Keen sandle traction? Ideas?

Just to explore this a little more
First of all, the topic is high traction sandals. I’m not sure there are any felt-soled sandals, but it could be a good experiment to glue felt on the bottom of some old sandals and see if it works.



I had felt-soled booties for a couple of years when I was an avid WW boater in the 80’s. They wore out fast and I didn’t replace them with another felt pair. I really never noticed any in-water traction difference.



That brings us to the treacherous put-in/take-out scenario. There are some of these if you are off the beaten path. But felt is only good (allegedly) for the wet and slimy rocks that are under the water or near the water’s edge. The treacherous part – steep inclined, rocks, roots, slippery soil, slippery scree, loose soil, muck – is usually above the water line. In those areas of treachery, my preference is the kind of sole on a good hiking boot – not felt, which I think would be an inferior material with which to lug a heavy canoe.



The soles of my NRS Attack Shoes served me very well, in the boat and in all land and water conditions, on a six-day solo paddle with 8 miles of endurance portaging this summer. My Bean Explorer sandals would have worked also. A thin soled water shoe or felt bottom would not have worked well on the portage trails or roads. I didn’t want to have to switch off using different shoes.



(Tangent: the Attack Shoe has a terrible, inflexible instep for kneeling canoeists unless you do the surgery I recommend in my comment on the NRS site.)

Fishermen/ladies have dealt with this
issue for generations. The history is the felt soles took over the market for a long long time and they do work very well and stick to slime covered rock extremely well. But as is pointed out above, in the last few years felt soles have been banned in many places (including Vermont I know) and so they are not even being manufactured anymore. What has replaced them are soles made of special “rubber” formulations that are soft and stick on rock reasonably well. Also, there are souls of this new material with studs, not unlike you see in studded snow tires. If you look around at good fly fishing stores/websites you will find various options.



Personally when Kayaking I wear the NRS Neoprene booties with rubber soles. There are pretty good. But when I am canoeing I wear Tingley rubbers - available in different heights. On trips I wear the ones that come up to just below the knee. These are cheap. They last several seasons and the grip surprisingly well. They are easy to slip on and off over sneakers or whatever you ordinarily wear. I use them at home in the winter when I go out in snow to shovel or snow blow. They work great for that too.



Just some ideas.

More info
I use my Keens for everything in warm weather including up to 4 mile carrys so felt or glue probibly won’t last. On trips with long carrys I bring only one pair of shoes to keep weight down. Thanks for the ideas.

Turtle

Some day
I’ll start going on trips in warm weather again. We’ve been tripping in May and October for years to keep away from the red necked bi peds. A warm weather trip would be sooooo nice.

Keen done me wrong
I bought a pair of those sandals at a year-end clearance sale, and used them the next year. In very short order they seemed to disolve - the stitching came out of the upper and the sole de-laminated. I contacted Keen and they told me too bad, as I didn’t have my receipt.



I like the design, but since this experience (and I’ve talked to several who also had durability issues), I’ll stick with old sneakers.



As for traction on wet rock - if it is covered with vegetation/algae, it will be slippery regardless. I like a sneaker or something like a bean boot just so I can feel the shape of the rock underfoot.

I agree
I have to say, I would be afraid to wear sandals on a canoe or kayak trip. I suppose maybe I might wear them in camp - but even then I am so darn clumsy there would be a high likelihood of injured feet.

Look for Vibram
soles.



I am guessing you need traction over the dreaded northern black lichen. Its like walking on vaseline when wet.



I have Keen Newports and they are marginal on lichen. I switched to Merrell watershoes. I have older Maipos that have Vibram soles.



The same thing that allows hikers to adhere to slippery granite shelves when wet ought to work for you.



Merrell does have a Vibram soled Keen Newport style sandal.

Vibram 5 Fingers
Has anyone tried a shoe like these?



http://www.rei.com/product/805275/vibram-fivefingers-treksport-multisport-shoes-mens



Seems like it would be ideal.

I have had my Keen H2s for years.
They are faded and beat up and keep on keeping on.

Thats good but do you wear them in
Canadian Shield country the heart and soul of head cracking fungi? I believe the OP was about grippiness, not longevity.



OMG…I am becoming a mini g2d.

They work
I liked mine, they were great inside a somewhat restrictive SOF. The sole is a great combination of protection and flexibility. But if your foot and toes aren’t the right proportions, they don’t work. My two smallest toes were always falling out, so I finally had to sell them.

Sell them? To whom?
Wait, nevermind, I don’t really want to know.

Which model?
Which model 5 finger did you get? The ones that are for water don’t have much tread.The ones with tread arn’t recomended for water.

Turtle

I do
four years and counting, two weeklong kayak trips, two backcountry hiking trips.

wow, good point about aquatic invasives
transfer. If this is a genuine problem, and it sounds like it is, it can’t be overstated.

Well
I sold them to someone with normal toes. They didn’t have cooties, cuz I washed them well.

I think
it was the water model with neo uppers, KSO maybe? I bought them at NY Kayak several years back, and the model may be different now. There wasn’t a high-profile tread, but I remember them being fairly grippy.

Well
Well, I broke down and ordered some 5 finger KSO’s. I go barefoot a lot anyway and always wished for better “skin traction”. They won’t work for long carrys,but might be just the thing for me to monkey around on rocks,and tree obstructions on local creeks. I won’t know how they work till next year.

Turtle

unintended consequences
I recieved my Five Fingers Vibram KSO’s this AM. Have worn them since then. As a country boy who grew up barefoot, I think they will be great for climbing over treejam obsticals with monkey feet. For 4mi carrys??

Turtle

Siping.

– Last Updated: Oct-20-12 1:21 PM EST –

I saw a mention of siping in this thread. My Keens do have siping in the tread and they get great traction in the wet slippery stuff. Mine are the original Keen Newport sandal, bought them when they first came out. That was sometime around 2003. Still wearing them and will wear them just about year round depending on what I am doing.

I tend to repair my stuff till they can't be realistically repaired anymore. Use blue tube Barge cement to repair where coming apart. Get it at the local leather/shoe shop downtown.

Siping works wonders on the wet slick stuff. Same goes with tires.

Good luck.