These are very secure and very grippy on wet surfaces. I just punctured a 'Croslite' insole in four places and threaded a shoelace through to strap them to my feet. Now I can leave those 2 pound Chacos at home and not have to avoid those stream crossings. Crossing streams with bear-feat freaks me out because the rocks are always extremely slippery and my feet are quite sensitive. The insole shown here comes with the Crocs Santa Cruz Loafer shoes.

I weighed them together on my digital scale and they came in at 3.5 ounces for the pair! I have yet to find anything on the market this light and secure. The women's Crocs are light with some weighing 8-9 ounces, but if you know of another product or have further ideas please share.

Edited by MRangel on 03/26/2012 16:41:54 MDT.

but if you know of another product or have further ideas please share.




These size 13 Mizuno Wave Universe 4 (weigh 4.9 oz each) hiking, water, and camp shoes all in one :)

I know this is an older post, but I just ran across it... How grippy are the bottoms? Are the bottoms similar to the original Croc?

CROCs knock-offs can be had for $20 at most K-Mart and similar outlets and weigh about 9 ounces. All kinds of vibrant colors for wearing while crossing streams, on breaks, and around camp.

Not mentioned in these discussions is the very real advantage of having a 2nd set of footwear that is actually rugged enough to hike in should you inadvertantly lose one of your full-time trail runners or other hiking footwear. That makes them dual-purpose.

It happens! Critters want the salt and may silently remove one of them from your camp if you get careless.

That said, a regular pair of shower "flip-flops" already has the front foot secured, and can be modified to add a shoelace in the rear so it runs across your ankle and under the sole to secure your heel into the shoe. Those weigh less than 4 ounces, but won't last long for on-trail hiking. They do work well in camp and for water crossings where regular flip-flops float off your foot and escape.

I just used Vivobarefoot Ultras (minus booties/tongues...now basically Pures) for some stream crossings yesterday. 3.7oz each, grippy enough for Ozark streams (at least for Ozark winter streams)...pretty comfy in fact.

I picked them up on Amazon for $39.99...

FWIW.

-Mark in St. Louis

I like your solution and I will probably replicate it myself. Thanks for the inspiration.

For reference, the Crocs Cleo model is, I think, the lightest off-the-shelf Crocs model. They don't attach securely so wouldn't be good for stream crossings. But they are a lot lighter than the other Crocs models, which I still see people carrying. They strap is hinged, so they lay pretty flat. And they don't have the gizmo between the toes, so you can wear them with socks. I've been using them on UK hikes where my feet are wet all day and I need a way to air out my toes to keep them from rotting.

http://www.crocs.com/crocs-cleo/10043,default,pd.html

My pair weighs 7.1 oz for the pair.

But now, thanks to your post, I'll probably make my own lighter solution.

A couple of years ago someone here posted about these. They are basically a cheap shower shoe. I googled them and bought 5 pr. figuring they'd wear out fast. I've worn two pair out so far in that time. At 4 buck plus shipping, and at 1.6-1.8 oz. they've work for well for me.

Thanks Mark! I had never heard of Vivobarfoot before. I'm definitely going to check those out:)

The Sprint Mesh Shoes look like the interior booties from the Vivo Ultras. I have no idea if the booties are available separately from Vivo...someone in NYC could find out at their store (they seem to suck at email).

-Mark