Apparently the gravel (decomposed granite) got between my bootie and the sandal and just ground into the neoprene until they wore through! UGH!
Well, I got the 3 year old waders replaced no charge (thank you LL Bean), but I was still not sure what my solution would be for the future shoe. The water is way too cold to consider wet wading, and not too mention walking around in the muck and mire around lake 1....which is where I like to fish from, would make for a nasty mess of my pants. And of course, regular wading boots are just too heavy to pack in.
About two months ago I was cruising though the Cabela's site, and low and behold I saw these flats boots with killer soles on them!
As I had considered taking my float tubing flats boots up, but they are just not stout enough to handle the hiking from lake to lake, I dismissed that idea. But seeing these boots got my interest way up.
I himmed and hawed for about a month, do I need to spend more money on ANOTHER pair of fishing shoes?
YES, I finally decided to pull the trigger last week!
Darn glad I did! They just came in yesterday, and I am duly impressed with their ruggedness and at a few ounces more than the Keen sandals, I still consider them in the lightweight category, at least in the backpack-able sense.
I ordered them 1 size larger than my shoe size, I tried them on with my 3mm gravel guards over a pair of socks, they feel perfect, and the top zipper makes putting them on a breeze, I am going to love that! Note: At 11,000ft, I often found myself huffing and puffing to put the sandals on over the wader booties!
What really impressed me were the soles and the durability of the pvc uppers around them! This feature should provide good foot protection. The neoprene is about as thick as your typical flats/float tubing boots.
I will report back on their actual performance after the trip. At minimum, I will no longer have to worry about the gravel boring through my booties.
