Best footwear for hiking on a beach

Bushwalking topics that are not location specific.
Forum rules
The place for bushwalking topics that are not location specific.

Best footwear for hiking on a beach

Postby ChrisJHC » Tue 17 Sep, 2019 11:18 am

I have a trip coming up shortly that will involve some beach walking.
Not something I do a lot of with a pack on my back.

Here are my options for footwear:
1. My normal lightweight boots
2. My camp sandals
3. Bare feet

What are people's thoughts around which would be the best?

Please note that this is what I will be carrying so let's please restrict ourselves to these options :D )

Thanks.
ChrisJHC
Phyllocladus aspleniifolius
Phyllocladus aspleniifolius
 
Posts: 783
Joined: Sat 25 Feb, 2017 8:22 pm
Region: Victoria
Gender: Male

Re: Best footwear for hiking on a beach

Postby wildwanderer » Tue 17 Sep, 2019 12:07 pm

It depends on a few things.

- If the sand is rocky or filled with shells.
- how hot the sand is
- if your feet are going to be in and out of the water as you walk along the beach.

Walking bare feet is a very comfortable way of walking, if the sand is non rocky, reasonably cool and you think your going to be getting your feet wet regulary.
In this scenario ive used sandals when I needed to cross bluffs/rockpools and then switched back to bare feet.

If the terrain is more rocky or the sand will be very hot then consider enclosed footwear with ankle gaiters (to stop the sand entering)

I dont recommend beach walking for long periods in sandals as the sand friction between skin and sandal will rub your skin away quickly.
User avatar
wildwanderer
Athrotaxis selaginoides
Athrotaxis selaginoides
 
Posts: 1640
Joined: Tue 02 May, 2017 8:42 am
Location: Out of lockdown \o/
Region: New South Wales
Gender: Male

Re: Best footwear for hiking on a beach

Postby flingebunt » Tue 17 Sep, 2019 12:13 pm

For long distances, shoes or boots are the way to go. They give your feet support and unless you are getting into water all the time, pretty easy. In most cases, walking on the beach in boots is pretty comfortable. Waterproof boots are fine walking on the harder packed sand and can get a little wet and work well in dry sand as they are likely to keep out the sand. Hiking shoes or trail runners, especially the non-water proof kinds, work well and would be my preferred option, but sand can get easily into your shoes. If the design is more like a running shoe, then there are little holes for sand to stick into.

The second option is bare feet. As I have fallen arches though, the lack of support can make my feet ache after many kms of walking on the beach.

Sandals are good for short stretches, but the sand gets in everywhere so you usually end up with sand rubbing your feet raw in the wrong spots. Sandals will probably be the best option when you go on rocks, onto sand, into water and so on.
User avatar
flingebunt
Athrotaxis cupressoides
Athrotaxis cupressoides
 
Posts: 119
Joined: Thu 20 Dec, 2018 3:25 pm
Region: Queensland
Gender: Male

Re: Best footwear for hiking on a beach

Postby wildwanderer » Tue 17 Sep, 2019 12:33 pm

One other aspect. You will want to walk on firm sand as soft sand walking is exhausting.

The firm sand is usually close to where the water is breaking. So its easy to get your feet wet. (a sudden jarring dash with a multiday pack to avoid a rushing flow of water is not optimal)

So in that scenario bare feet will likely be the easiest.
User avatar
wildwanderer
Athrotaxis selaginoides
Athrotaxis selaginoides
 
Posts: 1640
Joined: Tue 02 May, 2017 8:42 am
Location: Out of lockdown \o/
Region: New South Wales
Gender: Male

Re: Best footwear for hiking on a beach

Postby Petew » Tue 17 Sep, 2019 2:13 pm

I'd reccomend shoes and some ankle gaiters (like dirty girl) to keep the sand that gets into your shoes to a minimum. Bare foot will likely end up in very sore feet unless you are used to walking barefoot with a pack.
Petew
Phyllocladus aspleniifolius
Phyllocladus aspleniifolius
 
Posts: 711
Joined: Wed 05 Oct, 2016 12:07 pm
Region: New South Wales
Gender: Male

Re: Best footwear for hiking on a beach

Postby Biggles » Tue 17 Sep, 2019 2:46 pm

If the weather is nice, go bare-foot!
Places like the length of Johanna Beach on the GOW have very soft sand that can be a strenuous trudge with a pack (most people bring out their trekking poles to help with this). For that I'd say boots (sandals are not stable enough for walking on soft sand with a pack).

