Where can I find narrow water-friendly hiking sandals?
April 21, 2012 7:15 PM Subscribe
Please help me find some awesome men's water-friendly hiking sandals. Problem: narrow, low-volume feet!
I need to replace my ancient-old falling-apart hiking sandals. These are the shoes I take when bare feet would result in cuts but full shoes or boots would carry too much water: playing in the creek, hiking around tidal ponds, etc. I'd like a toe cap (rocks!), a strap that goes around the back of the foot, and something that drains and dries as fast as possible. Something like this Keen Newport H2 would be ideal.
Sadly, I can't seem to find anyone who sells semi-rugged sandals in narrow widths. All the Tevas, Keens, etc., I tried on locally are way too wide and I also can't cinch them down enough! My Google search for narrow sandals doesn't net me anything, either. I'm happy to consider traditional-looking full shoes if they're mesh and drain/dry quickly, but I've never owned a pair like that so am not sure how well they'd work. (I'm a little concerned that the rocks here would tear up any mesh shoe like they do with mesh-paneled hiking boots.)
Alternately, if you have narrow feet and know a normal (D) width shoe that runs narrow and can easily be cinched down, that might work, too.
My feet are right between and A and B width, U.S. 10 or 10 1/2 (EU 43 or 44).
Thanks in advance for any help you can offer!
I need to replace my ancient-old falling-apart hiking sandals. These are the shoes I take when bare feet would result in cuts but full shoes or boots would carry too much water: playing in the creek, hiking around tidal ponds, etc. I'd like a toe cap (rocks!), a strap that goes around the back of the foot, and something that drains and dries as fast as possible. Something like this Keen Newport H2 would be ideal.
Sadly, I can't seem to find anyone who sells semi-rugged sandals in narrow widths. All the Tevas, Keens, etc., I tried on locally are way too wide and I also can't cinch them down enough! My Google search for narrow sandals doesn't net me anything, either. I'm happy to consider traditional-looking full shoes if they're mesh and drain/dry quickly, but I've never owned a pair like that so am not sure how well they'd work. (I'm a little concerned that the rocks here would tear up any mesh shoe like they do with mesh-paneled hiking boots.)
Alternately, if you have narrow feet and know a normal (D) width shoe that runs narrow and can easily be cinched down, that might work, too.
My feet are right between and A and B width, U.S. 10 or 10 1/2 (EU 43 or 44).
Thanks in advance for any help you can offer!
Is there a reason that you could not try women's sandals? If you got a neutral color, nobody would know except you. Zappos has excellent information regarding sizing and includes measurements of most of their shoes. You could measure a pair of sandals that fit and compare them.
posted by erstwhile at 8:41 PM on April 21, 2012 [1 favorite]
posted by erstwhile at 8:41 PM on April 21, 2012 [1 favorite]
The Salomon Techamphibian 3 might work for you- it's basically a mesh shoe, and they have holes in the insole to let water out.
Alternately, (and I know you mentioned a desire for a toe cap) you could go with a pair of Chacos sized so that your toes don't go all the way to the front, and are thus semi-protected from rocks. The straps on Chacos are near-infinitely adjustable which should help with your narrow feet, and they use really good Vibram soles that will stick beautifully and last a long, long time.
And, now that I look at the Chacos website, it looks like they're actually making shoes and boots intended for use in the water to supplement the sandals they're so well known for. Hopefully this helps!
posted by EKStickland at 10:09 PM on April 21, 2012
Alternately, (and I know you mentioned a desire for a toe cap) you could go with a pair of Chacos sized so that your toes don't go all the way to the front, and are thus semi-protected from rocks. The straps on Chacos are near-infinitely adjustable which should help with your narrow feet, and they use really good Vibram soles that will stick beautifully and last a long, long time.
And, now that I look at the Chacos website, it looks like they're actually making shoes and boots intended for use in the water to supplement the sandals they're so well known for. Hopefully this helps!
posted by EKStickland at 10:09 PM on April 21, 2012
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 8:20 PM on April 21, 2012