If someone should happen to bump into an outdoor shoe/boot made in a 4E or 5E, please let me know.   I bought Chota's in one full size larger than I wear, and they work, sort of.

MB

TomT,

I usually bring my Keen H2's for camp shoes, pebbles and twigs be damned.  If super early or late season, I may bring the Keen Targhee II's instead. 

On the Chota's - I got the new Hybrid's two 'Copias ago and had quality issues too.  The soles were fine, but after only 21 days in the field on trips to the Q, the stitching on the inside of the toe caps was coming loose and I had worn holes in the mesh panels - something the rep assured me has survived some serious talus traversing while testing.  Disappointed, I emailed customer service, sent them some pics and they agreed it was material failure, said they were surprised and the first they had seen that.  They were happy to replace them no charge and just wanted the old ones back - hopefully for some  post mortem R&D!  The trouble was they were out of my size, so I threw in some stitching by hand to shore them up - what a pain - so I could us them on my second trip last summer.  Once I got back and they were back in stock, they made good on the replacement.  We'll see how this new pair holds up this summer.

You and MB might want to bring these failures to their attention too.

pd

TomT wrote on Jan 12^th, 2019 at 3:05pm:


FWIW, If you have feet issues and tend to get blisters easy, try wearing a thin LINER sock.
A friend who runs those off-road marathons turned me on to another little trick too.

Before the liner sock, rub you heels, bottom of foot/between toes etc with a good SLICK feeling deodorant. Between that and the liner sock it cuts way down on friction that causes feet issues.

This won't work obviously if there is a material defect in the shoe but its a good trick to use when your doing something that is hard on your feet. 

For anyone more interested in a minimalist approach, I bought a pair of these for lake activities (swimming/boating) and they have lasted through 1.5 seasons (in NC, maybe 150 days of use).
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Inexpensive, light, and small to pack, and enough of a sole for getting around camp.  Not sure if skeeters can bite through them and real iffy for use on the trail.

I'll keep an eye on the Chota sticking issue.