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Anyone have a suggestion for a good pair of hiking shoes for a wet hike? I wore regular old sneakers on my last one and lets just say I fell a few times. Here I am...2 weeks later still wearing jeans in AZ in Aug. because my legs are so cut up.

Canyoneering type hike (Clear Creek, Arivapa) or a hike where you cross water. Suggest a visit to REI in Phx. Metro area or Summit Hut in Tucson. Also suggest a hiking stick to steady your self. Good Luck and enjoy Arizona.

Vasque makes a light hiking shoe called the "Catalyst", and another named "Ion".
The soles for both are made from five-ten's "Stealth" high friction rubber.
They are really grippy.
I've seen the Ion on sale online for <$50.00 - the Catalyst's are generally +/- $65.00.

Two caveats...
1) The soles will not last (on dry hikes) as long as regular "Vibram" soles but grip quite well on dry rock as well.
2) Regarding desert hiking; ANY shoe with mesh sides/top can/will allow thorns/foxtails to penetrate the mesh. Beware.

kurt

ION >>

I would check out Teva's website. They have a few water-specific shoes for women that seem pretty cool. Also the Five-Ten Water Tennie is an awesome shoe! Great traction, drains well, and is really comfy to hike in! I would skip REI; they have a really lousy selection of water shoes. In fact they really only have one by Salomon and it sucks. Have Fun!

I really like my Soloman Amphibian Pros they have held up great on my various canyoneering adventures. They are mostly mesh construction and have fairly sticky soles. the soles are not quite as good as the five-ten sticky rubbers but they are Solomans version of it and work well enough. I Haven't taken any serious falls because of them slipping anyway... I even used them to boulder/scramble a little bit in tonto canyon a few months back and was very impressed with the way they held up (and held me up).

I like my Soloman's from REI as far as grip and feel go. However the fit does loosen up and requires occassional snugging up.

I wouldn't suggest the Soloman's for general hiking in the rain.

Five-ten's seem to be the rave, but I've never tried 'em.

The Anphibs are nice but I switched to sandles for even more ventilation. I got a pair of Keen Newport H2s. They have good traction on wet surfaces and on trails. They also have a covered toe. I love them. My wife also has a pair and she loves them.

http://www.keenfootwear.com/women/newportH2.html

I like the keens too, but I find in sandy areas where you're feet are wet most of the time, sand gets in and can tear up your feet. Otherwise they are a great shoe. There's a new set of keens out with a super-grippy sole. I'm thinking of picking up a pair to try them out.

I'm heading to Zion Narrow's with my Keen's this weekend. The first time I used them were at Paria Canyon and they were great! This time I'm using neoprene socks, so I'll see how I like that! I agree with Matt about the sand build up, especially without socks. Sand and friction can be brutal on the heels. Mary

Shi wrote:I'm heading to Zion Narrow's with my Keen's this weekend. Mary

You dayhiking it, Mary, or overnighting?
Either way, HAVE FUN, it's a great trip, but watch those clouds closely.
kurt

Ready for more choices?
Yes the 5.10 Water Tennie and Canyoneer are going to be one of the best water shoes you can find. There are some other options out there to fit other tastes and budgets though.

Scarpa (climbing/mountain shoe company) has a cool shoe called the Cabrio that is a sandal shoe type hybrid (sorta like keen). Sandle like, but with toe protection. Good choice if you like sandles but want your toes protected and/or don't care for Keen's

Lowa makes a cool (cool to me I guess) lookin shoe called the Elsalto. Uppers are synthetic/mesh, and an EVA midsole with rubber outsole fill in the watershoe components. This model I assume you either love or hate though based on looks.

Merrell offers the WaterPro Ultra-Sport and the WaterPro-MultiSport, both nice shoes from what I have seen in person, but I have never tried them on, and you have to be a fan on Merrell. Then of course they have the Helium Ventilator too which can serve double duty as well.

Salomon Ampib's and ProAmpibs are nice if you can get them on sale. They finally switched to a removable insole (the old ones trapped rocks like no other) The Pro version in nice because of a finer mesh that lets less rock and grit in, but the sizing is flawed (confirmed by the Rep)

Adidas (yes Adidas) makes a few watershoes. I have a model from a few years back that was nice, but they tend to fit a narrow foot. I've seen the Hellbender ATS, that looks pretty nice, but may be hard to find.

Columbia Hells Canyon II another shoe that won't break the bank. I haven't seen this one in person, but for around $50 I'd say worth a look.

I work for an outdoor company, so I am a pretty big gear junkie... Thats about all I can think of for now.

Five-Tens are the way to go if you plan on using them more than 7 times. If not, and you only want them for one or two hikes, I would go with the cheaper ones.

galaxieargente wrote:Anyone have a suggestion for a good pair of hiking shoes for a wet hike? I wore regular old sneakers on my last one and lets just say I fell a few times. Here I am...2 weeks later still wearing jeans in AZ in Aug. because my legs are so cut up.

I'm a big fan of the Keen sandals. I highly recommend the Keen Banff model which features built-in neoprene bootie. Very comfortable out of the box, but still requires a break-in period. It doesn't let the sand and rocks in to chafe the feet but still lets water through. I had problems with the Boulder/H2 models letting the sand and gravel in, so I switched to the Banff and haven't had the problems since. They are pricey ($90) from REI but are well worth the money in my opinion.

Dan