  They are either keeping me upright or keeping my shelter upright. So basically they are spoken for at all times.

[Author]

Posts