jrebubula

I planing on doing quite a bit of hiking in M.A. montezuma and Arenal areas and would like to know what is a better type of shoe for hiking in these enviroments, either a land/water shoe (salomon amphibian) or a solid trail running shoe (salomon pro 3d ulta)?

shillmac

I love my Salomon Amphibs, but invested in a better hiking shoe this past year for muddy trails. I take both. That said, I got along for years without either and just used regular walking shoes with no problems--same areas as you mentioned.

The goretex hiking shoes I purchased I absolutely love--they are SO comfortable. I researched a bit and read some reviews before deciding. Don't remember where I ordered them from now, but the brand is Vasquez. Excellent--would recommend to anyone. I ordered a half size up.

shillmac

http://www.rei.com/product/740621

Excuse me, the brand is Vasque. Love them! And I ordered from REI--price has increased slightly, but they provide a super fit. When and if these wear out, I'll be looking for the same thing.

cmerrell

I took Keens hiking sandals and they worked well. Since they do have open slots, you can pick up the occasional pebble or stick, but I didn't have much trouble with that. I used them to hike on the Osa peninsula.

I hear good things about the Salomons quite frequently.

Sounds like shillmac has another good suggestion for you as well. Did they dry out okay for you in CR, Jill?

shillmac

They didn't get into a lot of heavy rain, but were good for the muddy trails. Yes, they dried reasonably well. I had done some hiking at BdC the previous year on muddy trails in my Salomons and they just weren't the thing for that. They work well the majority of the time, though. Honestly, I believe one can get by really well without buying all the extras as we did it for years. I've added a little at a time as far as CR gear goes!

How are you doing, Cam?

cmerrell

I'm doing well, Jill. My job is in another one of those crazy busy phases, so my time here on the forum has been impacted a bit recently, but I'm trying to check in at least every few days so I don't lose track of the goings on too much!

How are you doing? Busy at school, and starting to think about the holidays? You still have the Belize trip coming up, don't you? That should be wonderful!

Pat_Hewitt

I admit it. I'm lazy. So this is a paste up from an old post. But I still love these shoes!

I have been really happy with my Dunham hiking shoes. This is a small New England work shoe company that was purchased a couple of years ago by New Balance. Since then, NB has gradually been adding their top flight orthopedic know how to the Dunham products. I have some pronation problems, and I have been a NB believer for a while.

I have a pair of Dunham 912 hikers. These shoes are cut like tennis shoes. They are water resistant, and quick drying when wet. They have a waffle pattern that gives great traction. I wore these in Monteverde and Arenal last year, and my feet stayed fairly dry on some long hikes. The shoes dried quickly overnight, and were ready to go again the next morning.

I actually purchased a similar pair online today for my wife. There is a great site out there: www.joesnewbalanceoutlet.com. I was able to find her a pair of $95.00 Dunham hikers for $28.00. I have purchased several pairs of NB and Dunham for good prices over the last few years. I get their promotional Emails. You just have to pay attention, and buy em when your size is available.

Just so you know. I don't have any financial interest in Joe's. Just a happy customer.

Hope this helps! Let me know if I can offer more advice.

Warm Regards,
Pat Hewitt
(Travel professional)

plumboy

Another vote for Salomon Amphibian. They work great - and dry quickly. Depending on the color you get, you can even get away with wearing these even when you're not hiking - or least I did! I just wore them on the plane and pretty much the whole time while in CR. I brought Keens too, but ended up not wearing them much - I feel I could've totally gotten away with just the Salomons. I guess it's good to have a back up in case they don't dry as quickly as they did for me, but I think on my next trip, I'm bringing my Salomons and a pair of flip flops and that's it.

colibri

I wore my Salomon Techamphibians nonstop on my last trip (not a drop of rain in 16 days) and they did just fine for all of our hiking. But I wore them at home during several days of Hurricane Gustav clean up and they never dried out. In high humidity they constantly stayed damp/wet, so I'm planning to wear my Keens on my next trip since it will be to areas of CR with higher rainfall.

plumboy

Yeah, I guess I should say the last - and first - time we were in CR, we stayed in a hotel with a/c - which we used at night. So, I think that helped the Salomons to dry. Maybe without that, they wouldn't have, I don't know. I guess that's an argument for at least two pairs of shoes...

tully

I'm pretty picky about having the right shoes to suit the day, so I've always taken three pairs - flip flops, Salomon Amphib Tech's and a low cut hiking shoe (have used Columbia and Lowa, and am now on a pair of Merrill's).

shillmac

I wear my Salomons all the time here, too. I've started just slipping into them with the heel down. It's my favorite way to wear them. Worked just fine that way in CR as well.

As far as my Vasque hikers, I specifically wanted Goretex, so have been very happy with them. The Merrills work out well in Argentina, Tully?

tully

The Merrell's worked out great shillmac. I used the hikers (Chameleon style, gore-tex) for Iguazu and the strappy sandals (San Remo style) for BA. No complaints, very comfy. And I can attest to the 'newspaper in wet shoes dries them by morning', they were bone dry!