On the PCT (Pacific Crest Trail) I hiked in running shoes. Almost immediately, my feet started to hurt. Excruciating pain, every hour sometimes I would have to stop and rub them back to life. The pain was from the ball of my foot. Even though I bought 12 different pairs of shoes on my hike, I could never find anything that relieved the pain. If I hadn’t had 20 years of dreaming behind me on hiking that trail, I don’t think I could have stayed on. After I got back, it was probably a month before I could even get up and walk to the bathroom without shoes on. When I would go out for walks, after an hour my feet would start to hurt and go numb again. I thought my hiking days might already be over.
The day before heading out to Thailand a bought a pair of Chaco Z/1 sandals; they are hiking sandals with an orthopedic foot bed. When I got off the plane I walked for hours through Bangkok; it’s not a pleasant place to walk but I was so happy that my feet didn’t hurt that I just kept walking.
Since then I have hiked only in Chaco sandals. On the AT (Appalachian Trail), we referred to them as strap on boots, so sturdy is the foot bed. Here are some things I know about hiking in Chaco sandals.
Wear socks: Your feet will probably never be tough enough to wear Chacos for very long without socks; not wearing socks is nice every once in awhile but if I would keep them off for very long, I would get blisters and sores where the straps rubbed my feet, also with out socks my feet would get dried out and crack, the neoprene socks are particularly helpful to prevent cracks as they keep your feet moist. I tried the waterproof socks and found that they stunk so much that even among hikers I was a bit of a leper. Even after washing, they stunk. After a week, I threw them away.
Snow. In the snow, or when it was cold, I wore neoprene socks; still my feet were cold and uncomfortable and the snow would build up under my toes. More then anything I think it is psychologically uncomfortable for me to walk in the snow in sandals. The longest I have continuously walked in snow, was 12 miles in 6 inches of new wet snow. My feet were fine but I was worried.
Chacos can be resoled. I did get one pair resoled but then, after awhile, the straps broke. Therefore, if you are going to have them resoled I would recommend having the straps replaced too. When my strap broke, I taped my sandal to my foot with electrical tape and hiked for three days like that until I could get a new pair sent to me.
The Chacos with the toe strap. I hiked the AT and the Florida trail in the Chacos without the toe strap; since then I have switched to the ones with the toe strap: the Z/2. I like hiking with the toe strap, my feet stay warmer and the ice doesn’t build up under my toes in the snow as bad. I wear them with tabi socks. I think there now may be some neoprene socks available with the split toe but I don’t have a pair so when I want to hike in neoprene socks I have to step on the toe strap. Comfort wise it’s fine but the problem is that if you hike stepping on the toe strap too much it becomes impossible to pull the toe strap back out without the help of a pair of pliers. Update: After about 500-700 miles on my latest PCT hike, a callus developed between my toes and I had to switch back to the Z1 style.
Make your own toe socks. Brawny on her backpacking site, http://www.trailquest.net/, gives these instructions for making your own tabi toe socks: “Make a straight mark (with a felt tip pen or marker) on the socks between the big toe and second toe. Then sew a “V” shaped seam on either side of the pen mark, and then make a cut on the straight pen mark.”
Cracks. In addition to wearing socks, you might find that you need to file down the dry skin and put some grease into your feet and put them in plastic bags or neoprene socks to heal them. Bag balm works really well, but is hard to find on the trail. Carmex is available at most places. Also if you have petroleum based neosporin, that will work as well. Brush on super glue works wonders, but is only a temporary measure—eventually you have to take care of your feet.
Sizing. It’s important to have just the right size so that your feet fit the orthopedic foot bed right. You can get them in wide sizes for both men and women. I have heard of people who bought them extra long because they were afraid of stubbing their toe and they ended up not happy with them. I’ve never stubbed my toe in them, even though my toes go right up to the end. I have had sticks poke me from the side, but it just hurts for a moment and I got good at tuning out those assaults.