I have never held back stopping a few mins, throwing my boots off and getting the sand between my toes when I finally get onto a beach. I use lightweight CROCs for knocking about camp.

I think you will find Johanna to be a PITA with a heavy pack. There have been a few instances recently of discarded fishing hooks found in the sand so exercise caution (to the west of the beach access track/lookout from the main Johanna beach campground).
“Is é comhrá faoin aimsir an tearmann deiridh ag an duine gan samhlaíocht.”
—Oscar Wilde, 1890.
User avatar
Biggles
Athrotaxis cupressoides
Athrotaxis cupressoides
 
Posts: 431
Joined: Thu 14 May, 2009 12:14 pm
Location: Up the Creek...Campbells Creek (nr. Castlemaine)
Region: Victoria
Gender: Male

Re: Best footwear for hiking on a beach

Postby Lamont » Tue 17 Sep, 2019 4:41 pm

How far? Short distance you could go barefoot.
But the pain of barefoot on sand (in my experience) can become apparent after walking and it hurts, add the rucksack and youch.
Your barefeet will sink more into sand as well than shoes so it will require greater effort.
You want a nice light, flat soled and stable shoe.
Any distance 4kms plus -Camp sandals (if what I think they are) no way, sand will fill them and infiltrate your socks very quickly. Pain in the khyber.
Not a boot wearer but if they are light I would go with them everyday. Runners would be best but not an option (seriously -go for it Chris, easy to empty -boots will fill just as easy as runners and a pain to empty) by a mile.
I walked 10kms on the sand at low tide this morning and had only a teaspoon, if that, of sand with meshy runners.
I clock up about 60kms and eleven hours on the sand each week. Dunes, soft sand, very soft sand and walking in the water sometimes.
Not a fan of soft sand at all but it's great for training.
Have a great tramp.
User avatar
Lamont
Athrotaxis selaginoides
Athrotaxis selaginoides
 
Posts: 1960
Joined: Sun 21 Feb, 2016 1:27 pm
Location: Upper Kumbukta West
ASSOCIATED ORGANISATIONS: https://www.againstmalaria.com/
Region: Other Country

Re: Best footwear for hiking on a beach

Postby ChrisJHC » Tue 17 Sep, 2019 5:54 pm

Thanks all,

I have a pair of home-made ankle gaiters that I used on the Larapinta and no sand entered my boots in 256 km. Sounds like that is the plan. And yes, my boots are lightweight, low(ish) cut and waterproof.

I’m particularly glad for the advice re sandals as I was considering those but no longer.

Cheers!
ChrisJHC
Phyllocladus aspleniifolius
Phyllocladus aspleniifolius
 
Posts: 783
Joined: Sat 25 Feb, 2017 8:22 pm
Region: Victoria
Gender: Male

Re: Best footwear for hiking on a beach

Postby Gadgetgeek » Tue 17 Sep, 2019 8:12 pm

The crew I work with did several walks along the beach. Several of the guys used crocs since barefoot wasn't an option for them, though they were the barefoot type anyway and the callouses helped. For the soft-foot type it was basically a flaying. Sand is a problem, and it sounds like you have that dealt with. The bigger problem was the many Kms of side-hill that starts to wear people out.
In general what we found is that having good "foot discipline" such as adjusting shoe tension, dealing with hot-spots, cleaning out socks and the like made a bigger difference than actual footwear.
Gadgetgeek
Athrotaxis selaginoides
Athrotaxis selaginoides
 
Posts: 1214
Joined: Sun 23 Sep, 2012 4:10 pm
Region: Queensland
Gender: Male

Re: Best footwear for hiking on a beach

Postby rcaffin » Wed 18 Sep, 2019 9:19 am

ColoGorge1S.jpg
ColoGorge1S.jpg (155.15 KiB) Viewed 11274 times

Barefoot works.
(Colo Gorge)

Cheers
Roger
User avatar
rcaffin
Athrotaxis selaginoides
Athrotaxis selaginoides
 
Posts: 1223
Joined: Thu 17 Jul, 2008 3:46 pm


Return to Bushwalking Discussion

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 20 guests