Personal Information:

Leesa Joiner
ljo@midmaine.com
Southwestern Maine
42 years old
Female
5'7" (1.7 M)
150 lb (68 kg)

Background:

My camping, hiking and backpacking experience has included trips varying in length from one day hikes to 2-week trips.  My experience hiking began with my father, when I was about 6 years old. We hiked along the river pathways in northeastern Ohio and western Pennsylvania. During cold weather, I backpack, hike, snowshoe, cross-country ski, go ice fishing and winter camp with friends and family.  Although I am not a lightweight backpacker, I am trying to ‘lighten up’ and even have converted to using a hammock while camping.   I find that I spend almost as much time outside during the long Maine winters as I do during the summers.


Product Information:

Manufacturer: Keen Sandal Company
Product:  Newport Sandals
Year of manufacture:  2004
URL: http://www.keenfootwear.com

Size: Women's size 9.5
Listed weight: 11.2 oz (317 g)
Weight as measured: 12.4 oz (342 g)
Keen advertises the Newport sandals as being designed for marine type environments.  To meet these conditions, the sandals are designed with:

~ waterproof nubuck upper.
~ lugged, razor-sipped, and non-marking sole.
~ Anatomical last and EVA midsole for comfort.
~ Anti-microbial EVA footbed for odor and moisture control.
~ toe guard for protection.


Field Use:

I was very happy to be selected to test these sandals- I love going barefoot in the summer, but it is not always a good idea. I thought these sandals were the answer. They fit very well- no areas that rubbed or slipped, nice support and they didn’t look bad at all. I wore them in the late spring when climbing or hiking on wet trails. I didn’t slip or slide around much, which is a big improvement over the usual muddy mess I get into. As the weather warmed and the ground dried up I found that I was stopping quite a bit to try to shake grit out of my sandals. Normally, I would shake grit out of sandals by pointing my toes down, slightly behind me. With the toe guard, that didn’t work. Since it is awkward for me to shake my foot with it extended in front of me, I would end up taking my sandal off. Occasionally stopping to remove my sandals and take a rest is nice, constantly stopping is not. I found this extremely frustrating.
I did wear the sandals while canoeing and found them to work well in and out of the water. They were completely dry within an hour of leaving the water. While on a friend’s boat I noticed that they provided good traction while trying to move around on the boat. The deck was wet and the sandals held to the deck easily. Wearing them to the beach left me with mixed feelings. The hot sand quickly flowed into the sandals, but didn’t leave quite as easily. At low tide, my kids and I like to walk around in the tide pools and look for different creatures. The sandals were great- I was able to climb on the slippery rocks with confidence. When we were ready to leave, I walked into the water wearing them and rinsed off. What a mistake! Now I had to walk through the dry sand to the parking area. The dry sand filled my sandals and stuck to them and my feet. I should have seen that coming! Once at the parking area I rinsed my feet and sandals again and drove home barefoot.
So far, the sandals have not shown any wear. They clean up very well with just a little water and a soft brushing. I have thoroughly soaked them on numerous occasions and they always dry looking as good as new.
The toe guard does protect my toes very well from stubbings.
In all fairness to these sandals, they do very well in wet conditions and are very comfortable. I did not find them comfortable to wear on dirt trails because of the build up of grit inside the sandal. I suspect they also cause my feet to perspire more than usual. I am not sure if it is the Anti-microbial EVA footbed that gives the feeling of my foot being wet or if it is due to the fact that they are more enclosed than any other sandal I wear, causing my foot to perspire more.

Test Conditions:

The majority of my testing has been done in northern New England, where the daytime temperatures have ranged from 40 to 60 F ( 4 to 22 C) range to 100 F (38 C). Most of my hiking is done below 3000 ft (914 M), but trips to Mt. Washington will be at over 4000 ft (1219 M). There is a wide range of types of terrain on these hikes. Everything from well maintained trails to hiking through heavily wooded areas. At times, the trails follow the rivers' edges, which makes for some wet hiking also. 

Further Testing:

I will continue test these sandals through the rest of the summer. I have a few more canoe trips planned, along with a backpacking trip into a remote lake. I plan on taking the sandals along- even if I wear other footwear for part of the hike, I will hang the sandals on my pack for wearing while on the water and around camp. They are lightweight and don’t add much weight to my pack. I found that they also dry quickly while hanging on the pack. I am curious as to whether the sandals are actually causing my foot to perspire more than usual.