Footwear question

We did a practice hike on the coastline of San Clemente and Oceanside last weekend. We discovered the sand was incredibly abrasive and I personally was not able to tolerate for very long. I tried initially using storm socks with sandals, sandals alone and barefoot. Other problem is my sandals did not dry out the next day and that caused some chafing as well. I am curious as to what footwear others have used successfully?

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  • Patricia,

    I wear a light weight hiking boot (Keen) for a multiday hike along the coast.  If possible, I try to hike a portion of each day barefoot. 

    Jennifer Williams hiked the Malibu Coast walkabout with five other women.  She posted this to the Walkabout California forum.

    "Footwear:  In our group, two people wore Chacos, one wore Vibrams, one wore Ahnus, and two wore Keens.  We’d all broken our shoes in significantly prior to the walkabout.  The wearers of the Chacos and Vibrams got blisters; the others did not.  We were grateful for the suggestion to bring a first aid kit, and we recommend that folks bring a lot of moleskin!  Walkabout-ers should expect to walk in water regularly.  (Tip:  Moleskin comes off after moderate exposure to sand and seawater.  We learned to apply the moleskin and then wrap medical tape around the parts of our feet where the moleskin was.  That seemed to last much longer.)"

    Thank you, Jennifer for your wise words.

    The Malibu Coast walkabout is the most challenging of the 200 miles of inn-to-inn hiking in "Walkabout Malibu to Mexico."  It is pretty easy to avoid getting your feet wet on the other hikes.

  • I'm doing the San Francisco to Half Moon Bay next week, which has about 9 miles of sand the first day. I'm planning on using my running shoes with running socks (smooth, wicks and doesn't bunch). Also planning on not getting my feet wet. I'll see how all those plans work out. I intend to report back after the walk - April 18 or so.

    • I should say that behind my using running shoes is I'm a marathon runner. My thinking is if these shoes work for me running 26 miles, they should work for the first day milage of 13 miles. I'd wear light weight hiking boots if I had them. I'll see after the walk how my thinking pans out. I also hope to walk barefooted at least some of the way.

      I'm looking forward to the adventure.

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