Class V river shoes

[thecraw]

Merrils are super great for 3 reasons... very light, great sticktion, and drain very quickly. Only downside is that they are lowtops, and not inherintly warm. I wouldn't really call the lowtop thing a downside as just a preference. I had to jog about 4 miles with Joe Keck (long story) up in Washington after we had to hike out of a gorge. The Merrils were like running shoes... VERY comfy and easy on the dogs...

Keen has the Hood River and from all indications they are perfect for colorado conditions. They are neoprene for warmth, they have many drain holes (in the sole no less!), have very good ways to tighten down solid and bottom line are super burly. OH, and they are STICKY as it gets.

I own both pair but have only used the Merrils so far. Either of these two and you can't go wrong.

Crawdad

[rockinRio]

Keen Hood River Boot - Update -

I got my boots last week, and used them on my swiftwater rescue course (BTW Mike Mather is the M-A-N!) this weekend.

AWESOME! - TOTALLY AWESOME!

First off they are extremely comfortable, and stable. I was running up and down the river bank in dirt, moss, grass, choss, and dry/wet rocks. I was never worried about my footing.

The water was cold, and for jumping in and out it wasn't bad. However we were in the water for 20+ minutes at a time, so I ran and put on a pair of SmartWool socks. TOASTY!

The drains in the soles did a great job clearing the water out fast, super fast. The straps kept them on me feet, I never felt any slipping, nor did I feel like they were too tight.

We did strong swimmer exercises and I've always been worried about how a shoe would interfere with my kicking (was a collegiate swimmer, so I like to kick), hands down the best shoe I've kicked in. Almost felt like they weren't there (which is a good thing).

Finally we finished the class, and my buddy and I got our boats out to run Waterton. They fit great in my Nomad 8.1. I was wearing size 10. The hike out was no problem. Much better than in my NRS Kickers.

I would recommend these boots to everyone looking for a new river boot.
Keen says they size small, but I could have gone with either the 9 or 10 (Usually where 9 to 10). I chose the 10 thinking I'd be wearing socks of some kind, (I just get cold real easy) and they fit great. If you can't a store that sells the Hood River you should try on a couple of other Keen shoes to get a feel for what size you'll need to order.

[Dallas Blaney]

Chuck Taylor All-Star Hightops. $30.00

[TimWalker]

Originally Posted by Dallas Blaney

Chuck Taylor All-Star Hightops. $30.00

You old-school knockoff! How about a sketcho bootie?

For medium use I really liked the Nike ACGs, as mentioned not made any longer.