The NRS Neoprene Sandal Socks w/ HydroCuff is the best neoprene sock I have found. They come plenty big so you can wear a warm sock under them.
note: Joe over at Zpacks has worn sandals in blizzards in Colorado. He wears waterproof socks—maybe if I had worn regular socks under them I wouldn’t have had a problem or maybe he had better waterproof socks then me.
Related post: Stalking the elusive split toe tabi sock
My Chacos ended up being my favorite footwear on my CDT hike also. I would only offer 2 warnings in addition to your writeup.
The Chacos get old fast traveling over lengths of snow. In snow conditions I still prefer more conventional trail runners.
I also had the toe-strap model, but I never used the toe strap. It always caused pain after an hour or so.
You are so right about the snow. I don’t like walking in the snow in Chacos for a long time either. When new snow falls, I really miss my running shoes.
Chacos are great, here in florida we don’t get to use them in the snow that much. hehe. but they are great for hikes. If your really hankering to get back into a running shoe now and then I’d say try the New Balances. They come in a ton of widths and have a lot of support. They also have a line of offroad runner and walking shoes that are a bit more rugged then the others. I have a lot of foot problems and I love the 1222 which come in both men and women sizes.
http://www.newbalancetampa.com/
http://www.newbalancetampa.com/shop/product_detail.asp?model=M1222SG
Those polypro straps on Chaco’s are really flimsy. I cut mine in the mountains once, just brushing up against some rock, and then had to walk out barefoot. The same rock that sliced right through the strap didn’t do hardly any damage to my foot, and the skin on the upper part of my foot is very soft. Shows you the value of leather. I really wish Chaco would change to using heavy nylon webbing for their Terra sole sandals.
BTW you can convert toe-style Chaco’s to toeless-style by simply pulling the strap so that the toe loop goes flat.
If your socks are wearing out quick, you might want to think about making your own of heavy duty uncoated nylon. Back when I hiked in sandals, I made some socks of 8oz/sqyd 500denier uncoated cordura from questoutfitters.com. They don’t fit closely, but the sandal straps hold them in place and the lumpiness in the areas not covered by straps is not an issue because the socks don’t rub in those areas. 500d cordura is the heaviest uncoated fabric I have ever since for sale in the outdoor fabrics stores, but the military uses 1000d uncoated cordura in their jungle/desert boots.
Hey – My name is Mark Paigen. I am the guy that started Chaco and designed the Z/1 and Z/2 sandals. Its great to see that people are using them to their max potential.
Now I run Tread Labs. We make insoles for shoes. They give everyone a chance to experience the arch support that Chaco Z/1s offer. Three things set Tread Labs insoles apart from other brands.
1. The level of support is much higher. Just as Chaco used top shelf materials, Tread Labs uses the best available components.
2. We offer lengths for men and women, 2 widths and 4 arch heights to accurately fit any foot. No company offers as many sizes as we do. A great fit ensures excellent comfort.
3. Tread Labs insoles are available for home trials – for free. We are confident that Tread Labs will elevate the comfort of your shoes. Try them at home at our expense
If you love the feeling of Chaco Z/1 sandals and want to experience the same feeling in your shoes – check out http://www.treadlabs.com. If you tried Z/1s and the arches were too high or too low, give us a try. 4 arch heights guarantees a great fit for all foot shapes.
About 6 years ago I started wearing Chacos “full time” because conventional footwear caused me debilitating pain.
Yesterday, my 64th birthday, I hiked to the summit of Mt Wrightson: 12 rough, rocky, snowy, icy miles with 4000′ of elevation gain – in my Chacos.
Walking long distances in SE Asian countries wearing Chacos are the key. I originally wore the Z/1 then later purchased the ZX/2 double strap version. Great support for my feet. I was never into wearing a sock with sandals until I met up with a young couple what wore them with their Chaco sandals on the extended hikes or on long walks on uneven pavement. I was having an issue with dry heels myself. I remembered to bring a “ped egg” file with me and cream. It sort of sucks to still have sweaty feet underneath and dry heels. This is where inijini toe socks helped.